Akro Agate: American Marbles & Glass Novelties
What Is Akro Agate?
Akro Agate Company operated in Clarksburg, West Virginia, from 1914 to 1951, producing machine-made marbles and later expanding into glass children's dishes, ashtrays, planters, and decorative items. Founded in Akron, Ohio (hence "Akro"), the company relocated to West Virginia in 1914 to take advantage of natural gas supplies for their glass furnaces.
Akro Agate became the world's largest marble manufacturer by the 1930s, producing millions of marbles annually. When marble demand declined in the 1930s, the company diversified into molded glass products, creating children's tea sets and household items in vivid opaque and marbleized colors that are now highly collectible.
Identifying Akro Agate
Marks and Labels
- Flying crow through "A" logo (sometimes called the "crow flying through an A") - molded into glass items
- "MADE IN U.S.A." often accompanies the crow mark
- Paper labels reading "Akro Agate" occasionally survive
- Marbles are unmarked and identified by pattern, color, and size
Characteristic Colors and Patterns
- Opaque colors - Pumpkin orange, oxblood red, cobalt blue, white, green, yellow
- Marbleized/swirl patterns - Two or more colors blended in characteristic swirls
- Transparent colors - Cobalt, amber, green (less common in children's dishes)
- Lemonade and oxblood - The rarest and most valuable color variations
Product Categories
- Marbles - Corkscrew, slag, oxblood, Popeye, carnelian, and many other patterns
- Children's dishes - Tea sets, dinner sets in multiple sizes and patterns
- Household items - Ashtrays, powder jars, planters, flowerpots
- Novelties - Scottie dogs, colonial figures, Mexican hats
Auction Prices and Market Values
| Category | Typical Range | Exceptional Pieces |
|---|---|---|
| Common marbles (per marble) | $1-$10 | $50+ |
| Rare pattern marbles (oxblood, Popeye) | $25-$200 | $1,000+ |
| Children's tea set (boxed, common color) | $75-$200 | $500+ |
| Children's tea set (rare color/marbleized) | $200-$600 | $1,500+ |
| Individual children's pieces | $5-$30 | $75+ |
| Powder jar with lid | $20-$60 | $150+ |
| Flowerpots and planters | $10-$35 | $80+ |
| Rare novelty figures | $30-$100 | $300+ |
Boxed sets with original packaging command 2-3x premiums over loose pieces. Oxblood, lemonade, and pumpkin colors are the most sought after.
Condition Factors That Affect Value
- Original boxes and packaging dramatically increase children's set values
- Complete sets are far more valuable than partial sets or individual pieces
- Chips on dish rims reduce value by 40-60%; marbles with chips lose most value
- Color intensity matters; vivid, saturated colors outperform pale or washed-out examples
- Marbles are graded on a scale from Mint to Good; surface damage heavily impacts grade and price
Collecting Tips
Entry Points
Individual children's dish pieces in common colors are widely available at $5-$30. Common machine-made marbles can be had for $1-$5 each, making Akro Agate one of the most accessible collecting categories.
Building a Collection
- Children's dishes by pattern - "Concentric Ring," "Stacked Disc," "Interior Panel," and "Chiquita" are popular named patterns
- Marble varieties - Assembling examples of different manufacturing techniques and color combinations
- Color runs - Collecting a single form in every available color variation
- Boxed sets - The holy grail for children's dish collectors; original boxes are rare survivors
Key Cautions
- Several companies produced similar children's dishes; confirm the crow-through-A mark
- Some colors have been reproduced; modern examples tend to be slightly different in hue
- Marble identification requires study; pattern names like "Popeye" and "Superman" are collector terms, not manufacturer designations