To most people who grew up in the 1930s, the name Akro Agate summons up memories of some of the best of America’s machine-made marbles. Less than a generation later, the name Akro Agate was associated with a line of glass children’s dishes, toys and novelty items.

The Akro Agate company was founded in 1910 in Akron, Ohio … thus the derivation of the name Akro. Within three years, they had relocated to Clarksburg, W. Va., where the mass production of a line of spirals, agates, translucents and swirls made Akro Agate the most successful marble manufacturer in this country.

Business boomed well into the early 1930s with the help of such commercial enterprises as the production of lenses for reflectors and truck taillights. Unfortunately the Depression and changes in the tastes of American children conspired in the 1930s to sharply curtail the demand for marbles.

At that time, the company aggressively promoted a new line of agate glass children’s toys, dishes and novelty items. Some of these items had been in production for several years, but large-scale manufacture resulted from the decline in marble sales.

Children growing up in the late 1930s and 1940s were given dishes and tea sets made by Akro Agate. Some of these dishes were designed as doll toys but some such as the small cereal bowls were designed to be used by children. Akro Agate novelties and toy dishes were a popular gift item until the company closed its doors in 1951.

It was not until the boom in collectibles beginning in the late 1960s that collectors began to show interest in this glassware again, and it has only been a few years since prices for Akro Agate pieces began to show substantial appreciation.

All Akro Agate is swirled and marbleized glass with a close resemblance to the stone. Among the colors most commonly seen are yellow, white, orange, cobalt blue, oxblood red, purple, light blue, topaz and green. There are varying shades of thse colors, some of which were produced by other companies. The Akro Agate trademark was a crow flying through a capital A while grasping marbles in its talons and beak. There are unmarked pieces as well as those bearing the marks of merged operations such as the J.P. of J. Pressman Co.

Among the several names for Akro patterns are the Stippled Band, Ribbed, Raised Daisy and the ever-popular Chiquita. Most forms can be found in these patterns. Most common are single cups, bowls and plates. Other forms include teapots, creamers, sugar bowls, powder jars, flower pots, candlesticks and ashtrays. The latter four of these are full-size items rather than toys.

Some of the rare forms include figural covered jars and novelty figurines, especially those in rare colors such as pumpkin and oxblood red. Complete tea sets were not uncommon gifts for children but over the years many of the pieces were chipped, broken, lost or separated. For this reason, complete matched tea sets in Akro Agate are hard to find and expensive.

Collectors should be especially careful of sets made up of odd pieces. Always look for consistency in color, swirl, pattern, marks and size.

For the most part, serious glass collectors have overlooked these wares with a few exceptions. For this reason, prices are still pretty reasonable for most examples, except for the rare colors, forms and complete tea sets.

Robert Croul, the NEWS antiques columnist, is from Newburgh.