Vitro Agate Company Marbles

Vitro marbles have a long and interesting history of successive marble companies. Vitro Agate Marble Company of Parkersburg, West Virginia operated from 1932 to 1969, when it was acquired and by the Gladding Corporation, who changed the company's name to Gladding-Vitro Agate. Gladding-Vitro Agate Company operated from 1969 to 1982, when the Paris Manufacturing Company purchased it, and changed the name back to Vitro Agate. In 1987, it was purchased by Viking Rope Company, which retained the name, but moved the company to Anacortes, Washington. In 1992, JABO, Inc. bought Vitro Agate Company, moving the Vitro machinery from Anacortes, Washington, to Reno, Ohio, and becoming the JABO-Vitro Company. Jabo Vitro still makes a marble called "Classics" which look like older swirls, and these marbles have flooded the Internet auction market and are sometimes passed off as vintage. Pre 1992 marbles are generally referred to as Vitros. Post 1992 marbles are generally called Jabos, which are mostly considered to be of lesser quality than the previous vintage types.

The original Vitro Agate marbles such as victories, conquerors, all reds, and Parrots are the most collectible, but certain cage cat's eye marbles, including hybrid colors and the Horseshoe Cage variants, and command higher prices. Almost all the early Vitros have thin layers of colored glass veneered onto a clear or opaque white base. Many of these early Vitros have a "V" in their veneered pattern. The veneered marbles with four or more multicolor patches called "parrots," often bring the highest price based on eye appeal and condition.