Antique gear shift knobs

[Guest]

Does anyone know the manufacturers of antique gear shift knobs that are glass and look like large marbles? They have screw inserts on the bottom to attach to the gear shift.<P>These are sometimes collected my antique marble collectors but apparently no one has distinctive evidence of who made these. Help! dpetrik8@aol.com

[Guest]

We have a 1/2 dozen of these knobs...they are VERY NICE! Are you interested in purchasing just a couple or do you want dozens of them? They came from a fellow in Ohio whom we called "Beaver" & last we saw him at Hershey he said he was giving up on producing them. <BR>His name is:<BR>Lloyd McWilliams <BR>1255 Ginder Rd. NW<BR>Lancaster, Ohio 43130<BR>Ph: 614-756-4609<BR>I hope it's ok to give out this type of info on the Internet.<BR>If you contact him say hi from my hubbsy, Stan Hurd.

[Guest BruceW]

Apparently Akro Agate produced glass "marble like" gearshift knobs during the 1920s through the late 1940s. Akro Agate was a glass manaufacturer in Clarksburg, WV that made a lot of glass items. The following URL gives a history of the company. There is no mention about gearshift knobs being manufactured but I often see Akro Agate gearshift knobs advertised on Ebay for sale.<BR> <A HREF="http://www.mkl.com/akro/club/history.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://www.mkl.com/akro/club/history.htm</A><P><BR>Another manufacturer of glass shift knobs appears to have been Houze glass in Marion, Pa. I thiink this company still makes glass products<BR>The following text is from the URL:<BR> <A HREF="http://www.geocities.com/richsrarities/culletmarbles.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.geocities.com/richsrarities/culletmarbles.html</A> <P>My fluorescent oxblood glass was reportedly salvaged from a river by a man I met who said he found it down stream from Houze glass of Point Marion PA. This glass was used on the 1920-1930 model "A" and "T" gear Shift knobs. I have a "reject" salvaged knob without the threaded insert and it fluoresces the same as the rest of this glass. Houze glass and Akro Agate probably had some glass formulas in common as they were only approx. 55 miles apart and likely on the same supply salesman's route. Houze glass made shifter knobs, pie knives and other glass items.<p>[ 01-24-2002: Message edited by: BruceW ]

[1929Franklin]

Hi  I make glass gearshift knobs like the ones made in the 1930s with Stainless inserts  Robert Tanga  404 643 5476 Atlanta GA

roberttanga@yahoo.com