Steph

Hmmmmm ... lid looks different from the auction where the first picture was taken from. New ebay pic: Morphy lid which went with the other pic:

They found the missing lid.

I don't remember if I was told size. I wouldn't have guessed small, knowing the sizes on Calif Agate boxes I've seen. But ? Also, I don't remember if I was told what the monogrammed pieces were.

If I knew about this one before, I forgot about it. STANDARD TOY MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. (1894-1922) Akron, Ohio. Owned and operated by Frank J. Brown and family, manufacturers of ceramic marbles; commies, crockies, Jaspers. Believed to be the first to manufacture and market marbles for industrial purposes, largely as inert, filtration objects for municipal water systems; manufactured ceramic marbles as large as 5 inches in diameter, likely as pump value balls. http://www.americantoymarbles.com/glossary.htm The largest in this group is about 1 and 5/8". The second grouping has 1 and 1/2" marbles.

These are 1 and 1/2".

Didn't see the part about the missing lid. Still strange to use a four-year-old photo for a "fresh" estate find. I guess I'll stay puzzled. Will try to remember to look for feedback on it.

I'm hoping we get at least one more snow before summer.

I suppose the 2011 buyer could have passed away and it could be part of their estate ... but to use the same photo? And not even provide a photo of the box top? Weird.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/121520111210 "Original Box Of Antique Christensen Agate Guinea Marbles Estate Fresh!" Best offer accepted ... and that best offer was apparently less than $4500 Yet this "Local Estate Fresh" box photo is from a Morphy Auction, where the box sold for nearly $13,000 in 2011. http://morphyauctions.hibid.com/lot/6210596/christensen-set-of-worlds-best-guinea-marbles- Grainy Ebay pic and original Morphy version:

sunkist banana!

Could be Champion too. http://marbleconnection.com/topic/20573-vintage-champion-agates (Thanks for Don for the reminder.)

Thanks!

^^ what he said

Here is a man at work making California Agates out of Mexican onyx. These are machine-ground. The caption is incorrect. That's not the man with the son named Frankie who made the news with his collection of 3000 agates. Here's Frankie's actual father, George Douglas Mitchell, and some of their California Agates: Photo courtesy of Frankie's son, Doug Mitchell. Hope the pictures are showing up. The seemed not to want to load at first.

Welcome Cali! Nice to meet you.

The upload didn't work! Darn!

LOL @ "promiscuously". That's a very cute set.

What a sweet style. Some how I've managed to collect a few of those that I didn't remember acquiring ... I was delighted to find when I sorted my Akros.

"2. A piece of a certain kind of rock, that's been carved/ground/polished into a sphere without fancy machinery." "Handmade" (or "hand-ground" or "hand-faceted") agate would be close to that. Machinery was used but there was someone tending the marble on the grinder. Manually rotating it so that it would be ground all around.

I'll give it a try if no one else does but on some of those questions I'm sure someone can be more efficient than I. I kinda dither over some of the terms myself.

The agate is incredible.

Sorry for your frustration, Celticdruid. I use Photobucket for most of my photos. Sometimes I load them to the gallery. Size doesn't matter for Photobucket or the gallery. For attachments they have to be less than about 450 kb.

I always love when the first marbles of spring peek out from the ground .....