Steph

Thanks Tome for the explanation. Chinese Checkers marbles count! LOL I also read a very brief reference to Aboriginal children playing games with them. It didn't give any details and I can't find it again today, but it was just someone's sort of vague memory anyway. Here's where I first saw examples of the quandong seed marbles yesterday. It's what started my brief search and prompted my question. Jane's Marble Collection p.s. & lol! Check out Jane's Marble Man on that same page! rofl (the 2nd pic is the front of the fella!)

Thank you. Very clear explanation. Just to make sure, are you showing an onionskin on the left and a Joseph coat on the right? (thanks again, much appreciated)

LOL, I just read about Quandong seeds being used for marbles. Do you know about that?

What is the difference between a Joseph's Coat and an Onionskin?

Turns out that someone with clay and glaze can make their own 'Benningtons'. Of course that would be so. These are items purchased within the last month by someone who sells a lot of ceramic marbles in the vintage category on eBay: Item #250190217158, 25 lb bag of Potter's Moist Clay ($11) Item #140097403085, 4 oz. Royal Blue Glaze ($1.90) Item #140096691170, 4 oz. Aegean Blue Glaze ($1.55), which by the way has lead in it. Note: This information was discovered by Steve (Splattman) and posted at LOM. Steve also found that this eBayer also bought a few dozen real Benningtons and clay marbles within the last month. Why? To use for comparison as they hone their own ability to make convincing marbles? To salt their large lots with real Benningtons to make it look more convincing to buyers looking for clues of the overall authenticity of the lot? Some other reason? Who knows. Perhaps they simply enjoy all kinds of ceramics, including creating their own. However, this seller has more than one negative feedback alleging fraudulent practices, including mixing reproduction marbles with antiques and artificially toning silver coins. Fraud is possible. Be careful out there.

Al, when I saw you'd answered, I thought "yea!" because Al will tell us what the max size known to be made by Champ is (for things other than double ingots). I'm pretty sure I read at LOM that it's less than 7/8". Not so?

Wonder how old this Bull's Eye box would be? (from an ebay auction)

I'll presume this Marble Champ package came sometime between the swirls and the cat's eyes. The seller said, "In one corner it reads pressman toy corp new york ny no 5990 made in usa".

No. 130 box, with cellophane top, from a Marblealan auction:

don't know. had 'em awhile before I noticed the marbles. best guess is they were a ride-along with something like a vintage button lot. whenever I got them, I put them aside and forgot about them. found 'em again in my attic and then started noticing the little details. :-)

Shoe laces. No biggie. "Old Cobbler" brand. Sure, cobblers make shoes. But tell me those are something other than marbles in the background on the label. Made in Japan, for the Alox Mfg. Co., St. Louis 14, MO. The 14 after the St. Louis was the Postal Zone, used by the post office between 1943 and 1963.

I need to add a standalone WOW! for those murrini stretching pics! Too cool! WOW!

Thanks. :-) That's where I was at. Wondering about a 2nd seam if there was a 2nd marble cut from the same gather. Those guys who did it for a living must have had amazing control of what went on, and off of, their punties.

Alan, you're saying more than one marble gets made from the same glob the worker has gathered up onto the end of his punty, right? When I was picturing the worker putting a single marble sized glob on his punty at one time, I thought I understood the tail. Now I'm back somewhere near square 1. Hopefully a little further, lol, but not sure! So, how does the tail get on the hand-gathereds? When the helper with the shears cuts one glob off, it drops to the rollers. That cutting action gave the cutline on the marble that dropped. so far so good? But the same cutting action tugs out a new tail on the glass that is left on the punty? And then does the worker continue to twist the punty after each glob is sheared off, to keep the glass more or less stable, and is that how the new tail gets looped around?

My guess was mica for the klondike! For snowstorms! But lutz would make a lot of sense given the date of the catalog. The Klondike goldrush started in 1897. Then again ... a flurry of mica flecks might have reminded someone of gold in the water.

Yeah, my guess was the 'opal threaded glass marbles' are clambroths. Wondered if maybe the brandies could be gooseberries.

What were Klondike marbles and Brandies? This is from a catalog page shown in Grist's Big Book of Marbles, 2nd ed. The caption said Lyon Brothers catalog, 1900 - 1910, Chicago, Illinois. The 2nd edition didn't explain the names. (Does the 3rd?) Guesses are welcome. Thanks!

It's totally sweet. I'm having fun trying to imagine what the story behind it could possibly be. Such an unusual subject for a photo!

Mike takes his marble pictures with the Hubble telescope.

This will be an invaluable resource for id's. Not to mention that they're gorgeous marbles. I expect I'll pick up on something new everytime I look at this thread, for some time to come. Thank you so much Alan!

C'mon, how can you ask us to choose?!

Carole, I'm with Felicia wondering what type of marble #1 is. (And Sue, yeah, that's a fun looking necklace.)

Squid Ink! LOL Good one! I've wondered about this before. But couldn't ever get a picture which showed it right to ask the question. (Nice camera work, Joe.)

Pyramid Play-Time Marbles: . . (source) For Ron's discussion about the rarity and contents see here.

Tiny beads of platinum magnified through the marble. Would make me feel rich! Might also be pretty. :-) p.s. Pardon me for not noting the dedication needed to experiment with vaporizing platinum. I am impressed. Talk about transcending materialism for art!