crashbelt

I bought these 32 marbles without a board many years ago. Almost certainly from an original set - 32 x 9/16" marbles. Same colours, pontils etc. The only surprise is the one Lutz - my hunch is that it may well have been originally part of the set but I'll never know. I've only ever seen two original all Lutz boards - one in a Stan Block book and one owned by my board collector pal Tom. I put this set on a spare imitation (I think) slate board I had. I don't know anything about it so welcome any thoughts.

Here's another probably original set with mixed micas.

Here's an unusual board. Its the Snail Game, sometimes seen on the reverse side of solitaire boards. But this is the only one I've seen on its own board with bun feet. The gold decoration indicates its by FHAyres. The marbles aren't original to the board. But as the game is played by up to 6 players chasing to the centre, I've put 6 different colour micas on it

I'd want to release those bennies from their confinement!

Here's the only really big marble I have - 2 1/4" tri-level swirl. Found in an antique shop in the remote Scottish Highlands 20 years ago - wonder how it got there!!!

Beautiful example Ric - I've never seen one as good.

I recently got this rare Nine Mens Morris board which I've filled with swirls from my stash.

Stunning - one of the missing links in my collection!!

Funny thing is that I didn't spot the alternating blue/white latts until I received the board and looked really close up at the 2 marbles. Sometimes you just get lucky

A boxed Chad Valley solitaire set with almost certainly original pee wees. The board is very crudely made stained pine. But the marbles are nicely made, including 2 same cane red latts in divided ribbon form and 2 same cane alternating blue/white latts. I've seen this kind of quality mismatch before on later period Chad Valley sets.

Big day for me. Got to complete this board with 17mm green micas It was my only incomplete board left so very happy.

Great condition Chad - I find that Indians' surface bands of coloured glass tend to chip and flake easily. This on's perfect!!.

Sometimes Ayres used a mix of coloured pee wee micas on their compendium boards.

Can't beat cobalt blue micas on an Ayres compendium board. Just over pee wee size.

My pleasure to show some detail of the contents of the Compendium Box. I've shown the reverse side of the game board which is a horse racing game. The other side is hand-tooled leather for chess/draughts and backgammon. The cards are very ornate and in perfect condition. Im guessing Swiss from the Red Cross motif. That would fit as Ayres imported the marbles from Germany so why not the cards from Europe too. The pee wee marbles are very well made for later period swirls so I guess Ayres specified high quality for what must have been a quite up market product in Victorian times. And the lock still works perfectly!! Thanks for asking - always fun to take a closer look at items from the collection.

Here's a F H Ayres games compendium including a square solitaire board with pee wee swirls - late 19th Century. Rare to find one completely intact.

Here's another board with swirls - nice 20mm size. Most were original to the board but I had to add a few to complete it - can't remember which now!!

Beautiful marbles - nice way to display them too!!

Here's a board I bought from a Canadian collector decades ago! Basic fruitwood or pine board with nice set of 9/16" swirls and onions with many same canes. I like these simple examples just as much as the rarer boards with spectacular mibs.

A couple of aqua mica boards this week. 15mm with ground pontils and 18mm faceted. The English Board makers had a strong liking for German micas - second only to swirls in my experience of (probably) original sets.

The marbles in pic 1 look very like the ones on my octagonal board (above). I have other boards with these marbles and I'm guessing same maker. I'd love to have any leads on the maker.

Here's a crudely made (looks to be cut from veneered blockboard) octagonal board with a set of rather nice clear swirls. No idea of the maker - I would have guessed homemade if I hadn't seen a few of them elsewhere. I've resisted the temptation to transfer the mibs to a better board as I think it may be an original set. Later period of course.

Nice green/white alternating latt

Thanks - I've never seen these before or heard about their manufacture!!

Here are a couple of boxed sets by W S Spear which are found fairly commonly in the UK. Spear set up in England in 1888 so these will be late 19th or early 29th Century. This set is often found with banded transparents and sometimes as with the second set with swirls. The instructions refer to removing the 'red man' from the centre hole to start the game. Both of these sets came with a red (now faded) dyed red clay marble, and both boards show red dye rubbed off in the centre hole. So I'm fairly confident these are all original sets.