crashbelt

Thanks Ric and I'll be very happy to check out Winnie's posts.

So here's the bakelite board with 33 5/8" wirepulls. Box says HPGibson London and I'm guessing 1950s. These are easy to find in the UK. I picked this up years ago just to have an example in my board collection. I had no idea who Veiligglas were or that the marbles cane from Holland. The jar in the pic is full of Veiligglas wirepulls that I picked up in job lots when buying German handmade over the years. UK must have been a big market for Veiligglas!

These are a few of the only marbles that I still have from childhood - so they must date from the early 1960s. I presume they are c.7/8" Veiligglas? I also have a bakelite solitaire board by Gibson with the smaller size wirepulls. I'll add a picture to this thread when I get back from a break in Scotland.

I see very few agates in the UK and I've never seen an old solitaire board with them. Great to see such beautiful examples.

1 1/4" double ribbon core swirl this week.

Great set - I have spotted patterns of same canes on several boards too including, as you say, later sets with so-called English colours. A dyed red ceramic centre marble was a feature of the sets by JWSpear but Ive not seen them with other makers so your compliment of 32 marbles may be complete for this set.

I like the colours on this 1" onionskin.

Congratulations Melissa that looks like a nice original set. Wish I could help identify the maker but it's not by one of the British or European makers I am familiar with. I don't recognise the M mark or the design of the board, and Ive owned or seen 100s of sets over the years. Makes me wonder if it's a US made General Grant set but that's just a wild guess. Best thing is that there's every chance those marbles have always been with the board!!

Chad - thanks for your warm welcome to a rather lonely solitaire board collector on the other side of the pond!!

An original solitaire board with 33 red micas - in my dreams!!!

1 3/4" divided core swirl this Thursday. Wishing everyone a great Xmas and maybe some marbles!

Here's a 1 1/2" onionskin this week.

Another 1 1/2" tri-level faceted swirl with a lot of air bubbles!

Very nice group

Here's a 1 1/2" tri-level swirl with jelly green red and blue strands and faceted pontils.

I have very few larger mibs but here's a 2 5/16" tri-level swirl I found in the Scottish Highlands years ago!

Wow stunning!!! These beautifully designed and crafted huge examples must have predominantly have been exported to the US. We rarely see them in the UK compared with the plentiful small marbles for game boards. Amazing marble.

Inspired by last week's gorgeous marble with pink strands, here's a 1 3/8" single faceted pontil (EOD) cloud with some pink spots

Beautiful

Here's some brightly coloured, so-called English, 9/16" Josephs from one of my boards. One for Chad I guess!!

The polished ones look great. We don't have access to polishers in the UK so my jar of beaters stays that way - but I love them all!!

Just a nice brightly coloured one inch onionskin. One of my first mibs bought over 30 years ago.

I don't know anything about machine mades, but I've had these 7/8" mibs since childhood in the 60s. They might be Velliglas from what I've read here.

Love your Joseph's Chad. Great Halloween mib display Dave. We were staying with US friends just south of DC a while back during Halloween. Unbelievable displays and parades- we have a way to go in the UK

Another unusual 12" board this week. Probably Jaques c.1860s - the game known as Nine Mens Morris aka Merelles aka The Mill. Mibs not original to the board but set up as they would have been with 2 opposing teams of 9. The swirls are nice clear glass ground pontils and the onions are earlier faceted pontils. All 7/8" - really nice size.