hdesousa

Middle pic, upper right marble fragment has "English" colors. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-lot-antique-german-cane-pieces-/351017579121

Heard (at least 20 years ago) a guy by the name of TC Robertson (http://www.dvsglass.com/) over-fired a bunch of sulphide marbles which were sent to him for restoration. A collection of figures and melted glass was all that was left in the bottom of his kiln. He proceeded to pick up each figure and enclosed it in glass, remaking the marbles practically from scratch. Then again, I've also heard sulphide marbles can blow up when reheated. Hansel (not a glass worker)

Steph beat you to it in post# 15.

Greg, No particularly good story. But you have good taste. My wife tells me these are her favorite marbles (next to big bob and the twins). This board was 'found' in the UK. Think Lloyd Huffer may have once owned it and if so, may have more information. I bought it from Jeff Carskadden, the author of the Chinas book. The rose motif is not an uncommon decoration on porcelain made in Thuringia. For example: http://www.etsy.com/listing/168237207/very-rare-find-1800s-thuringia-porcelain The marbles show up on eBay occasionally. There's one up now: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=181342112133

No. Insufficient attention span. But here's a solution for those who want to cheat: http://www.wikihow.com/Win-the-Peg-Solitaire-Game-%28English-Board%29

Randy's two marbles pictures in the first few posts of this thread - aren't they two of those three? They were sold by Elliot, but I doubt they were 'found' in the USA. Most these brightly colored mibs are 'found' in Europe and the UK.

I recognize that lion. Still looking for his pride......

The best (i.e. most useful) definition of a clown is that in a clown, some of the colors are in splotches and and often appear to be lined in black. Randy's marbles are clowns, and the example JVV has pictured in post #12 shows this very well.

Beautiful marble. But what do you base the 1850 date on, just the faceted pontil and the UV glow? Do we know when they stopped making faceted pontils? The opaque colours indicate the marble is post 1900.

Not my marbles. Interesting story. One was bought in an antique flea market in 1979 and the other in an auction 28 years later!

Amazing variety. I bet several are one-of-a-kind survivors!

And rare too. Perhaps the rarest of large German swirls? That colored lion sulphide needs company. About a half dozen would make a pride!

These should be inexpensive at your local hardware store: http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-White-Plastic-Cafe-Curtain-Rings-1-2-Inside-Diameter-3-4-Outside-Diameter-/380853326862 http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Wooden-Curtain-Rings/201042636061

Probably made here: [3] : Porzellanmanufaktur Dressel, Kister & Co. (1844 until 1863)Dressel and Kister had more luck and finally got a concession for firewood supplies and started producing small items like pipe bowls, walking stick handles and dolls' heads. In 1847 the workforce had already increased to 148 people. Supplies were no problem as the kaolin and sand used came from the nearby Steinheid area. By 1857 the company was very well known as the first Thuringian factory which made figures on a larger scale, beginning with devotional items like madonnas and gravestone decorations and then figures in Rococo and Biedermeier styles. From 1860 onwards the product range was slowly enlarged with busts of famous poets and composers as well as animals and animal groups. http://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com/germany/thuringia/scheibe-01/index.php

Jeroen and Winnie, Most our collectible boxes are from the 1920s and 1930s. Would not expect you, nor even your parents, to have first hand information. Much of our information on marble packaging is obtained from advertisements in children's magazines and toy trade publications, and much is online. Look here, for example: http://marbleconnection.com/topic/10627-online-historical-resources-for-marble-research/ No reason you should not be able to find out how marbles were sold in Holland when your grandparents were children.

Winnie, in the decades before you were born, kids in the USA were sometimes given boxes of marbles as gifts or for good behavior in school. Some treasured their presents so much that they did not play with the marbles and the boxes survived. For example: The inscription says: To Le Roy, From Miss Larkin For perfect attendance for 1 term in school. There are other boxes, mostly "stock boxes" of 25 to 100 marbles each, that were marked with the price of the marbles. e.g. 2 cents each, or 3 for 5 cents, etc. These were probably left on the counter top in stores that sold marbles. Some marbles were packaged in boxes for retail sale or to be given as advertisement and other marbles were sold by mail order, also contained in small boxes. Many of these survived. How were marbles sold in Holland, or Europe in general, and were they packaged as promotional items and given as gifts to children?

That may be, but in the marble you pictured, every color (including the colors in the core) is backed by opaque yellow or white. If not for that backing, the marble would be nearly transparent.

There may be many old original boxes here, probably because we had several marble companies in the USA that produced millions of marbles, many of which were sold to individuals in small boxes. But some are quite rare - even one of a kind. What kind of marbles were sold in Holland during the first few decades of the machine made marble? There are some Dutch boxes (see http://marbleconnection.com/topic/19112-made-in-holland/?hl=holland).

Correct. It makes the outer layers stand out more. Before about 1910, the only opaque colors in German glass marbles were yellow and white. That's why colored ribbons in swirls were often backed with white or yellow - a central core served the same purpose in onionskins.

Very, very nice JVV. Is the red and blue glass on the surface, or is it covered with a thin layer of clear glass? Agree with Jeroen P.. It deserves a better photo. Better make it a 1/2 dozen photos, to display the entire marble!

Forgot about that one. Never seen a 33 or 66 box though.

Were the boxes marked with their respective numbers? Has any collector reported seeing any of these boxes you've described? (Other than the small jobber box of 20 marbles and the 100 count stock boxes)