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Andrea, The reason I suggested Akronmarbles is because he's already worked it out. Most of it anyway. And being a mibologist, he should be more willing to die for the cause than I am. See: http://web.archive.org/web/20061004092752/http://www.akronmarbles.com/marble_production.htm and http://web.archive.org/web/20061004093426/http://www.akronmarbles.com/elias_greiner_vetter.htm

Bob, No, I did not think you made up that 1820 date. I was just curious who made it up. Now that I know where you got the information from, I'll assume it's more conjecture than fact. Everything I read says 1850's at the earliest. Incomplete marbles as well as fragments of these hand gathered, ground pontil marbles are dug alongside remnants of cane cut German swirls from glass factory dumps. I wonder if they were made very much earlier than cane cut swirls. As I said, yours is a very nice marble. I don't know if I've ever seen another quite like it on eBay. But you said "these type German marbles, that probably date to somewhere between 1820 and 1850, are seldom seen on eBay." Well, I see them a lot on eBay. Here are 10 that were sold by a single seller this month alone: Outstanding Seller, Great Marbles, Fast Shipping! A++ Buyer: l***s ( 456) Jan-28-14 10:16 2 Leighton Style Transitional Marbles 15/16".NM Plus Plus. (#400643936778) US $61.00 View Item 2 Leighton Style Transitional Marbles 15/16".NM Plus Plus. Outstanding Seller, Great Marbles, Fast Shipping! A++ Buyer: l***s ( 456) Jan-28-14 10:16 Leighton Type Egg Yolk And Green Transitional Marble.1" Minus.NM. (#400643932639) US $52.00 View Item Leighton Type Egg Yolk And Green Transitional Marble.1" Minus.NM. Outstanding Seller, Great Marbles, Fast Shipping! A++ Buyer: l***s ( 456) Jan-28-14 10:16 Large Leighton Type Transitional Marble 15/16" Plus NM. (#400638823207) US $27.00 View Item Large Leighton Type Transitional Marble 15/16" Plus NM. Outstanding Seller, Great Marbles, Fast Shipping! A++ Buyer: l***s ( 456) Jan-28-14 10:16 Large Leighton Type Transitional Marble Facet Pontil 15/16" Plus.NM Plus Plus. (#400638820575) US $42.00 View Item Large Leighton Type Transitional Marble Facet Pontil 15/16" Plus.NM Plus Plus. Outstanding Seller, Great Marbles, Fast Shipping! A++ Buyer: l***s ( 456) Jan-28-14 10:14 3 Leighton Type Transitional Marbles 7/8"-31/32".NM-NM Plus Plus. (#360835569328) US $45.00 View Item 3 Leighton Type Transitional Marbles 7/8"-31/32".NM-NM Plus Plus. Great item and fast shipping - - AAAA+++++ Buyer: l***e ( 1889) Jan-25-14 14:13 Large Leighton Type Transition Marble Oxblood 31/32" Faceted Pontil NM Plus Plus (#360829264795) US $177.50 View Item Large Leighton Type Transition Marble Oxblood 31/32" Faceted Pontil NM Plus Plus Great transaction;highly recommend this dealer!!!!!!!! Buyer: t***f ( 484) Jan-15-14 15:55 Large Leighton Type Transitional Swirl Ground faceted Pontil With 9 Swirl. (#360829261520) US $44.00 View Item

Good God Andrea, I hope you haven't just doomed me by asking me to write a book! First Les Jones, then Alan Bassinet, and now ME. Years of collecting, simply hanging around marble collectors, does nothing to qualify anyone to write a worthwhile book that will help sort out "so much conflicting information in the hobby". You need to find someone with the time, skills and passion to do some original historical and perhaps archeological research to elucidate the "truth". Pick on someone like Akronmarbles, not me.

Bob, Thanks for posting this marble; it's a beauty. However, it's not true that they are seldom seen on eBay. A cursory search shows 7 up right now: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=leighton+marbles+-tile&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.Xleighton+marbles+rare&_nkw=leighton+marbles+rare&_sacat=0 and there have been many more listed in the past. Those under an inch are found on solitaire boards in the UK, mixed in with regular (and usually nicer) handmade swirls. That's why I'm surprised you date them as early as 1820. Where did you get that date from? regards, Hansel

Winnie, Are you trying to sell us something? These things are not rare at all. http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/11/04/earth_like_exoplanets_planets_like_ours_may_be_very_common.html Hansel

A mineral collector once sliced some old, faceted German agates for me. Turns out they had all been dyed, even the red/brown ones, and the dye only penetrated a couple mm.

No, please post the pics. Not upsetting us at all, if you smash *your* marbles!

Galen, Something is worthless only if you can't either eat it or make love to it. Can't eat marbles (except paper mache marbles) and Steph probably won't let me tell you what you probably already know about drilling glass marbles and stringing them on a line. Anyhow, I agree we're all a little mad. But marbles aren't completely worthless.

Stefan, Not sure why you need to make a clear glass marble invisible to see what it would look like polished; after all, a "wet mint" marble in air is still very visible. If you take a damaged marble and smooth out the damage, it will give you that polished look. After all, that's what polishing does. And you've found out that wetting the marble in air, preferably with a clear viscous solution, will do the trick. (If you completely immerse the marble, what happens is that you lose the magnification caused by the different refractive indices between glass and air. In air, the curved glass surface bends the image of the interior of the marble which then appears magnified. You get the same loss of magnification when looking into a marble through a flat "facet" without the surface curvature.) However, if you still want to immerse your marble in a clear liquid with a high refractive index, there are a couple here that are relatively safe: viz. silicone oil and glycerol. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_refractive_indices

Bob, Coming up with questions does not mean you're losing your mind. Quite the opposite. Here are some answers: "Given the shape of the 'canvas', are the straight lines actually curved and the curved lines actually straight?" All the lines are straight. A good question, since that's actually hard to figure out without the marble in hand. Even Greg Pessman (pig farmer turned master china painter) got it wrong, until he got to see the marble on the left in person. "Are the marbles sitting in snow?" No, that's just the cotton-like batting that comes in those glass top cardboard display cases. "And is that a miniature security tag on the one on the left?" You'd go out of your mind if I told you.

Interesting article, thanks for posting. Wonder how big the "bonce about" marbles were? Also interesting because the different types of marbles are discussed. Clay marbles, not being round, were hardly worth shooting. "Dutch" marbles, probably a misnomer for Deutsch (i.e. German) marbles (which sound like limestone and dyed limestone marbles ) were the "honest workable marble". Alley-taws, or marbles made of marble, were the preferred shooter, and agate marbles were too expensive to even be considered playing marbles. No mention of glass nor porcelain marbles, which is strange. Google says the book is from 1863,when glass as well as stoneware and china marbles were available.

What'sa matter - getting cabin fever? Severe case of S.A.D.? Suck on a couple balls - CA opaques work best - you'll feel better, and if lucky, they may hatch before Easter.

It's been suggested that what I've been calling agateware carpet balls may not be carpet balls, since every ball is different and in a game it would be difficult to distinguish the balls of the different players. (In the traditional game, one team used say plaid decorated balls and the other team maybe sponge decorated balls) However, these things are found with marbles and with traditional carpet balls. Here is a picture of three "imitation" agate balls, and one genuine, hand faceted, antique, made in Germany agate ball that came as a decorative piece as part of a small bronze sculpture. Do you think these ceramic balls were made as decorative, imitation agate pieces, or as game balls/toys of some kind?

Beat up sulphides - kids trying to get the figures out.

And if you need replacements come tomorrow, here's a couple more: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-2-Solid-brass-bearing-balls-machined-/310713872391

That's good information Craig, thanks.

Craig, Here's one very similar to one of yours, but different. Not as detailed, marbles placed differently, standing boys heads closer together, etc. Guess these were individually made?

Lets see some of yours, Scott! Here's one of mine. Needs some repairs to make it museum quality. But would that be like replacing the arms on Venus de Milo?

I'm warm, with still another hour's worth of shoveling to go. (That was a few days ago) Can you see the marbles hanging on the naked Christmas tree?

Yes, that's a very good idea. Some "third party authorities" may know what they're talking about. BTW, I've always said your marble is rare and nice. Look at post #23 "very attractive and has a rare, possibly unique design." But it was put together crudely (which is not a problem for collectors of these things), not as you have implied, a "very difficult technique, and cost a lot of time" Post #1 Let us know when you get a reply from the York Castle Museum experts. Thanks.

Didn't intend to offend you mate. Thought most Aussies had thick skins, like Crocodile Dundee. Sorry. Here's more on the "Very Rare Kind of "mosaic Stoneware" Marble" that may explain my last post. Jeroen recently purchased this carpet bowl (not mosaic and not a marble) from an experienced antique dealer for two to three times what normal looking antique agateware carpet bowls usually sell for. There's no reason to suspect that that was anything other than a fair price, since this dealer has sold many agateware balls in the past 25 years, as well as toy marble items for many thousands of dollars. Here's an example (this one's smaller though) of a recent sale on eBay for this type of bowl. Not as fancy, but also quite rare: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BIG-UNUSUAL-LINE-CROCK-TYPE-MARBLE-/330991514882 Ever since he bought his bowl, Jeroen, with virtually no knowledge of the item, has been trying to promote it on the marble boards as something that is extremely old, valuable and difficult to make, attributing qualities to it that are more fictional than real, seemingly for the purpose of selling it for a huge profit to an unsuspecting collector. (He offered it to a friend of mine for $10,000.00) Admittedly the bowl is rare and very collectable (as I have previously said) but the technique is not difficult nor unique, and the surface veneer sloppily applied (look at other views), which is not a problem as it was made for use as a carpet bowl and not a cabinet piece. My daughter, who has a degree in fine arts (and thus a more critical eye for 'museum pieces'), did not like the unfinished way the agate veneer was put together. I doubt many would agree with you that this is "most likely a historically important museum piece", but if someone purchased it from Jeroen as such, and then found out they paid many times more than what the next one that shows up sells for, how would you feel?

"most likely a historically important museum piece" - wow, I thought Americans liked spin, but seems you've got us beat. (Unless, of course, you know something we don't) See http://pr.wikia.com/wiki/Edward_Bernays "One of Bernays' favorite techniques for manipulating public opinion was the indirect use of "third party authorities" to plead for his clients' causes."

Yes, that was definitely something large marbles were used for. In one of Jeff Carskadden's books there's a page from a 1880's catalog from a Colorado company, the H.H. Tammen Co., which imported German agates. Large agate marbles were sold "for cabinet pieces", or something like that.

At the height of the glass marble industry in Thuringen, there were at least a dozen US toy merchants who maintained offices in Sonnenburg, a centrally located town with good facilities, about a 1/2 day's walk from many of the marble factories. I'm told large "specimen" marbles, probably single pontil, individually made marbles, were given as presents to representatives of these foreign companies who bought the bulk of the marble production. You could send an inquiry to their local toy museum: http://www.itcwebdesigns.com/tour_germany/toy_museum_sonneberg01.htm Other than that, the game of bowls has been around since antiquity: http://www.tradgames.org.uk/games/Bowls.htm Ceramic bowls were used in the UK in the 1800s; don't know about large glass balls though.

the entire design comes together at one pole, as if the marble was dipped into paint, perhaps in a technique similar to what's shown in this link, originally commissioned by Pete Caparelli and posted here by Bob Block a couple years ago: Marbled Arts Marbles.pdf and a bit more detail on producing the design - ebru, a Turkish technique: applied to spheres, in this example, by Germans: