hdesousa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Wa_balls%C2'>

Here's one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321259396784 Same seller has several listed. Low feedback , but someone has been selling for a long time. Probably received some revealing feedback and then restarted selling under a different name.

"jiggled them a little" - is that like a stamp collector licking their stamps? Santa may not be good to you this year............

An early Akro box. No. 88

Here are a couple of the rarest pelts. Not pretty, just rare. A 1933 World's Fair and a 1932 Hoover (for) President.

A 3" size caliper is handy for small marbles, but its jaws may not be long enough to encompass a large marble. I have no problems carrying a full size caliper in my (shirt, not deep) pocket but still seem to loose them on a regular basis. Not a problem, as the cheapest versions are as accurate as the expensive ones. e.g.: http://www.ebay.com/itm/GRAY-Plastic-move-Caliper-15CM-Slide-Vernier-Caliper-with-Depth-for-student-Tool-/261331466113 They all come with an attached vernier scale, which allows you to measure to 1/128 of an inch. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernier_scale

Great link to Roger's classification of transition pontils. Thanks. That appears to be a good way of sorting out the various pontils. So those in my Akro box have "line" pontils Roger says they've been found as complete early Solitaire Sets from Britain. Interesting, and thanks again for the link and info.

Hi Winnie, Thought I saw long curved pontils and long tails of red glass on your first pics, that's why I had thought the marbles were different from the marbles I posted. But with your most recent pics, and your description of short straight pontils and brown coloration under UV light, I suspect our marbles are similar. Do yours come in any other colors? Would you say they are Pinch Pontil Transitionals? "Pinch Pontil Transitionals exhibit a short straight raised line on the bottom pole. Usually, the top pole has a “9” type configuration. The cut-off line on a Pinch Pontil is much straighter and usually much shorter than that seen on the Crease Pontils discussed below. The crease on Crease Pontils usually are about 1/5th to 1/4 the circumference of the marble. The pontil on a Pinch Pontil are usually less than 1/10th the circumference of the marble. There is still discussion amongst collectors over the age and origin of these marbles. It was generally believed that Pinch Pontil Transitionals are American made, probably early Christensen Agate Company. However, recent research has indicated that the marbles were made in Canada. The pontil is the remnant of a mechanized shearing process, rather than a hand-cut process." http://www.marblecollecting.com/marble-reference/online-marble-id-guide/transitions/ Doubt there's any evidence they're made in Canada, other than they are more commonly found there than in the US (but so are large ribbon lutz marbles). Can you provide links to where your marbles were described as German? Much marble information is more speculative than factual. regards, Hansel

Great job Al! Here's one you may have missed.

hi Winnie, Thanks for the pic. I think your marbles have a different gather and cut-off than the marbles I pictured. Do some of them turn brown under fluorescent lighting? What makes you call these German marbles? Do you have them in different colors? They look very similar to marbles that come in boxes marked "Made in Japan". see "Crease Pontil Transitionals" here: http://www.marblecollecting.com/marble-reference/online-marble-id-guide/transitions/

See if some look brown under a fluorescent light.

a couple more pics

More pics. Many of the marbles have a 2mm to 5mm straight, raised or indented cut line.

Recently bought on eBay from an antique store in Michigan. 11/16" marbles. Sellers say this is the way they came to them; they do not know marbles. They are uniformly dusty and have seemingly been together in this box for a long time. In common with CA american agates, (some of which are also hand gathered but have no rough pontil like these do) under fluorescent lighting, some (but not all) of the marbles take on a much browner hue. This is not seen with the Japanese marbles of this type.

You're correct Speed Racer, neck is too fat for an ostrich. Ann, emu sounds good. I forgot Australia had been colonized by the time Germans made sulphides. Wonder how anatomically correct sulphides had to be?

Anyone seen one before?

Speaking of beautiful Akros, what kind of beautiful (or not) Akros (or not) are these? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-Vintage-Carnelians-Lot-of-25-Akro-Agate-Marbles-w-Original-No-1-Box-/380738420616

I'm pretty sure those glass marbles had been in that Albright box for a very long time.

Reminds me (similar colors) of Paul Baumann's "Peacock Lutz" (Pg.78 4th ed of his book, or front cover of the 3rd ed). So what's the 'rest of the story'?

Yup. those were them. When Jeff Carskadden (the primary author of the books on chinas and colonial period marbles) sold his marble collection, the only marbles he kept were a few of these "blood alleys".

Don't know where bead collectors draw the line, or if they even have one. Actually what I had said earlier, about what I had heard some 20-30 years ago, is wrong. Beads with black residue in their perforation are indeed made in India, but the black staining is from iron in the mandrel oxidizing to iron oxide, not from burnt bamboo.

more pics of marble beads used as decoration

Several years ago I visited this museum not far from Laucha, where there was a glass chandelier made up with a few large marble beads. http://www.historisches-weihnachtsmuseum.de/ I took some crude photos through the glass case.

Nice thing about beads, is that there is a tremendous amount written about them. No need to speculate. For example, a cursory search on the internet shows iron mandrels were(are) used in India: http://www.beadingtimes.com/culture0803.htm Iron will leave a black residue (as the oxide) in the perforation. The Chinese used bamboo mandrels, coated with clay,(which sometimes left a white residue). http://books.google.com/books?id=zXWBll-wEVEC&pg=PA109&lpg=PA109&dq=bamboo+mandrel+beads&source=bl&ots=yCJCmXbrAR&sig=KF1biDPG8nPiAsy0hMHcbT6_VV4&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GjkaUvfUKpHo9gT0ioGABg&ved=0CF0Q6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=bamboo%20mandrel%20beads&f=false

When I used to collect beads some 20-30 years ago, it was said glass beads with black residue in their perforation had been made in India, where the beads were formed around a bamboo mandrel. Beads made in the Orient had white residue from kaolin coated mandrels. The clay was used as a 'release' in order to easily remove the bead from it's mandrel. Have no idea if that still applies.