hdesousa

Give him the prize; a bead is only a marble that has lost it's virginity. But what's this about Bisquits & Gravy?

Nope, I did not win them. They're extensively pictured and discussed in Richard Gartley and Jeff Carskadden's 1998 book "Colonial Period and Early 19th Century Children's Toy Marbles"

The white marble with pinkish/red streaks in the second row of the upper right corner is a marble marble, fashioned from real marble, made in the 17th to the 19th century. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-28-Vintage-Early-Period-China-Marbles-/130962474708 At one time, marble players prized these "blood allies" higher than any other marble. This is the first one I've seen for sale in several years.

wow, great site Winnie. Best I've seen on the subject. Any idea where Gallery Ezakwantu is located?

Steph, I'm willing to bet that hot punching a hole into a small sphere of malleable glass is impossible to do without grossly distorting the sphere. Not being a glass worker, someone should try to prove me wrong. Flanco's bead was probably made by fusing the two halves over a mandrel.

"Well, that's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."Scott, are you saying you're good looking and above average?

Mostly by seegar smoking armchair pundits.

William, Here are a dozen: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Reverse-Painted-Complete-Set-12-New-Year-Calendar-Glass-Balls-w-Stands-/170757442122 There are probably many others...

What came first? Trackballs or marbles? http://www.ebay.com/...1-/300877914693 So can we add trackballs to the list?

That's only because in his case, bigger is better. But if he were buying fish, surely he would prefer a more accurate measurement.

Jeroen, I think some of those templates you mentioned are made for drawing circles, in which case the actual diameter is slightly larger than what's stated, so as to compensate for the width of a pencil lead. So your 2 1/2" marble may pass through a hole marked smaller than that. I use cheap plastic calipers. Accurate, and precise to 1/128" or 0.05mm when using the vernier scale. Best deal in this business. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=vernier+calipers&_sop=15 Hansel

What type of marbles would you recommend?

Never seen that deep green emerald base in a pelt. Anyone have one they can post here?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300875931501

The marble was sold a few weeks earlier, seems the pontil had been altered by then: http://www.ebay.com/itm/M-F-Christensen-Oxblood-Slag-Hand-Gathered-Ground-Pontil-25-32-and-13-16-/121070970926

Don't know the whereabouts of the box, but it originally had some large onion lutz marbles. Danny and Gretchen Turner of the Running Rabbit Auctions handled it. Don't remember if it was an auction item or if it sold privately.

Here's an interesting listing: http://www.ebay.com/itm/290870541683 "German style", "made in Bulgaria", "1960s"

Excuse? No excuse. I was naive enough to believe your story that those "bricks" you polished had been found in a burned out MFC factory. Fortunately the attorney's fees were affordable and I got most my money back. But that was some 20 years ago. Heard you've since reformed.

That's the point. They probably all have melted pontils. Old melted pontils marbles are all made in the USA and never have oxblood. A melted pontil oxblood marble should never be mistaken as old. Not for next 50 years anyway.

They are pdf files and I don't know how to cut and paste. Do these url's work for you? https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=13cdb0f3df6fba97&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D5549f601c2%26view%3Datt%26th%3D13cdb0f3df6fba97%26attid%3D0.1%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbRtbnT8r-9TjusxVYaDldi-lHaexA https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.2&thid=13cdb0f3df6fba97&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D5549f601c2%26view%3Datt%26th%3D13cdb0f3df6fba97%26attid%3D0.2%26disp%3Dsafe%26zw&sig=AHIEtbThVk8FgD8IfxbCb8PlzNUw7qJkPQ

Brian, The 1927 list of marble factories (link in post #24 - http://tinyurl.com/b3rf24t) differs a bit, but not much, from your list. Where did you get the info for your list?

The word before 1896 is "Gegrundet" which means founded.

I asked someone in Lauscha, who is familiar with the leaflet, as to when it was printed and when the "Glasfabrik Wernerhuette" stopped making handmade marbles. He said 1930's for the leaflet and 1950's for handmade marble sales.

Gino Biffany of Ottawa, IL tells me these are Peltier marbles. Only box known.

Here's a pic of a benny with a gold streak. http://murmelwelt.de/bennington2.html They could have come from Eichornshutte in Steinach, which made ceramic as well as glass marbles.