====== German Agate Marbles ======
Germany's prolific agateware industry in Idar and Oberstein[{{ :agates_the_wichita_daily_eagle_sun_jun_13_1897_.jpg?direct&400|Witchita Daily Eagle Sun, Jun 13, 1897. Note the odd sentence about agates containing glass.}}]
Germany's peak agate marble production occurred between the 1870s and 1880s.
===== German Agate Marble Timeline =====
^ Year ^ Event ^
| 1775 | First mention of agate "bowles" being made in Idar-Oberstein |
| 1781 | Marbles of agate, limestone, petrified wood, chalcedony described as being manufactured in Coburg |
| Late 18th c | Ancient agate deposits near Idar-Oberstein almost depleted|
| 1802 | Importation of carnelian (red) and black and white agates from India begins |
| 1834 | First large shipment of Brazilian agates arrives in Germany, prompting revival in agate jewelry industry. This event was likely the catalyst for large-scale agate toy marble manufacture in Germany. |
| 1852 | In America, German agates were already considered the most prized shooters among many players, superior even to "marble" marbles.|
| 1925 | German agate marble manufacturing described as a dying industry performed by older people at the lowest wages.|
| 1931 | Michigan paper reports "good agates were not obtainable" after searching for them as prizes for a local marble championship.((https://www.newspapers.com/image/203979802/?terms=%22genuine%20agate%22%20marble&match=1))|
| 1933 | Master Marble offers genuine German agates at World's Fair.|
| 1937 | Springfield Leader article describes being unable to buy an "agate, or aggie" anywhere in town and says the same problem was faced by a man in New York who could not find an agate.|
===== German Agates in Popular Culture =====
In this article, an "agate" means any sphere made of real agate that was cut, faceted, and polished by craftsmen in the agate mills of Germany during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Not all agates produced at these mills were destined to be toy marbles, although many ended up being commandeered into toy service. Higher quality agates were often used in decorate display pieces, or in wine stoppers, or sold at higher price to jewelers over seas.
Among these agates the bullseye agates were the most desired for their contrasting bands or rings.
Agates are the king of toy marbles, dethroning the marble "blood alley". Every student of marble history knows this just as any boy on the street in late 19th- and early 20th-century America knew it.
Sometimes nicknamed aggies or realers (because they were the real thing, superior to clay, crockery and glass marbles) agates were so hallowed and prized for both their beauty, strength, roundness and impeccable performance in the marble ring, that the word agate became synonymous for marbles. Those men who founded the American machine made marble companies chose the term agates, not marbles for their brand: The Akro Agate Co., The Christensen Agate Co., The Alley Agate Co., The Vitro Agate Co.
Every poor or girl boy in every alley of every city of American wanted an agate, dreamed of winning an agate with their perfect roundness, their mirror polish, their hardness, and their ability to "stick" in the dirt after knocking out a glass marble.
A real agate was often the prize of many a state, county or city marble championship.
As with any popular commodity in high demand, agates were not of uniform quality. The best agate material was often used for agate jewelry.
===== German Agate Characteristics =====
==== Faceting ====
German agates produced between the late 19th to early 20th century were hand-faceted. Craftsmen known as //schleifers// ground the rough-hewn semi-spherical agates into fine spheres by pressing them against enormous wet sandstone wheels. This grinding created very fine flat areas on the agate's surface that collectors call facets. The same techniques and equipment was used in Germany's agate mills to shape agate jewelry such as cabochons.
Some collectors describe agates being "hand-cut", but this is not accurate language. While technically these agates were roughly broken by hammer or chisel into squares early in their manufacture, the final shaping by the schleifers was not cutting but grinding.
These facets appear as flat groove lines of varying length created as the schleifer pressed the agate against the large red sandstone wheels that rotated 180 times a minute.
It was said that it took a skilled craftsman about a minute to facet a rough hewn agate cube into a perfect sphere.
Many of the best quality German agates are so finely faceted that one must look through a loupe in very bright light to discover occasional facets. Because the quality of the agate material of both finely and roughly faceted marbles is often equal, the differences would likely be attributed to the following factors:
- The skill of the craftsman.
- The quality standards of the given grinding mill.
- The quality and features of the grinding stones.
Because the eyesight of these craftsmen could not have been equal to that of a modern loupe, it seems likely that these finer agates spent additional time being ground in a concave groove on the grinding wheel. These grooves did exist and were used for other agate jewelry, and under a loupe these finer agates show more continuous surface grinds.
==== Varieties of German Agates ====
* Carnelian / Cornelian
* Striped Onyx
* Bullseye
===== Types of Agate Damage =====
==== Factory Flaws ====
Many agates contain factory flaws which appear as nicks or rough spots of irregular shape. These are traditionally associated with lower-quality agates. This 1910 article about marble season says as much:
Agates of all kinds range from 5 to 20 cents, just as high as they have always been. The cheaper agate is the one with nicks and flaws in it and the marble boy knows all of this. He can tell just about what an agate is worth to himself. Agates are hard to turn in the factories without breaking them or making flaws in them.(([[https://newspaperarchive.com/decatur-daily-review-feb-03-1910-p-10/|The Decatur Review, Feb 3, 1910, Pg 9]]))
Those unfamiliar with the agate making process may assume flaws in an agate happened after their production by rough play, but in fact most of these flaws are leftovers from the manufacturing process. Remember that craftsmen initially had to hew the agates into a rough sphere using a hammer with such skill that the rough size would allow for grinding down to the ideal size of 5/8" or 3/4". When the grinder shaped these into fine spheres using faceting, he may have overlooked a deeper area The shelifer had to then knare chips and damage from rough play, but agates are extremely hard to chip marbles are very difficult to When the agate grinder shaped the marble from its rough-hewn state, he did not account for these deeper areas when forming the sphere.
==== Flat Spots ====
{{ :flat_spots_agates_three.jpg?400|}}
Occasionally one can find an agate with a small flat spot ground onto it into a mostly circular shape. These spots are clearly not factory flaws as they are usually rough in one direction, evidence of having been done later.
These were likely done to allow someone to display the agate on a desk or shelf without it rolling. It does seem unlikely, however, that the proud original owner of a prized agate shooter would scar it forever simply to prevent it from rolling.
==== Drill Holes ====
Some German agates contain drill holes in them. These agates were originally used in decorative agateware pieces such as letter openers or wine stoppers. A screw or pin was inserted into the hold in order to bind the agate to some other part of the piece. No doubt many of these agates were commandeered by eager marble players.
==== Sugaring ====
==== Moons ====
Moons are crescent-shaped impact fractures occurring subsurface on agate marbles.
Moons are a type of fracturing known as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertzian_cone|Hertzian cone]]. These fractures are familiar to anyone who has seen small projectiles pass through plate glass.
It is assumed that most moons are crescent-shaped because the impact point is typically made at an angle against the agate's spherical surface while the agate is spinning. In theory, if two agates struck each other at a straight angle with neither agate spinning, the moon would be a "full moon" rather than a crescent.
Most collectors today consider moons unwanted damage that detracts from a marble's beauty and value, but this was not always the case among marble players of the past.
Earl Johnson, writing in 1946 about his boyhood marble memories, said agates were like "diamonds" and that the:
...milky white ones that had the wonderful propensity of collecting 'moons' (like moons on finger-nails), when hit by other marbles! With great ceremony we used to soak a many-mooned agate in a bed of lard and presto, next day--all the moons were gone!
(([[https://www.newspapers.com/image/374217758/?terms=agate%20marbles%20moons&match=1|The Baltimore Sun, Aug 11, 1946]]))
On the other hand, there are several instances of players seeing moons as highly desirable, even necessary.
Weare Holbrook writes in 1940:
And although flaws in an agate did not enhance its desirability, 'moons' were something else again; they were scars acquired in long and faithful service, a visible proof of prowess exhibited as proudly as the saber cuts on the face of a Heidelberg student.(([[https://www.newspapers.com/image/11509186/?terms=agate%20marbles%20moons&match=1|The Independent-Record (Helena, MT), Mar 31, 1940]]))
The author of this 1953 newspaper article describes how when he was a boy:
...you wanted moons in your agates. You treasured them. They were proof your agate was the real thing.
(([[https://www.newspapers.com/image/117207033/?terms=agate%20marbles%20moons&match=1|Arizona Republic, March 19, 1953]]))
[[https://www.newspapers.com/image/337461015/?terms=marbles%20moons%20agates&match=1|This 1908 poem]] contains a stanza about a new agate being proven 'right' by adding moons:
Then Guy Fuller bought an "agate,"
And to prove it was "right,"
He would throw it hard against a stone;
"Half-moons" you'd see of white,
On the other hand, a writer in 1921 says too many moons was not desirable:
At the time we played marbles an agate should have two or three moons in it to prove it was genuine, but its value was lessened by a larger number.
(([[https://www.newspapers.com/image/64455929/?terms=agate%20marbles%20moons&match=1|The Topeka Daily Capital (Topeka, Kansas), Apr 3, 1921]]))
But another author in 1921 says that agates:
...were the mark of opulence and the more 'moons' they had in them the more valuable they were regarded. No agate was worth anything until it had some 'moons' in it.
(([[https://www.newspapers.com/image/419648438/?terms=agate%20marbles%20moons&match=1|The Eskridge Tribune-Star and Eskridge Independent (Eskridge, Kansas), March 23, 1921]]))
If this sentiment was true nationally in America for a significant period of time, it helps explain why many agates found today are covered in moons. Like the college men of 19th century Heidelerb who purposely sought scars during fencing, many moons are likely not earned on the field of battle.
=== 'Repairing' Moons ===
Those who disliked moons were able to temporarily but effectively obscure moons by soaking an agate in lard overnight, or by boiling an agate in lard. Oil would seep into the porous agate and fill the moon fracture space, obscuring the damage for a time.
This technique was reportedly used by some players to deceive opponents or potential buyers into thinking an agate up for "keeps" or for trade was pristine. Perhaps this technique was borrowed from unscrupulous gemstone dealers who used the it to obscure flaws in opals.(([[https://www.newspapers.com/image/139282302/?terms=soaked%20lard%20agate%20moons&match=1|St. Louis Post-Dispatch article from 22 Dec 1935.]]))
While the lard method has been proven effective, other substances are also mentioned as being effective at obscuring moons, although vinegar seems dubious:
* Buttermilk
* Coal oil
* Cream
* Vinegar
===== End of German Agate Marble Production =====
World War I ended German imports to America and likely halted agate marble production in Germany during the course of the war, but by the 1920s German agates were trickling into America at much higher post-war prices.
German agates were available in parts of America during the early 1930s as evidenced by multiple newspaper advertisement and anecdotal stories. Some of these agates were definitely faceted and of the fancy "bullseye" type. In 1933, for example, Master Marble sourced real German agates as giveaways at the 1933 World's Fair.
After 1935, however, newly imported German agates were becoming scarce. By 1936, American newspapers increasingly mention California agates or Mexican agates.
A 1958 newspaper advertisement mentions