False Advertising Much?

[Chordus]

I got some sort of sales catalog selling a product that you may find humorous. Here's a link to what they're selling:

http://www.normthompson.com/jump.jsp?itemID=13430&itemType=PRODUCT

Now take a look at the description. Noticing any problems?

[richsantaclaus]

"handblown glass marbles" <---- my *ss

[Steph]

Handmade marbles from China, board from Indonesia? ......

with a lot of window dressing.

[sissydear]

I do know a marble maker that makes hollow marbles. They are blown and then he does some other stuff to them. So..... they could be described as handblown glass marbles.

[Chordus]

Those marbles are certifiably by a Chinese manufacturer. I have a box with a set of them. I think the box was $8 for 20 marbles, to put the price into perspective. (And to be frank, $8 was a bit much).

Also to put it in perspective: I have a very large solitaire board with beautiful stone marbles that cost the same price. I'd say that no sane person would ever buy that set for that price, but the fallacy there is that there are a lot of people in the world who are not sane.

[lstmmrbls]

I have seen 3 of those sets in folks homes and they were all very proud of them because they thought the marbles were beautiful. I am sure they all paid a lot more money for them than I would have but they were very proud of them and happy to have them. None of these folks knew anything about marbles and did not collect them. They simply showed them to me because I mentioned I collected marbles. And every one of them was very sane. I did not tell them they paid much more than they should have. There was no need. And hand blown is a common misnomer when it comes to handmade glass. I have seen a thousand times worse things in ebay listings. Peace, Galen

[jeeperman]

I too have seen a few of these sets in some of my customers homes. They usually are under the impression that they are Italian handmades and have paid double the price listed here.

[david Chamberlain]

This Thread and Chinese marble listing is an excellent object lesson. At least 10 years ago Marlow Peterson was selling groups of 40 these self-same Chinese marbles (Maybe not as spiffy as these!) for something like half the price. So here ignoring the Board we're only talking $2 each. No biggie! I don't know about most of you but in my marble experiences I am called upon quite often to provide some estimation for marbles that are fraught with background experiences that are enough to make you quaver(sentimentality, Dad's favorites, Grandpa's shooters, someones buy of a lifetime and on and on). Galen has it nailed here! Aside from the over'blown' nature of the verbiage in this listing I believe we have to accept the fact that the general public will never-ever catch up to us in marble knowledge and on those occasions where we are called upon to make marble pronouncements a bit of humbleness might carry the day, even if, God forbid, the marble in question is for want of a better word.....ugly! Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, someone should take the necessary steps to advise this seller and eBay that the information provided is not fully accurate. David

[Steph]

It's not an ebay link.

How is the information provided inaccurate?

Under the details tab it tells where the item was manufactured. The "European origin" reference appears to be about the history of the game. Do you have proof that the historical information is inaccurate? The game could be of Chinese origin historically, but I don't know that. The seller artfully walks a fine but relatively/technically accurate line. imho.

[leroy65]

After seeing this item, I did some re-shuffling as I had a very old presidents board setting on top of one of my marble cabinets with those Chinese marbles on it. They now are elsewhere and some German Hand-made marbles took their place. Years ago the first ones of those Chinese marbles that I had seen were offered by Marble Allan. I bought a few hundred of them and so did the Lee's Marble Museum here in York, Neb. Later----Leroy----

[david Chamberlain]

Not eBay.....right. Probably eBay tomorrow though. Six of one/half doz. of another. And no matter how you parse it the terminology used encourages a buyers imagination by omission. I kind of side with Morrison & Terrison re. origin of the General Grant Board. The cover of their book (either the yellow or red cover) has a General Grant Board w/German Swirls and on the back cover they give credence to the Union soldiers during the Civil War carrying and playing the game. That early example of the board also having an under compartment that swung out to reveal the marbles. For full disclosure I'd refer you to Paul Baumann's 4th Edition in which he also puts forward the Civil War period as somewhat definitive but provides a European component with two other solitaire boards: "Fox and Geese" and "German Tactics." both games employing different strategies. Or strategeries! David

[Chordus]

To answer your question, Steph, the information is inaccurate in several ways:

1) These marbles are not blown. Blowing glass is a very different art than manufacturing marbles. As sissydear (Edna? I'm horrible with names) said, there are marbles which are made from blown glass, but I can assure you that the ones on this site are not.

2) The marbles are not handmade (or "handblown," as it were). These come from a marble manufacturer in China. And while the site may state this in the small print (which it does NOT in the magazine I originally found it in, I may add), the fact of the matter is that the description itself is false.

3) You are correct, these could be "made in the Venetian" tradition; being from one country doesn't mean they aren't influenced by another. I highly doubt that the marbles are really influenced by various techniques from Venice. But let's say for a moment that they are: it's still misleading to compare manufactured marbles from China with Venetian glass. Given what Jeeperman here says, that he's met people thinks that these are Italian made, I think that's pretty clear evidence that the advertisement is giving false impressions.

As for your comment, David:

"I believe we have to accept the fact that the general public will never-ever catch up to us in marble knowledge"

I agree that it's ridiculous to expect other people to know what we do about marbles. There are thousands of collectible items out there, and it'd be impossible for any individual to know about all of them. However, it is a seller's duty to know what they are selling, and not to rip off a customer so flagrantly. I realize that this is perhaps unrealistic, but I still feel strongly that it should be the case.

Also, for the record, I kinda like these marbles; that's why I have a few myself. In terms of Chinese marbles, they're certainly better than others. I just think that the price they're going for here is outrageous.

[Steph]

To answer your question, Steph, the information is inaccurate in several ways:

1) These marbles are not blown. Blowing glass is a very different art than manufacturing marbles. As sissydear (Edna? I'm horrible with names) said, there are marbles which are made from blown glass, but I can assure you that the ones on this site are not.

2) The marbles are not handmade (or "handblown," as it were). These come from a marble manufacturer in China. And while the site may state this in the small print (which it does NOT in the magazine I originally found it in, I may add), the fact of the matter is that the description itself is false.

Yes, they come from China. However, they are handmade. As Galen noted, the "handblown" terminology is a common misnomer for handmade marbles. I've seen it used for years (in old newspapers and such).

If I were trying to sell them, I'd describe them differently, but I'm not trying to sell them. So .... well, I'm out of anything else to say. But they are indeed handmade to the best of my knowledge.

[jeeperman]

Yes, they are indeed handmade. They seem fairly cheaply done tho. I do like the boards tho. =}

[ziggyzora]

It is a gift item, sold from a gift catalogue, and would make a nice gift. There are marbles sold by sellers who know better. Where's the problem?

[Chordus]

The problem is the bit where the sellers who know better, I'd say. Not that this has ever stopped people from doing it anyway.

Are these marbles really handmade? If so, what definition of "handmade" are we using here? Given the vast quantity of these marbles in circulation, and their price, it's very difficult for me to conceive of how marbles are handmade at that sort of speed and price. I'll concede that these are handmade if you all are certain about it, but I can't see how.

[david Chamberlain]

Unfortunately they are handmade as opposed to machine-made and 'economies of labor' to put a fancy name to cheap Chinese labor are why they can be imported and offed still relatively cheap all considered. We're only talking $2 each here! Otherwise you have a lock on what I've referred to as commission by omission. David

[Chordus]

As I said, though, I've gotten a box of these marbles for what's less than 50¢ a piece. That's kind of a huge difference.

[winnie]

Some of them are quite pretty,I bought a few here in a giftshop for 50ct by piece.

They have a sort of a pontil,a rough spot at one pole.

winnie

[david Chamberlain]

An Addendum: Was picking up Patti Smith's "Just Kids" at Barnes & Noble today and spotted one of those boards w/stones while in line. Couldn't help writing down some of the shuck and jive associated with it. Let me first say that the 32 stones were unexciting; kinda like processed stones....you know, processed meats! So, 33 semi precious stones touted as STONES OF THE WORLD $49.95 a solitaire set w/cards(!) "A timeless game of strategy from the court of King Louis XIV" For ages 8+. Personally I'd opt for the Chinese marble set at only $10 more. Some of those Chinese marbles show talent. I suppose after making a thousand of the same thing (or 10,000) you begin to deviate from the proscribed approach. By the way Patti Smith's book won a National Book Award and it reads as if it should have. The woman is a force of nature! David