Bakelite Marbles

[SNYD]

Thanks to my good friend Steve Smith, I was able to aquire several bakelite marbles large and medium sized. My question is this: Are bakelite marbles considered machine made or hand made?

SNYD

[david Chamberlain]

I'm pretty sure they're machine made. I really think they were meant to be buttons that never got drilled. Do yours have sort of a Tiger's Eye sheen? What colors did you get? They're kinda neat but I don't think they have ever gone anywhere in terms of marble collector esteem. Definitely a cut above wooden marbles though! I would suppose they're made by some molded process. David

[lstmmrbls]

I have bakelite marbles that came in a Game.

[david Chamberlain]

Well, that's gotta be one helluva rare game! David

[lstmmrbls]

Bakelite marbles for game. I had a pic of one game that used them but can not locate it.

[SNYD]

I'm pretty sure they're machine made. I really think they were meant to be buttons that never got drilled. Do yours have sort of a Tiger's Eye sheen? What colors did you get? They're kinda neat but I don't think they have ever gone anywhere in terms of marble collector esteem. Definitely a cut above wooden marbles though! I would suppose they're made by some molded process. David

They look more like swirls, base color then a nother color just wispy around the whole thing. I am going to try to get pics.

SNYD

[SNYD]

Bakelite marbles for game. I had a pic of one game that used them but can not locate it.

The center yellow mib, that is what mine look like, it is not yellow though. It is carmel color and redish.

SNYD

[david Chamberlain]

Nice group of them. What is the size? I suppose 'swirling' could be used to describe the movement. Many I've seen actually shimmer when turned. Basically they are a resin/plastic and I'm sure molded so 'swirling' wouldn't necessarily be a manufacturing mode. David

[clydetul62]

They are also a different color now than when first made. Bakelite changes color over time. I used to know the original colors. I dont know if polishing makes them go back to original color. Polishing as in marbles is very frowned upon for bakelite.

[lstmmrbls]

they have been finished in such a way that they are perfectly smooth. There appears to be hand work done. They are 23/32 and have neat mottled coloring. Here is another pic.

[david Chamberlain]

They would be pretty smooth anyway, they're a plastic. Hard to imagine handwork in a material of this nature. Be interesting to know what game they might have been used in. Although I said they were a cut above wooden marbles I'd put their value quite a few cuts above wooden marbles. They're seldom seen and they are rather neat; it's still hard to credit them as marbles in the full sense of the word. David

[flanco]

Galen, what kind of game were those marbles used in? I have an old marble game that shoots a marble up a ramp and upside down and they drop into buckets.

Glass marbles are a little heavy for this game, I always wondered if it came with wooden or some other kind of marble.