Fake Antique Marbles

[Swissmarble]

Hi again, great info, the 2 you bought together, really do sit together, I sold an Onionskin, not a blotty EOD like the one you have, but the colours were a good match, I've seen a large Blue EOD similar to the one you have which was sold as a group of 5-6 a few years ago for a lot of money, like you say, if you listed those on ebay, I don't think I'd bid with confidence on buying as antique marbles?

They just don't seem quite right to me, sorry, tin hat on at the ready!

It is THIS picure you are referring too, isn't it ? That is MY marble on the picture (and also on the Everett Grist book). As far as I know Marblealan sold the marbles in this lot individually as a comission and that is when I bought that specific marble.

But I understand that you would have some doubts to bid on such uncommon marbles on Ebay (but I bet you would have trusted Marblealan^s opinion, wouldn't you ?).

Well, and our "Bulgarian friends" don't help to bid on uncommon marbles with more confidence.

The good thing is that there are almost no polished or faked marbles (except the few obviously faked sulphides I mentioned earlier) on the market here in Europe because there is virtually no market at all. So if you come across a lot of old marbles you can be pretty sure they are all genuine. All these fakes were definately made for the US market where most of the buyers are. And therefore I am sure these marbles are old. My guess is that some of these were made between World War I and World War II because it seems that not many of these were exported to the USA. And the competition with the US machine-made marbles was really hard then, so this might explain why they tried out special designs and use brighter colors (I believe that all the bright "English"-colored swirls were made in that time period). But of course this is just speculation.

Ron

[Mattshaw1953]

Yes, yes and yes, totally agree with all you said, that's all I'm trying to say?, many of these marbles are 1920/30's, strange colours with experimentation, as for the "English style" I agree 100%, the best example to demonstrate this was a solitaire board which sold yesterday in the UK ebay for £500+, all bright later marbles, oh and original board was Bakelite, not produced till 1920's I think?, so no I don't doubt marble Alan, nor do I doubt you, just the marbles are not 1880/1900, that's all?, just to add, I do like you're marbles and the way you behave on this board is top draw!, I thought you may have ripped in to me?

I respect that, and I've learnt a bit today, so all is well.

Edit:-why do sellers like the image above, use baby wipes or wet their marbles before photo's?, I hate that?, just scummy in my opinion?

[lstmmrbls]

I would really like to see pictures or advertisements fo similar marbles from 100 years ago. The story on the Bulgarians being from the 50s and 60s. would not eliminate these marbles from being from a Bulgarian origin. They just look more like newer Bulgarian than old German to me??

[Swissmarble]

Yes, yes and yes, totally agree with all you said, that's all I'm trying to say?, many of these marbles are 1920/30's, strange colours with experimentation, as for the "English style" I agree 100%, the best example to demonstrate this was a solitaire board which sold yesterday in the UK ebay for £500+, all bright later marbles, oh and original board was Bakelite, not produced till 1920's I think?, so no I don't doubt marble Alan, nor do I doubt you, just the marbles are not 1880/1900, that's all?, just to add, I do like you're marbles and the way you behave on this board is top draw!, I thought you may have ripped in to me?

I respect that, and I've learnt a bit today, so all is well.

Edit:-why do sellers like the image above, use baby wipes or wet their marbles before photo's?, I hate that?, just scummy in my opinion?

It doesn't matter to me personally if they were made 1880 or 1930 because I consider this as one era: the era of old handmade glass marbles. So all marbles from that time period are quite old if not antique (if you use the term "antique" only for items that are older than 100 years) and survived at least World War II. So many of these marbles could probably tell an interesting story

I really like marbles with vibrant colors.

[Swissmarble]

I would really like to see pictures or advertisements fo similar marbles from 100 years ago. The story on the Bulgarians being from the 50s and 60s. would not eliminate these marbles from being from a Bulgarian origin. They just look more like newer Bulgarian than old German to me??

Bulgaria is not really known for its glass-making industry. And I really don't believe their story about the 50/60ies circus marbles. When they started to sell on Ebay about 3 years ago the marbles were more or less flawless (which would be rather unlikely for marbles being put together in a bag and carried around from town to town). Now they obviously improved to make their marbles look "older". But I am more than sure they are produced nowadays.

And if they were able to produce beautiful marbles (like mine) decades ago why would they produce such "crap"-marbles today ? The EOD marbles above are at least 5 years in my possession. Why wouldn't they have flooded the market then already ?

No offense, just some thoughts.

PS: Just checked: the 2nd edition book by Everett Grist where my marble is pictured on the frontpage was published in 2000. So the Bulgarians would have to fool marble experts like E. Grist and later Marblealan and then wait for another 12 year to suddenly flood the market with their "circus"-marbles. This just doesn't make sense...

[Mattshaw1953]

Swissmarble, I'm pretty sure I've seen you're marbles on you tube?, a really lovely collection!

[Swissmarble]

Swissmarble, I'm pretty sure I've seen you're marbles on you tube?, a really lovely collection!

Thank you, Mattshaw. I should do a new video once including the new ones I got. I like to take them out and arrange them for photos and videos, it is somehow boring to just have them in the display case. How do you display your marbles, also in display cases ?

[Mattshaw1953]

Hi, no I've no display case as yet, I keep them in plastic cases, the ones often used by jewellery makers, With all the compartments, it keeps them safe, I've the machine made's labelled up, pretty sad really.im keeping an eye out for a case.

[Swissmarble]

Hi, no I've no display case as yet, I keep them in plastic cases, the ones often used by jewellery makers, With all the compartments, it keeps them safe, I've the machine made's labelled up, pretty sad really.im keeping an eye out for a case.

Yes, nice displays are not easy to find. I have some wooden ones with a mirror back, I think they were made about 50 or 60 years ago. They are quite small but look nice with marbles in. And a few years ago I found this gorgeous display on a flea market. It was made for a chocolate store to display some of their special chocolate pieces. It is not old, but looks fantastic and even has a light inside. It is extremely elaborated with all these gold ropes inside. I keep my onionskins in that display.

I wish I would find some others like this, it is just beautiful.

Ron