Buried treasure! Completely new so would appreciate any information,

[ManofKent]

Dug out of the garden by my wife...

I'm completely new to this so any information is gratefully appreciated.

The house (England) dates from the 1890's and there haven't been any children living in the property for at least 25yrs so I've narrowed it's age down a little! 

The marble is about 20mm (sorry no calipers). Very dark grey glass - almost black and barely translucent when held next to a strong light. The coloured flecks are very unevenly distributed but don't appear to be purely on the surface. 

 

No seams. Is this a pontil or just a chip? It seems a slightly odd shape for just impact damage, but any help on telling the difference is appreciated.:

 

Any information appreciated!

[Steph]

That would be a chip.  Below is a link to a thread with some pictures of pontils.  To the best of my knowledge, your marble is "modern", that is, made after 1970. It's machine-made.  There are some older marbles with embedded frit.  However, most will be modern, made in Mexico or China.  With some new varieties made in special runs in smallish quanties by Jabo and Dave McCullough within the last ten years. 

 

 

 

[ManofKent]

4 hours ago, Steph said:

That would be a chip.  Below is a link to a thread with some pictures of pontils.  To the best of my knowledge, your marble is "modern", that is, made after 1970. It's machine-made.  There are some older marbles with embedded frit.  However, most will be modern, made in Mexico or China.  With some new varieties made in special runs in smallish quanties by Jabo and Dave McCullough within the last ten years. 

Much appreciated. It's probably 70's or 80's then I can't think of a way it would have got into the garden more recently and I would guess the latter - most marbles over here in the early 70's were the greenish glass catseyes from Hong Kong. The embedded frits generally being modern is useful to know (are there other styles that tend to be modern to watch out for?).  

The links to pontils photos are very useful.

Is there a 'complete beginners' thread or recommended reading?

At least being born in '71 I can now describe myself as modern rather than middle-aged

[Steph]

Yes, you're modern.

No complete beginners thread.  Hard to know what to say as a "Here are the first things to learn."  Easier to see someone's marble and then chat about it.  

And the questions you would think to ask could lead to some fun discussions, when you're ready to ask them. 

I was about to say you could maybe go into a store and see what kind of marbles they sell, so you'd know some new styles.   Well, yeah, that's probably a good idea.  But there will be some old marbles which look kinda like the new ones and it just takes time.

Here's a thread with some modern marbles in it:

 

[ManofKent]

Thanks - there's a lot to learn!

[Steph]