Hello from Cambridge England

[crashbelt]

I joined this forum in 2011 so its about time for my first post!!

I've been collecting turned antique game boards with handmade German marbles for 25 years. I have around 100, mostly with original marbles and many boxed or with compendiums, and plenty of loose marbles. Makers include Jaques, Ayres, Gibson, Chad Valley but can't be definite about most.

The solitaire boards are mostly 33 hole, one or two 37 hole and one very rare 81 hole board. Then there are The Royal Garrison Game, Nine Mens Morris (Merelle) boards, the Star Puzzle and best of all both the 9 and 16 hole Jaques Numerical Puzzles with complete sets of glazed numbered chinas from around 1860.

Most boards have swirls of between half and three quarters of an inch. There are many mica boards including one inch greens and nine sixteenth purples. There are some nice early Onionskins, Indians, Joseph Coats and mixed sets.

Britain was a great hunting ground for original boards when I was building my collection, and  I have slowed down a lot in recent years having acquired most of the sets I wanted, and having been distracted in recent years collecting early Gibson and Fender guitars (which makes marble collecting seem cheap!!!). Apart from one set of I think Christensen green slags I have no US machine-mades which I rarely see over here. 

I'm back on the board/marbles trail again having just finished full-time work, so it was great to find this forum and go back over some of the archive threads. Its been fascinating seeing some of amazing rarities and boulders that you have in the US.

I'd forgotten ever joining in 2011 - I presume the Marble Connection was a link with Alan Basinet who sold me a few marbles in the past and was a really great guy and a sad loss in 2012.

I'm sorry not to have posted an image or two but I'm struggling to compress files enough. I look forward to learning even more about German handmade from your collective wisdom. 

 

[Steph]

Hello. Welcome.

Yes, we started out as Alan's Marble Connection.  Then became Lou's Marble Connection.  And now our new host is Jason.  @bumblebee

[machinemades]

Welcome aboard crashbelt. Over the years I have become a board collector myself while displaying my handmade marbles, so I am very interested seeing some rarer items out of your collection when you get a chance. I do have a large 24 hole board as well as a small 8 hole board. Have you ever seen a 6 hole board that would hold 1” marbles?

Best,

Sami

[crashbelt]

Hi Sami - here are two of my rarest boards - the two versions of Jaques Numerical Puzzle. Beautifully turned simple mahogany boards with the original numbered ceramic marbles - I love the Victorian-style numbering. Each marble has three marks on the reverse side from where the marbles were set on a trivet to dry. Diamond imprint marks under the board date the copyright registration to 1858 - the boards are believed only to have been made up to c1865 so that dates them pretty closely.

Boards are 18cm and 12.5cm, marbles 16-17mm - very cute!!

I've not seen a 24 hole board - that would be good to see. The small 8 hole board may be the Star Puzzle - I have one probably by Jaques with I believe original swirls. If you let me see yours I can confirm if yours is one of those.

I've not seen a 6 hole board for larger marbles.

Although I started off collecting German handmades, I'm at least as interested in the boards, especially where the marbles can be deduced to be original to the set.

Cheers

Dave

 

 

[Vancecrash]

Welcome, crashbelt! Interesting info to say the least, thanks for sharing. Clearly you have a strong passion for what you do. Admirable. Are the lines on the boards burned on, painted? Carved and stained?

[crashbelt]

Thanks Vancecrash - collecting Victorian turned game boards with handmade marbles has been a rewarding passion for many years. 

The lines on the Jaques Numerical Puzzle boards are painted or perhaps inked on. They appear to be under the final finish coat and show no wear. Under close magnification they are very straight and even - much finer than the German Tactics lines on a few solitaire boards I examined for comparison.

I may post some other rarer sets on the main thread so a few more people may see them.

[Royal3]

 

On 12/13/2018 at 4:26 PM, crashbelt said:

Hi Sami - here are two of my rarest boards - the two versions of Jaques Numerical Puzzle. Beautifully turned simple mahogany boards with the original numbered ceramic marbles - I love the Victorian-style numbering. Each marble has three marks on the reverse side from where the marbles were set on a trivet to dry. Diamond imprint marks under the board date the copyright registration to 1858 - the boards are believed only to have been made up to c1865 so that dates them pretty closely.

Boards are 18cm and 12.5cm, marbles 16-17mm - very cute!!

I've not seen a 24 hole board - that would be good to see. The small 8 hole board may be the Star Puzzle - I have one probably by Jaques with I believe original swirls. If you let me see yours I can confirm if yours is one of those.

I've not seen a 6 hole board for larger marbles.

Although I started off collecting German handmades, I'm at least as interested in the boards, especially where the marbles can be deduced to be original to the set.

Cheers

Dave

 

 

Welcome back, Dave, and thanks for your fascinating post. I’m really looking forward to seeing more of your collection. 

- Royal