Raeren marbles

[phantomblot]

Hi iam interested in marble history , bought these and was told these a raeren marbles from a Dutch antique dealer and was told these were used as practice ammunition for thunder guns back in 17 th century . Can anybody confirm that this is true and are these raeren big one 43 mm 37 mm 33 mm 21 mm 19 mm smallest thank you 

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by phantomblot
typo error

[wvrons]

Not sure about the story ? Depends on what they are made of ? If clay, I would think they would not be heavy enough or take much pressure and punishment. The small one looks very out of round. Being out of round would not make ideal ammunition. The large one has the usual spots or small white circles seen on many clay or pottery marbles. The spots are where the marbles touched together while the glaze was being fired on. They look like normal clay or pottery marbles found in good numbers. Most plain(undecorated)clay and pottery marbles have little or no value. Because the big majority cannot be dated, or where made or by who. Also because they were made in large numbers by so many different people everywhere. I have never heard of raeren or Darren marbles. The major thing is what they are made of ? For ammunition they would need to be able to take pressure and punishment. 

[phantomblot]

hi it should have been raeren not Darren typo error , they are not clay. underneath look like sold grey material with this glazed coloring, with this glazed finish ,

A Blunderbuss was simply a step in the evolution of the modern shotgun. Yes, it could fire a wide variety of pellets but then so could many much later shotguns, the difference being only the lack of the blunderbuss muzzle. The double barreled shotgun the doubled your shots over the blunderbuss (a single barrel). In the American Civil War a sawed off or short shotgun was a common southern cavilery weapon because several could be carried and they were extremely effective in close quarters. These were all black powder and muzzle loaders and could be charged with whatever was at hand for pellets in a bind, including but not limited to river gravel, broken glass, nail heads, broken cast iron, silverware pieces and other equally noxious items, You were limited only in what would fit down the barrel and then be secured with a wasp nest paper wad.

This was a common practice even into the old west days, among the poor on the frontier. It may even have continued on into the early 20′th century , certainly the use of Black Powder shotguns did. This would not be a good idea now primarily for a number of reasons many involving safety.

 the reason why these would have been used as a practice round I was told because lead in 17th century was a more expensive than these marbles