Hand-cut rose quartz 5/8"

[bumblebee]

Bought an awesome lot of agates that included two mineral spheres. The big clear sphere was clearly machine ground, so I assumed the pinkish smaller one was too.

Then today I looked at it under the loupe and was shocked to find tons of facets just like the real agates. I don't have a macro lens right now so you'll have to trust me.

Lesson learned: always put a loupe on those mineral spheres as apparently those crafty Germans did make some non-agate ones.

 

 

[hdesousa]

Nice find!  Yes, they did hand grind marbles from various semi-precious stones other than agate.  Conversely, the occasional cube of agate or other stones were ground into marbles on the same mill wheels on which limestone marbles were made.  Old semi-precious stone marbles without facets can be found.  Most old goldstone marbles are not faceted.

[bumblebee]

I've always wondered whether the Tiger Eye ones were faceted, assuming the Germans did make them.

Here's the closest I can get to photographing the facets on the quartz one.

[rockgardenplants]

If you don't mind, which book is that?

[bumblebee]

1 minute ago, rockgardenplants said:

If you don't mind, which book is that?

"Colonial Period and Early 19th Century Children's Toy Marbles" by Richard Gartley and Jeff Carskadden (1998)

[rockgardenplants]

Thank you for such a quick reply!

[bumblebee]

Just now, rockgardenplants said:

Thank you for such a quick reply!

You're welcome. It's a great book with tons of detail but it might be out of print.

[rockgardenplants]

Yep, more than likely out-of-print, but I've already found a few online.  Just picked one up for $37.50... sweet!