Neil Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Hi I’m new to marbles and after a brief spell buying a small collection and then selling it again, I’ve just bought a solitaire board complete with 33 handmades. I would appreciate some comments. Some are beautiful colours, in fact they’re all very vibrant. There are 4 latticinios in there but all the rest are solid cores or other types of which I don’t understand what is what. I’ve taken some photos of four of them... Neil, York, UK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad G. Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Hello & Welcome Neil Finally another German handmade lover. Appears to be 3 ribbon cores & one solid core. The bright colors and two unfinished pontils are an indicator to me of a manufacture date somewhere between 1880 & 1910. Most of these marbles were made for the English game board market during the Victorian era. The older mibs around 1850 - 1880 "usually" demonstrate faceting on one end and a melted pigtail on the other, sometimes melted to oblivion, there are exceptions I'm just speaking in general terms. Black is a rarer color, looks like you got a good clean set, only 4 latts. any same cane present ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Hey Chad, thanks so much for getting back to me so soon. Yes I thought they might be from the later handmade german era due to the solitaire board. It's H.P Gibson Ltd and it would seem they started making board games in 1919. I'll post some more pictures as I don't know if any are from the same cane, but there are some with the same colour schemes. They are in very good shape; I wasn't sure if they really were ALL original to the board, but they seem like they could well be. They're all approx 18mm. I'll get some more shots. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Here are some possible same cane examples? I’ve taken two pics of each group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Welcome, Niel! Those are some good looking marbles. It'd be great to see them on the board! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Hi Ric, thanks for the warm welcome. Here are some more pics including on the board. The board is only small - 8 inches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad G. Posted January 27, 2021 Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Yes you have a few same cane pairs, and looking at the bright colors and unfinished pontils they all appear to be from the English game board (Victorian )era. The Germans made these for the English game boards. I had one that had as far as I know the original marbles to the set, all single color solid core, up to 6 of the same cane. the only lone ranger I had was a powder blue solid core,, just a sec I'll fetch some pics, here's a picture of the board and most of the marbles except the powder blue, most were between .67 & .73" one or 2 a little bigger and a little smaller. When they were all on the board you couldn't tell. The most in one cane I had was the yellow, almost identical but varied slightly in sizes & design, but definitely same cane. the last colors to the set, I can't find a pic of the powder blue finding this many from the same cane is extremaly difficult unless they came packed together as I believe these did. My favorite colors were the orange and the cayenne red. The powder blue was the 33rd mib I kept in the center I couldn't find a date but the box was indeed made in England A large board for it's time considering some of these marbles are close to .75 A board and set that for me was extremely hard to come by, had to be sacrificed in 2009 during a divorce I went through. Trying to find one then was hard enough, I can only imagine trying now. You have a very beautiful set Neil and the mibs look immaculate, well worth holding onto, a few with jellcor lots of black a few double razor ribbons I seen with the bright orange, "personally" I would hold onto all of them except maybe replace the latts. with some more nice ribbon cores the same size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2021 Beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I’m undecided on my favourite yet; I have a few with some cool colours, they look edible. I’ve got the lid from the box too which I’ve put in a frame which sits behind the board. I wanna buy more boards now! My fiancée thinks I’m mad! I just love looking at them. I love that many years ago, each marble had the full attention of someone who is now long gone, but I’m lucky enough to have them and able to appreciate them. I look at them and I wanna get ‘inside’ the marbles!! So pleased to have found this group too. I’ll post a picture of the board lid in situ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Hey Chad thanks for that; I’d not seen the board pics and the other comments you’d made. That looks a lovely set you had. Yes I certainly want to hold onto it, it’s a wonderful decorative piece in my otherwise pretty empty and modern flat! I’ve certainly got the collecting bug and will continue to look out for other marbles that appeal to me. Yes it would be nice to replace those latticinios with other solid cores. I’ve no idea about jelly cores or razors, but I hope to learn more about German handmades. Neil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad G. Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Speaking of edible, I brought some nice bright ones like that in my pocket and pulled them out to show a shop owner what I was looking for and they replied "thanks I'm not hungry right now" they thought I had a handful of candy, I sure got a good snicker out of that one. They had to look twice at what I had in my hand, you don't see many in wet mint shape like you have anymore. The collectors of old German handmades are getting thinner and thinner, in the 90's when everyone else including me was chasing them the competition was quite hardy, and the prices for that time went quite high. "A nice set Neil & a good job preserving the box as well" provenance is important, excellent display, enjoy the space while you have it, strange how something so small can take up so much room. Whatever you do "Have fun" & again Welcome. You done been "bit" . I have at lest few hundred ranging in size from a little under 7/16ths to 2 3/4ths" and everything in between, these are all in the last 7-8 years, before 2009 I had over 1500 handmades alone, 400 of which were Josephs coats, my most colorful and still my favorite handmades to collect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wvrons Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Nice marbles and board. Nice to save what is possible of the box. Great display which it deserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Thanks wvrons, the board is a little warped and it has three feet on the bottom which might have been added, as I saw an identical boxed board but it didn’t have feet or any sign that it used to. Yes unfortunately just the top of the lid but at least I can fit in in the frame. A few of the marbles do have little ‘nics’ - I’m not confident with the terminology relating to damage, but they are only small. I’d appreciate if anyone could explain to me what a jellcore is and razor ribbons. I figured I had a combination of solid core, latticinios and then I don’t know the difference between divided core and ribbon core! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad G. Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 34 minutes ago, Neil said: Beautiful! Thanks for sharing the pictures. I’m undecided on my favourite yet; I have a few with some cool colours, they look edible. I’ve got the lid from the box too which I’ve put in a frame which sits behind the board. I wanna buy more boards now! My fiancée thinks I’m mad! I just love looking at them. I love that many years ago, each marble had the full attention of someone who is now long gone, but I’m lucky enough to have them and able to appreciate them. I look at them and I wanna get ‘inside’ the marbles!! So pleased to have found this group too. I’ll post a picture of the board lid in situ... Good job preserving the box top, a most excellent way to display it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad G. Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Here is a link to a thread I posted right here showing my favorite type of hand made, the Josephs coat, I used to have nearly 400 of these at near or over 1" very hard to find this type at and over 1" . Many of them and these have "aventurine" in them, here's the link from right here on the forum. You will learn the difference between these, onionskins & coreless and the others as you move foreword, many members here also have an affinity for old Germans. Remember if you have any questions just post them someone will chime in and even if they don't know the answer they will direct you or someone who will help in your direction. "Steph" is the moderator here and has helped me countless times. Again "Welcome" I have acquired may coats since that post & probably should add them to it. Chad G. Link : https://marbleconnection.com/topic/25960-some-old-coats/?tab=comments#comment-224126 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'llhavethat1 Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Agreed with the above, and refreshing to see Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ric Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Neil, I am more inclined toward machine-made marbles but I always like to see a board full board of nice German hand-mades, and your display is one of the nicest I've seen quite a while. Thanks a lot for sharing it with us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I'llhavethat1 Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 15 hours ago, Neil said: ... I’d appreciate if anyone could explain to me what a jellcore is and razor ribbons. I figured I had a combination of solid core, latticinios and then I don’t know the difference between divided core and ribbon core! There are probably a few answers to those questions and some of the terminology varies. For me "jellcore" would be a solid core except the core is translucent like jelly. "ribbon core" is one (maximum two) flat ribbons of color, thinner they are the more "razor" they become. Once you get more than two ribbons, those become a "divided core". Some "solid cores" are lobed, and when the lobes separate (you can see clear glass in between) they are referred to as divided core even though the person making them may not have intend them that way...keeping in mind they were cranking them out pretty quick. There are a couple good marble books that may be a good reference for you. Thats my 2 pence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted January 28, 2021 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 Thank you for that, that’s a clear explanation which I couldn’t find anywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad G. Posted January 28, 2021 Report Share Posted January 28, 2021 2 hours ago, I'llhavethat1 said: There are probably a few answers to those questions and some of the terminology varies. For me "jellcore" would be a solid core except the core is translucent like jelly. "ribbon core" is one (maximum two) flat ribbons of color, thinner they are the more "razor" they become. Once you get more than two ribbons, those become a "divided core". Some "solid cores" are lobed, and when the lobes separate (you can see clear glass in between) they are referred to as divided core even though the person making them may not have intend them that way...keeping in mind they were cranking them out pretty quick. There are a couple good marble books that may be a good reference for you. Thats my 2 pence x 2, great short conveyance, thanks I'llhavethat1, I tend to be long winded in my explanations, correct on all counts. Yes' & truly refreshing to see some hand mades, between me, Ron, & I'llhavethat1 this will be the 3rd post I've seen showing some, excellent, some beautiful eye "candy" for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boris64 Posted January 29, 2021 Report Share Posted January 29, 2021 Nice!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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