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The 4 Horse man


B-rett66

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  So my daughter and I was browsing an antique shop and I happened to see these and thought they may be German handmade marbles. Still relatively new to collecting I sent pictures to my son and he confirmed they were probably handmade. After getting them out of the case, I noticed, they all had flat spots on them like someone had ground them to make paperweights. To make a long story short, they are were put on high end, piano stool legs. Most were just clear glass. I’m happy to say I had a collector look at them says they are truly German made Laticina swirls maybe not worth as much as they would be without the flat spots, but still collectible.

B-rett

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Nice set and very interesting. I have seen marbles used in legs on a variety of different furniture pieces but I am not sure I've seen them with a large flat spot like these. I wonder if the flat part was in contact with the floor or the leg?

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4 hours ago, B-rett66 said:

So my daughter and I was browsing an antique shop

Nice find B-rett66.

I have seen similar marbles encased in a cast iron claw that was a leg for a table.

Usually these are transparent with no design inside like yours.

I have seen pictures of sulphide marbles used in the same manner.

It is hard to believe that someone got these out of a cast iron claw foot without damaging them.

Check the marbles for any wear that may invole them being encased in a cast iron claw.

These may have been used for something else that I am not aware of.

Nice find!!

Marble--On!!

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A dealer in Florida has several and thinks because of the condition they were never installed on anything. I can’t find any scratches what so ever on them. What I did notice is one has an edge chipped off the flat spot which would have made an imperfect flat surface which if used would have made a “wobble”. Being that they were a set of four now they have defected set. I guess they could have used them on a three legged stool but at the time was making four legged stools. Just thinking outside the box. The craftsman put them away to use later and forgot about them. 

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There is probably a half dozen stories that could be told about them. I had an awesome time with my daughter the day we discovered them. We were excited and disappointed at the same time because of the condition. Even if they are worthless they are beautiful to us and will stay together and used for something. I can’t put a price on the time I’ve spent with my kids the last several months looking for and researching marbles we have found. 
    B-rett

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  Fire1981, I wouldn’t call it a high jacked , it’s taking the thread to the next level. Lately I’ve seen dozens of stools, tables and early kitchen appliances with the clear spheres but very few with the handmade swirles. Make me wonder what was so special about the piece they were used on. 

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2 hours ago, akroorka said:

I will not swallow paper weights on these.

One I may agree--but four?

A desk set - why not? You should see the organized stacks of paper on my desk. 😀

I don't think they were for feet. What would be the point of grinding them flat? I have seen all kinds of feet on all kinds of things and I have never seen any that were ground flat.

Regardless, I think it's safe to say they did not want them to roll. 🙂

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