Has anybody seen a limestone marble before?

[YasudaCollector]

I happened upon this guy at an antique shop near college this week. It was in a junk bin for a couple bucks, so I figured I'd get it out of curiosity. 🙂 The owner of the store even said that he didn't know what the heck it is. 

 

As far as size goes, It's over an inch, but not by that much. 

[akroorka]

Stone Agates were made in California for sure--this would be a big one though.

Have you ever seen the images of these poor lads laying on a bench grinding and polishing?

You never know do you?

Marble--On!!

[Alan]

At over an inch, it is far too large for children to shoot.  Perhaps it had another purpose.

[Ric]

I think they used limestone marbles in industrial roller mill operations back in the day.

[Shamrock Marbles]

Used for water filtration.

[Shamrock Marbles]

16 hours ago, Ric said:

I think they used limestone marbles in industrial roller mill operations back in the day.

If the ball is limestone, then I would lean toward water filtration or some form of filtration. Limestone is soft and porous.

A sphere has the largest surface area per unit volume. When layered in a bed or stacked in a tube/tower, you get excellent filtration without impacting media flow.

If the ball is a harder stone, then milling isn’t out of the question.

Fun find! It seems lonely, you need more. 😉

[schmoozer]

22 hours ago, YasudaCollector said:

I happened upon this guy at an antique shop near college this week. It was in a junk bin for a couple bucks, so I figured I'd get it out of curiosity. 🙂 The owner of the store even said that he didn't know what the heck it is. 

 

As far as size goes, It's over an inch, but not by that much. 

By UW? Haven’t hit that area for a few years. Good find!!