120 year old handmade marble

[Scrappy]

Found it while detecting and an expert told me it was made in Germany 1875-1890. It's heavily damaged but I still think she's cool. I imagine kids or " 'youts" as they were called a hundred years ago gambling on the docks of NyC with this...

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[dirtlooter]

cool, I dug up one that my father played with next to the log house he grew up in, back in the forties, one of my treasures

 

[cjon455]

neat!

 

[valleyglen]

Nice marble, I would date it at more like 1910- 1920, and american not german. Most german marbles
are made from canes or glass rods and have swirls and ribbons through them and are worked and
made by hand. This one is an early machine made american marble,and its colors can usually
be traced to the old american marble companies.

 

[Scrappy]

Nice marble, I would date it at more like 1910- 1920, and american not german. Most german marbles are made from canes or glass rods and have swirls and ribbons through them and are worked and made by hand. This one is an early machine made american marble,and its colors can usually be traced to the old american marble companies.

It is handmade. Thanks for the input though!

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[Qball]

Ever been to dead horse?

 

[Scrappy]

Ever been to dead horse?

Nope.

-Lady Liberty is hot stuff...especially on a coin

 

[Discrimination Dave]

Hey Scrap,
whats the difference in a hand made and machine made marble?
Obviously one is made by hand, the other by machine, but how can you spot the difference and what are the two methods?

 

[park pirate]

I like marbles i have many of them digging IH'S and wheats i find them..Very cool marble..

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Marbles are another clue your in the "Play Zone" and maybe some fine goodies will also turn up !!! Hit that spot hard , only way to find out what is there !

 

[coinman123]

Nice old marble, I found a marble from the 1950's while digging, but yours is cooler!

 

[Scrappy]

Hey Scrap, whats the difference in a hand made and machine made marble? Obviously one is made by hand, the other by machine, but how can you spot the difference and what are the two methods?

I'm no marble expert but it a lot has to do with the pontil, which is a spot on marbles where a glass rod used to shape the marble was broken off. Most machine made marbles do not have pontils.

I had a couple experts, one of which I knew, look at the marble. They both came up with the same answer of age and origin.

Looking at one picture and coming to a conclusion is not how it works. There are some great websites on marble identification. Check them out - it's amazing how much one needs to know to be an expert!

-Lady Liberty is hot stuff...especially on a coin

 

[OWK]

Definitely a cool marble.

I would however tend to agree with valleyglen.

I don't think it is a handmade German marble. They typically have a more distinctive internal twist (in which they attempted to maintain symmetry).

I suspect it is an American machine made marble as well.

 

[SusanMN]

Ditto on it being American made. The little circles in the pic appear to me to be chips caused by other marbles hitting it. Could still be handmade though if it has pontils elsewhere.

 

[SusanMN]

Hey Scrap,
whats the difference in a hand made and machine made marble?
Obviously one is made by hand, the other by machine, but how can you spot the difference and what are the two methods?

Handmade will have Pontil marks at both ends where the glass was cut off. These are usually slightly raised. German marbles are usually clear with swirls of multi colored glass inside or very fancy swirls with mica in them. Machine made are smooth all ends and all around.

 

[Discrimination Dave]

thanks for all the answers on handmade vs. machine. I have a few stashed away that i found back in the states. I ll have to check em out again.

 

[gunsil]

I have collected marbles for a long time and have hundreds of the handmade marbles. I believe the marble shown here is machine made and probably after 1930. I see no pontils, and the opaque pattern is not at all like the handmade marbles. Scrappy, I think you need a new marble "expert". If there were indeed pontils, which ALL handmade antique marbles have, at least one pontil would show in your photo. And looking at one photo IS how it works if you know what to look for. Perhaps you are one of those who wishes his find to be really old and handmade and doesn't wish to hear from other experienced people what is actually true. If you still believe it is handmade then show us photos of the pontils. No pontils=machine made, end of story. But for those of us who have collected marbles for fifty or more years it is also the color and pattern of the glass that says machine made and after 1930 or so.

 

[Scrappy]

I have collected marbles for a long time and have hundreds of the handmade marbles. I believe the marble shown here is machine made and probably after 1930. I see no pontils, and the opaque pattern is not at all like the handmade marbles. Scrappy, I think you need a new marble "expert". If there were indeed pontils, which ALL handmade antique marbles have, at least one pontil would show in your photo. And looking at one photo IS how it works if you know what to look for. Perhaps you are one of those who wishes his find to be really old and handmade and doesn't wish to hear from other experienced people what is actually true. If you still believe it is handmade then show us photos of the pontils. No pontils=machine made, end of story. But for those of us who have collected marbles for fifty or more years it is also the color and pattern of the glass that says machine made and after 1930 or so.

I'm not here to argue as this marble was a bi-catch while metal detecting. I invite all of you to prove the "experts" I consulted wrong. One of them thought it machine made American too but some things he found changed his mind.

I always say that the minute you think you know everything you stop learning. And while I never thought I knew much about marbles, I would appreciate any expert knowledge.

Btw hundreds of marbles is incredible. Do you have/care to show a picture of your favorite?

Thx

-Lady Liberty is hot stuff...especially on a coin

 

[MuckyBottles]

I'm not here to argue as this marble was a bi-catch while metal detecting. I invite all of you to prove the "experts" I consulted wrong. One of them thought it machine made American too but some things he found changed his mind.

I always say that the minute you think you know everything you stop learning. And while I never thought I knew much about marbles, I would appreciate any expert knowledge.

Btw hundreds of marbles is incredible. Do you have/care to show a picture of your favorite?

Thx

-Lady Liberty is hot stuff...especially on a coin

Looks plastic to me...

 

[terpfan]

I've learned a lot in this thread. Thanks to Scrappy for sharing his cool find and all the experienced TNETers for sharing their knowledge. Alas, I wish that I had had the good fortune to uncover a single marble during my metal detecting career.