Big find - all my marbles

[oregonmp03]

So I moved yesterday and in a box I found a jar and a small box of marbles that were given to me. None of these pictures should be duplicates. The marbles belonged to my grandmother when she was a kid in the 50's?? Could you let me know if there is anything good in there?

 

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[cheese]

Nice start to a collection!
I see a lot of mostly older marbles, from the 1930s or so and up. Mostly American makers. Several nice looking ones. I think I see a transitional and some banded agates in the first and second pics, and the black one with red, oragne, and blue stripe on it in the first pic might be worth looking at closer.

 

[oregonmp03]

Thanks cheese, i know the pictures aren't all that great but yes they'd mostly be American made given the time and who had them. I'm thinking of making a display case for the best ones as leaving them in a box seems kind of cold. Thanks for all the info and for taking a look

 

[oregonmp03]

I was wondering though if you could tell me more about the ones in the first picture in the middle. There are 4 or 5 brown ones that don't appear to be glass, and the one just to the left that's a white/purple. I don't know what they are made of but I thought they were interesting. Thanks.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

I found one identical to the brown ones. I believe they are clay. Mine has same small black circles on them. Really cool stuff!

 

[cheese]

Those brown ones are benningtons. They were made both in Germany and America. Many marbles, even back in the 1800s, were imported from Germany and other places. The dots on them are from where they were touching other marbles while the glaze was wet and they were fired in the kiln. They are cool and old, but not worth very much because they are so common. I also see some Japanese and other Asian marbles there.

It's also noteworthy that some of the marbles pictured are newer, so she must have added one here and there as she came across them through the years.

Take some more pics of that black one with the bands of colors on it, that one might be something or might not, not sure.

 

[oregonmp03]

I've attached more pictures of the black one you were talking about. Sorry for the crappy phone camera. I'm sure that some were added to the collection as the decades passed. Very interesting, ty for all the information.

 

[cheese]

That's what I thought... that one looks to be handmade from Germany. The rough spots at the ends are called "pontils" although they aren't true pontils like you find on blown glass. They are the spots where the marble was cut from the cane of glass they were made from. This one looks like the type called an Indian. The colors are a little different from the typical indian, it may be a later one, but still very old (1920s at the latest I think). The only other explanation for the odd colors would be that it's a modern contemporary art marble and I kinda doubt that because of the size, lack of detail, and the context it's in. Indians can bring a good little bit, especially if it's a maglite indian. See if a bright light shines through it.