Game stone question??

NC field hunter · Oct 10, 2012

An older lady always comes into my factory and always admires my artifacts. She is a good customer and I see her about every 2 weeks. She was in Idaho a while back and brought back about 12 perfectly round stones. They looked exactly like game stones

Exactly like the white one in my pic. She said the ground was covered with them. I would not think thousands of game stones would be on the ground. They would fool most any collector, that's how perfect they were. Any one ever heard of this? If so, how do you tell man made from natural?

Tnmountains · Oct 11, 2012

Some semi round pebbles get caught in water and will stumble in the the same spot until they are light enough to be washed out. To be honest I have seen it in what they call slip stones in caves,,,,, but am sure it happens in creeks as well. Just an opinion as we find the round balls on occasion here. Maybe a kid collected them for marbles?

rock · Oct 11, 2012

Well those are hard to tell. I have a few of them made from quartzite and sandstone. Some are natural and some were used as game pieces. Who knows maybe they found them natural and used them anyway. If I find them in a known site that I go to I do think they were used for gaming. You can put them under a microscope to help ID them for being altered. That falls under the buyer beware theory because it is just so hard to tell on the more crude ones. Thanks for the question. I would never think them as being a game stone if found in water. rock

NC field hunter · Oct 11, 2012

rock said:
Well those are hard to tell. I have a few of them made from quartzite and sandstone. Some are natural and some were used as game pieces. Who knows maybe they found them natural and used them anyway. If I find them in a known site that I go to I do think they were used for gaming. You can put them under a microscope to help ID them for being altered. That falls under the buyer beware theory because it is just so hard to tell on the more crude ones. Thanks for the question. I would never think them as being a game stone if found in water. rock

I'm like you. If they are found in context, I feel sure. I was just thinking of buyers. She said their were thousands of them. If a person were to put them on e-bay, a buyer would have a hard time. I found the 3 that I have in context. I have nothing against a person buying artifacts, in fact, if I could buy a dovetail from a reputable seller, I would probably buy it because I stand no chance of finding one where I live, and have always thought they are beautiful. I hate to see people buy these as real and pass them on. You see, I was kind of throwing a warning out, but didn't want to state the obvious, if it is obvious. If that makes any sense.

The Grim Reaper · Oct 11, 2012

Could she have been on a site that was an old marble factory?

NC field hunter · Oct 11, 2012

The Grim Reaper said:
Could she have been on a site that was an old marble factory?

I would say slim chance but I didn't ask. I do know that hers was not clay. I think erosion from the mountains may have caused it. (I think Idaho has mountains correct me if wrong) she said it would be comparable to a gravel drive way. Thousands. I don't buy stuff for that reason. I haven't seen enough of this earth to determine what nature does out side of the south. Kind sad huh?lol. When she comes back, I'll take a pic of one of them. I'm gonna let y'all guess before I tell you it is one of her stones. I think they would fool any one going by a pic. It fools me and I was holding it.

rock · Oct 11, 2012

Id like to see a photo of here idea of thousands of them. Cause I have never heard of anything like that before. I find a few but not in a bunch. They are usually scattered in different places. Before I take them home they have to be close to perfect in a round design.

NC field hunter · Oct 11, 2012

rock said:
Id like to see a photo of here idea of thousands of them. Cause I have never heard of anything like that before. I find a few but not in a bunch. They are usually scattered in different places. Before I take them home they have to be close to perfect in a round design.

The ones she had were perfectly round. Yeah, thousands, I don't know either. She is a really intellectual individual, so I don't think she would call 40 stones thousands. I wasn't there. I was hoping a person that lives in Idaho would chine in.