✅ SOLVED Is this a marble or something else?

[mcl]

Hello all.

For your consideration today is a find that seems like it could be a marble but I'm not really sure. Now I've tried my best to take pictures which will highlight what I believe to be important features of this object.

To give you an idea of the size, shape, color, materials, and finish of the object, the first picture shows it placed on a black background, next to what I believe is an ordinary, modern, white, glazed marble. The object I need identified is on the right.



Note that the object is similar in size and shape to the modern marble (on the left), but it is slightly smaller, and is not quite perfectly spherical. If you look at the left half of the top hemisphere, you may be able to tell that the object is a bit flatter there than it should be if it were a perfect sphere. As a result it doesn't roll quite right on a flat surface. Now the color is for the most part grey, similar to concrete, and has flecks and particles of earthy colors like orange, brown, black, and various shades of white. Although the outer surface of the object is smooth to the touch, it is not glazed or polished.

The object appears to have been through some tough times, though it is not clear if the damage is from use or being struck by a plow/farming implement/etc. There is a fairly large crack which runs over a large portion of the surface, shown in the next picture.



And also there is a chip/flake out of the surface which is shaped like a teardrop (center of the object in the following picture).



The last few here just give an impression of the various colors (from the conglomerate of materials, I assume).





Finally, I just want to note that I have found an actual marble nearby where I found this object (about 1/10 of a mile away). It was a glazed, white, clay marble according to our experts here on treasurenet. Below I've provided a picture of that marble -- note that it is quite different from the current object but nonetheless I felt it was important to note that fact.



Well hopefully that is enough information for you all to tell me whether this thing is a marble, and if so, a little bit about it. If not, I'd love to hear about what it might be.

Thank you.

-mcl

 

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[Gavinsdiscoveries]

Wild guess- Marble, stone bullet, natural round rock- when my family and I visited Italy we found tons of perfectly round rocks on the gravel beaches. If it is clay than it is probably a marble.
Hope this helps! Gavin M.

 

[digger460]

I believe that is a clay marble.

Here are 3 that I've found for comparison.

Hope this helps.

 

[pepperj]

I'd say a clay marble as well.

 

[tamrock]

To me old marbles found is an indicator of an old dump site. The type of marbles found also give me a clue to the time frame as to when the former folks of my town were dumping their trash in that spot. Out behind me I've found three such dump sites and I estimate the old timers of my town were using them as a place to discard the things no longer needed from the late 19th C. to the early 20th C. One site is an abandoned coal operation was used up into the 1960s based on what I find there, but it also was somewhat destroyed during the super fund clean up era here in Colorado during the 1980s when old industrial and mine sites where reclaimed. Also most of the older dump sites have been plowed over and over now for 100 + years. What I found in reading is there was big rush in agriculture just after WWI, due to the rebuilding of Europe after the war and land that was un-irrigated and a place good for nothing, but to hunt rabbits and dump your garbage became developed to produce mostly wheat and alfalfa around me and later sugar beats. Kinda sad I can't find more complete and undamaged relics, but it is what it is. Hopefully your marble will lead you to other interesting relic's? Good Luck!

 

[diggummup]

Looks like an old clay marble to me as well.

 

[mcl]

I believe that is a clay marble.

Here are 3 that I've found for comparison.

Hope this helps.

Yep, the resemblance is striking. Thanks for the pictures. I think that's enough for a "solved"!

-mcl

 

[mcl]

To me old marbles found is an indicator of an old dump site. The type of marbles found also give me a clue to the time frame as to when the former folks of my town were dumping their trash in that spot. Out behind me I've found three such dump sites and I estimate the old timers of my town were using them as a place to discard the things no longer needed from the late 19th C. to the early 20th C. One site is an abandoned coal operation was used up into the 1960s based on what I find there, but it also was somewhat destroyed during the super fund clean up era here in Colorado during the 1980s when old industrial and mine sites where reclaimed. Also most of the older dump sites have been plowed over and over now for 100 + years. What I found in reading is there was big rush in agriculture just after WWI, due to the rebuilding of Europe after the war and land that was un-irrigated and a place good for nothing, but to hunt rabbits and dump your garbage became developed to produce mostly wheat and alfalfa around me and later sugar beats. Kinda sad I can't find more complete and undamaged relics, but it is what it is. Hopefully your marble will lead you to other interesting relic's? Good Luck!

You know, oddly enough I also found a little glass button just like the ones in your picture, maybe five or six feet from the marble. Definitely a dumping area -- plenty of broken glass/potsherds. Dates range 1870s-1930s, mostly in the 1890-1910 range, in the area where I found it.

All other characteristics match up with your description as well.

Thank you for the insight.

-mcl

 

[tamrock]

Then you'll next be finding gears and parts to old clocks, coffee grinders, bisque dolls, harmonica reeds and other fun to figure out stuff. Maybe even a nice hand made in Germany latticino marble?. The one I found is a small size and pretty pitted one. I'm hoping to come by a 3/4 inch'er in decent shape some time.

 

[Old Pueblo]

To me old marbles found is an indicator of an old dump site. The type of marbles found also give me a clue to the time frame as to when the former folks of my town were dumping their trash in that spot. Out behind me I've found three such dump sites and I estimate the old timers of my town were using them as a place to discard the things no longer needed from the late 19th C. to the early 20th C. One site is an abandoned coal operation was used up into the 1960s based on what I find there, but it also was somewhat destroyed during the super fund clean up era here in Colorado during the 1980s when old industrial and mine sites where reclaimed. Also most of the older dump sites have been plowed over and over now for 100 + years. What I found in reading is there was big rush in agriculture just after WWI, due to the rebuilding of Europe after the war and land that was un-irrigated and a place good for nothing, but to hunt rabbits and dump your garbage became developed to produce mostly wheat and alfalfa around me and later sugar beats. Kinda sad I can't find more complete and undamaged relics, but it is what it is. Hopefully your marble will lead you to other interesting relic's? Good Luck!

Intact porcelain figurines are difficult to find. Ive only found 1, a little bull dog from a World War I era army camp. The rest were all broken.

 

[dozer dan]

Just throwing it out there, the way I understand it, in the old days when they used a ball mill to make black powder they sometimes use clay balls because they wouldn’t spark when tumbling.