Logging camp huge clay marble

[highnam]

I posted this 3 years ago and didn't get a consensus if this is a clay marble...found in a 100 y/o R.R. Logging camp. The width is just under 1.5"...also the marble was painted red.
All the ground facets throw me off, could these happen naturally over time? I can't imagine someone would grind these facets on a marble on purpose.
Has anyone seen anything like it? Any thoughts? Thanks!

 

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[cheese]

It does look like a painted clay. I wonder if they were using it for some odd purpose that would account for the flat spots. I can't imagine why they would be there unless it was used for something other than a game marble. At that size, it might have been in a claw on the bottom of a chair or table and possibly every time the marble got worn down far enough that the claw tips started touching the floor, they turned the marble to a new spot? I can imagine dragging a chair in and out from under a table 3 times a day would wear a clay marble down quickly. Just a guess.

 

[Molewacker]

Perhaps it was a die for a game to where numbers were painted on the flat spots like the Dungeons & Dragons dice.

 

[highnam]

I thought it might be a gaming piece... But the facets don't line up with the exact opposite side to always have a facet pointing up when rolled.
The chair leg ball is a interesting suggestion. Maybe it was a quick fix to a chair with a broken glass ball and replaced with a large marble...that would be cool. Thanks for the comments!

 

[cheese]

Those glass balls in the chair legs were actually marbles in some cases. They sometimes had german handmade swirls in the claw's clutches. I figured maybe one broke like you said and this was used in place of it. It's definitely an old marble though. Odd.