Trona,Ca marbles

[Marbleguy]

I will try to post some photos soon. I live in a ghost town in the Mojave Desert. Every day for six years now I've excavated artifacts from the town's old dumps. Have dug up too many old coins to count including dpzens of brass tokens imprinted 'Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Co'. Found a bottle made in 1875 in San Francisco recently embossed 'Allen's Blood & Bone Liniment'. And a lovely Owl Drug Co. bottle. But what I love most is digging for antique marbles. I have dug 800 or so dating from the late 1800s clay or ceramic marbles (Bennington's?) thru the 1930s to when the dumps closed circa 1950. Most of these marbles are Akro Agate and Ravenswood Novelty Company. An hour ago I dug up a minature fork embossed 'german silver'. We had massive rains here yesterday. These cut deep gullies thru the old dumps,revealing wonderful treasures. I've barely touched what's in the old dumpsites. I estimate another 50,000 antique marbles are still buried there.

 

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[Marbleguy]

I should add that no-one's ever wondered how come so many antique childrens' marbles ended up at the town dump. Blame angry mothers for that. Back during the old days all homes had wood floors. Mebbe a little throw-carpet in the kitchen,larger one in the livingroom. Mom would get out of bed during various times of the day and night,walk barefoot thru the house and step on her kid's marbles. She'd issue a warning that if this ever happened again the marbles would vanish like the dinosaurs. Kids being kids.they ignored her. Result being tons of marbles hauled to the dump. I'd like to give those mothers a big kiss for my successful marble-digging.

 

[Marbleguy]

Usually about six inches..

This is an old dump. There's a few tin cans left from 1950 but it's mostly glass,ceramics. No plastics. Iron objects rusted away long ago. People came out from Trona and dumped their trash. Very little commercial trash. Mostly residential. Which means what I'm finding are artifacts representing the daily lives of generations of people. The dump is on flat ground in a canyon only feet from the one main highway thru town. My first year of working the dump I used small hand tools to excavate a ravine 450' long,30' wide and 6' deep. The first marble I found was an Akro Agate orange swirl circa 1930s. Did'nt register in my mind that this was something extraordinary. Went home,began websearching antique marbles. Bought several books on the subject. That hooked me pretty good. Of all the antique things people dig for and find,marbles are the one thing of beauty that comes out of the ground looking like it did the day it was made.
An added benefit to my marble-digging is donating historical artifacts to the little Trona Museum and the county museum in Bakersfield,Ca. I will donate all the marbles I've found to the Trona Museum to be put on display for the enjoyment of visiters.