Amazing what they miss..

[Marbleguy]

Every time I find a new artifacts site,I step out of my truck onto a carpet of valuables. How could all the other people who've worked the site for years not have seen what's underfoot? Because they have preconcieved ideas of what constitutes treasure,that's why. Where I live out here in the Mojave Desert right up against Death Valley Trona,Ca the locals have been digging the local dumps since the 1960s. But they've all been digging for old bottles,coins or jewelry. They ignored everything else. First time I parked my truck at the site I filled both pockets with antique childrens' marbles exposed on the surface of the ground within feet of my truck. And I'm the only person in my little desert ghost town who brought a UV light source to the fray. I UV'd the marbles then UV'd pieces of what I called art glass and pretty soon understood that UVing the site at night would look like a lit Christmas tree. If you come across a site w/ interesting characteristics ie eras dating from the 1940s back into the 1800s do not disregard as trash what you find on the surface or dig up. These items no mater how mundane in appearance speak of different times. Times long gone that will never come again. The Los Angeles Times,Calif newspaper will soon publish an article about my excavations. I will post it here. The journalist who came to my ghost town house is David Kelly,photographer is Irfan Khan.

 

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[Nana40]

You're absolutely right about the notions on what different folks deem to be treasure. I look forward to reading the article.

Nana

 

[crazyjarhead]

Sounds like your the marble man

 

[treasurefiend]

 

[Seamuss]

I have been collecting marbles for almost three decades now. I'm really surprized at how sulfides and swirls can demand hundreds of dollars each and other marbles can be very pricey. And yet people will walk right over them to pick up a bottle worth a few dollars. I through a gold nugget over my sholder because I was collecting marbles one day. Just kidding, I'd never throw gold away. I might be looney but I haven't lost my marbles.
My collection, about twelve thousand and growing.

 

[EDDE]

what type of uv light are you using

 

[shanegalang]

Hi Marble guy. I recently went on a detecting hunt with a friend. We hunted some sugar cane fields along the Mississippi River here in south Louisiana. Lots of civil war action in this area. At any rate there were also many houses torn down in the area over the years. At the end of the day we were pretty tired from all the detecting. My buddy said "Nows when we do the eye hunting" or something to that effect. I said O.k and off we went down the sugar cane rows just looking for things. He found a 1898 V nickel right on top of a row. Amazing what plowing can do! Then I found a marble and he started telling me all this history about marbles. i would have not even bent over again to pick another one up had we not had that conversation. So I really started looking more for out of place shapes and colors and ended up finding quite a few old marbles. From what I understand from him some were clay and some were ceramic. They are white but not completely round. I am anxious to go back to these sites, its there that I also found my first civil war 3 ringer bullet. Just thought I would back up your post because I am proof that you can never learn to much about anything and theres someone that collects just about anything. Cheers, Shane

 

[Marbleguy]

We 'tune' our eyes..

I was working the old dumpsite just outside of my town several years ago. Was working a site covered with colorful,broken pieces of Depression Glass and other artifacts from the 1920s/30s.
Among all the thousands of pieces of glass,I noticed a marble. I picked it up,thought it's just a kid's marble and almost tossed it back. Then I realized the marble had to have been made during the Depression era. So I took it home,websearched it and found out it was made by the Akro Agate Co. After that my relic-hunting eyes adjusted to including marbles a la pattern recognition. I'm approaching 1,000 marbles found so far. Found another dozen yesterday. Websearching Akro Agate informed me that the company made,besides marbles, childrens' play glassware,etc. I started buying it on Ebay. I now have display cases filled with the old glassware. Then I found broken pieces of greenish glass,websearched them,found out they were glasswares made by the McKee Co. during the 1930s. Back to Ebay again and now I have a display case filled with McKee Jadite glassware. It glows beautifully under UV light. It's amazing how with relic hunting,one thing leads to another.

 

[Seamuss]

In answer to the question thet Edde asked. I have a long and short wave U/V light. I have a stash of vaseline glass marbles (a touch of uranium in them) and the light can help me determan if my quartz rocks are calcite. Calcite is quartz that makes good speciman pieces that usually glow under U/V light( green yellow). I really enjoy the marble finds.

 

[Marbleguy]

Me too..

I have found that marbles will either glow green or pink/orange. Only mystery marble I've dug up is a green clearie that glows green like a searchlight. After much websearching I found one for sale on Ebay being sold as an Akro Agate marble. If so the one I found has to date circa 1916 or thereabouts. I have four marble collecting books and none of them illustrate it.

 

[shanegalang]

Re: Me too..

I have found that marbles will either glow green or pink/orange. Only mystery marble I've dug up is a green clearie that glows green like a searchlight. After much websearching I found one for sale on Ebay being sold as an Akro Agate marble. If so the one I found has to date circa 1916 or thereabouts. I have four marble collecting books and none of them illustrate it.

Can you guys tell me some things about these that i posted? Should I do the thing with the UV light? Thanks, Shane (also are the glass ones modern?)

 

[duffytrash]

while using a blacklight is fun you cant use one to date a marble...the old glass does glow if it contains certain elements like urnamium oxide....... but ive got marbles made last month that show the same thing.....collectors have disproved the black light theory and while it does make for enjoyment in watchin the glow...it in no way proves that a marble is old....i used to think the same thing but i since changed my mind....both jabo and marble king use fenton cullet called burmese and that stuff lights up a room.....what im sayin is some old marbles glow and some modern marbles glow......

 

[Marbleguy]

Fluorescent glass can be I'd with the naked eye..

Takes some practice. Took me about two minutes. IDing fluorescent marbles by eye takes awhile but IDing fluorescent Depression Glass is a no-brainer. Depends on sunlight. According to the seasons if the sun's overhead or lower on the horizon. Or a clear or cloudy,overcast day. If I wanted to get antsy about this I'd say the perception involves the human brain and quantum physics. I just know that under certain conditions I scope on fluorescent glasses the size of a dime from twenty feet away. There's 'something' about the old,radioactive glasses that draws the attention,says here is something different. When you work sites and think you've found everything observeable,go back to the sites under different weather conditions. You'll be astonished at what you'll find.

 

[EDDE]

any recommendations for a field portable(battery)UV light

 

[Marbleguy]

There's a zillion of them online..

There's everything from keychain UV lights to $400 jobs. For portability and price,I use UV flashlights. Bought my first one at a rock show. I have several now. All use the LED system. Gives,like,400 hours of battery life. They work fine for field identification. I've never used UV flashlights to ID minerals. But I know the lights work fine with uranium/vaseline glass and marbles. A quick websearch produced this site but there's many other online sources http://www.xenopuselectronix.com/xeled/index.html

 

[EDDE]

 

[SHERMANVILLE ILLINOIS]

Very interesting.

Thank you very much.

have a good un................
SHERMANVILLE

 

[allen]

very interesting story !

 

[silvercop]