Clay marble?

[OhioDeb]

I got out this morning before the rain in my backyard. Found a 1976 Rosevelt dime and a 1976 Lincoln Memorial. Then in a hole I found some silver stuff (coleslaw?) and in the hole I found a pretty glass marble and I think a clay marble. What do you all think? OhioDeb

 

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[aka da Prof]

sure, looks like one to me--not all were glazed-

 

[Breezie]

Yeppers . . .it's an antique clay marble. Way to go! Breezie

 

[OhioDeb]

Is the glass marble anything special?

 

[Monty]

glass marble is one of the most common. Monty

 

[IronSpike]

Cool finds You might also want to post in the marble forum here on Tnet:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/board,466.0.html

 

[High Plains Digger]

The green one almost looks like the "porcelain" marbles that came out of Atlanta during the Olympics. The speckling is not something I have seen, but doesn't mean a thing. Does it seem quite heavy? Clays, when compared, are featherweights.

 

[OhioDeb]

yes it is kinda heavy. I thought it was a 'steelie' at first. It is not magnetic. It is a reddish color with flesh colored specks. Looks like old clay pottery. I have been digging up chalky orangey clay brick pieces.

 

[High Plains Digger]

Ok, heavy is a good indication. Was it deep when you found it, or could it have been there 20 years or less? Do you need a photo of my marbles (if I haven't lost them, heheh). I have some claim of expertise on these as I tracked down the guy that found them and then sold them to the antique store, and I ended up buying 3000 of them, and sold them all except for a dozen or so that I still have. Maybe I do have a speckled one amongst them, who knows?? I did keep the special ones.

 

[OhioDeb]

It was pretty deep - 6-8 inches. I kept getting a signal but wasn't finding anything then up popped a piece of foil stuff. Then I saw the marble. Sure wish I would have spent more time in the hole. Now I don't remember where I dug it out from.

 

[High Plains Digger]

Ok, I am going to stop trying to remember things with my poor old drug addled brain. WE HAVE SPECKLES!


The second photo includes one that I broke open. It was so hard, it took 4 blows with a hammer. Don't try that with a clay!

I am very interested in what you think as to how long it may have been there waiting for you. And if you are interested, I will share the history I know and my theories and suspicions about these marbles.

Porcelain marble. Green check, please!

ps--The interior of the broken marble is really quite white, not off color as my poor photography may indicate.

 

[OhioDeb]

Well I found my clay marble in between our garage and the neighbor's chain link fence. (maybe 4 feet width) I figure that they dug alot of dirt to sink the posts for that fence plus they had to dig out some dirt to pour the slab the garage is on. Piqua has a history back to the early 1700's. I live just down a little ways from the oldest part of town. I wish I had dug that hole out more.
Thinking about collecting a few marbles just to admire. Some of them are really great. I would like to hear your theories. OhioDeb

 

[High Plains Digger]

Here's the whole bit: Went to Ark. to dig quartz crystals, and I stopped into an antique store. He had a couple of small milk bottles of these marbles, but I thought I wanted more. He helped me track the guy to Tenn. His story: He had a job excavating in Atlanta for the olympic village or whatever. They had found quite a few treasure troves, for obvious reasons. He said he found a cistern with 100,000 of these marbles, and after the job was over, started to market them. He figured they were from the 1820's or 30's. Only a few had the stars on them as in the pic. So I purchased 3000 of them from him. Later, I started wondering what they really were, and that is when I broke one open, compared it to "Benningtons" and found someone who said it is absolutely made of porcelain. As noted previously, the weight is significant compared to clays. At some point I began to wonder if he made them, or if he didn't, if he painted them. Maybe on the paint. But then I remembered that when I opened the buckets they were sent in, there was a lot of "bright red Georgia clay", and I had to hose the dust off the marbles. Made me change my mind back. I thought this was maybe too fine of a point for a faker to come up with. A few years ago, there was a guy on Ebay that would offer packages of CW "camp trash" and would include a couple of these in each group. I wrote him to see if he actually found them at the sites, and he shut up real fast. Didn't reply, and I was just curious. There are a couple of other things that have made me wonder, but I think that the marbles are original, and maybe/maybe not the paint. The marbles occasionally had flat spots where I suspect the "clay" was too wet and it settled, a couple were egg shaped, and a very few were smaller, although the size in general is quite uniform. And 12 or 15 different colors. I called back for the 4th order of 1000, but he was sold out. Someone really liked these things along with me.

That is why I am wondering about how long you think it may have been buried. If it was lost in the late 80's, then there are still some questions in my mind. If you are convinced that it has absolutely been their longer, then I have my questions answered and confirmed.

Fellow TNers: I know some of you have some of these. They seemed to have really made the rounds. I would be VERY interested if you have found anything like them, and if you purchased some, what your research and experience has been. The last thing I know for sure: The antique stores really like them. I sold them 100 at a time and made some decent money in the process. And I went back to a couple of stores later, just on a shopping trip, and they had sold out. Interesting.

OhioDeb, thank you for letting me go on and on, and hopefully someone out there found this at least interesting, and maybe helpful.

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

Here's the whole bit: Went to Ark. to dig quartz crystals, and I stopped into an antique store. He had a couple of small milk bottles of these marbles, but I thought I wanted more. He helped me track the guy to Tenn. His story: He had a job excavating in Atlanta for the olympic village or whatever. They had found quite a few treasure troves, for obvious reasons. He said he found a cistern with 100,000 of these marbles, and after the job was over, started to market them. He figured they were from the 1820's or 30's. Only a few had the stars on them as in the pic. So I purchased 3000 of them from him. Later, I started wondering what they really were, and that is when I broke one open, compared it to "Benningtons" and found someone who said it is absolutely made of porcelain. As noted previously, the weight is significant compared to clays. At some point I began to wonder if he made them, or if he didn't, if he painted them. Maybe on the paint. But then I remembered that when I opened the buckets they were sent in, there was a lot of "bright red Georgia clay", and I had to hose the dust off the marbles. Made me change my mind back. I thought this was maybe too fine of a point for a faker to come up with. A few years ago, there was a guy on Ebay that would offer packages of CW "camp trash" and would include a couple of these in each group. I wrote him to see if he actually found them at the sites, and he shut up real fast. Didn't reply, and I was just curious. There are a couple of other things that have made me wonder, but I think that the marbles are original, and maybe/maybe not the paint. The marbles occasionally had flat spots where I suspect the "clay" was too wet and it settled, a couple were egg shaped, and a very few were smaller, although the size in general is quite uniform. And 12 or 15 different colors. I called back for the 4th order of 1000, but he was sold out. Someone really liked these things along with me.

That is why I am wondering about how long you think it may have been buried. If it was lost in the late 80's, then there are still some questions in my mind. If you are convinced that it has absolutely been their longer, then I have my questions answered and confirmed.

Fellow TNers: I know some of you have some of these. They seemed to have really made the rounds. I would be VERY interested if you have found anything like them, and if you purchased some, what your research and experience has been. The last thing I know for sure: The antique stores really like them. I sold them 100 at a time and made some decent money in the process. And I went back to a couple of stores later, just on a shopping trip, and they had sold out. Interesting.

I know nothing about marbles High Plains Digger but the Atlanta Olympic story sounded familiar. Did you buy a bunch of fake porcelain marbles? Rarer than hens teeth?

http://www.rothchildeantiques.com/CivilWarCampRelics.html

http://www.buymarbles.com/fakes_repros.html


High Plaind Digger, I think you should start a new post with your marbles and post it to the experts in the marble forum.

 

[Breezie]

High Plains, I think what you have is considered as a 'Painted China,' which is a clay marble, but it was made with very dense white clay, then fired at a higher temperature. This made it a lot heavier than the ordinary, dull tan/brown 'clay' marble. Most of the 'chinas' are painted (some intricate), and some are glazed.

Deb's marble is one of the dull tan/brown 'clays' that has been dyed. Generally they were dyed blue, yellow, red, or green.

Breezie

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Breezie,

Do you know if there is a good site that can explain dates of marbles?

I know there are a few that will tell you specific ones, but, is there a site that has all the marbles from beginning to now?

I ask, because, when doing our garden, originally, we found several marbles - but, they seem to all be of different ages - maybe. One, I am sure is from the early 50's - the others ---------- nothing to compare them to. They aren't so old that they are like the ones here (I don't think-they aren't clay), but they don't look like the ones they sell now, either.

I thought you might be the best person to ask.

Thanks,

Beth

 

[OhioDeb]

Somebody in the future is going to have fun finding marbles in my front yard. I used them to decorate around some lavender. Just new ones. Think I will go find some of them tomorrow. Thanks for all the replies. OhioDeb

 

[Breezie]

Breezie,

Do you know if there is a good site that can explain dates of marbles?

I know there are a few that will tell you specific ones, but, is there a site that has all the marbles from beginning to now?

I ask, because, when doing our garden, originally, we found several marbles - but, they seem to all be of different ages - maybe. One, I am sure is from the early 50's - the others ---------- nothing to compare them to. They aren't so old that they are like the ones here (I don't think-they aren't clay), but they don't look like the ones they sell now, either.

I thought you might be the best person to ask.

Thanks,

Beth

Good Morning Beth,
Hope you're feeling fine as frog hairs (split twice) Below is a pretty good website with decent pics to show the different types of marbles. Under TYPES of MARBLES, click on each title bar. Note the section on FAKES. It amazes me how some people had rather climb a greasy pole backwards to tell a lie instead of stand on the ground to tell the truth! It's as easy to buy/sell the real deal than to go through the hassle of making fakes, but like 'oval CSA buckle plates,' the shysters even have to fake marbles!
Here's the site:
http://www.buymarbles.com/marbles101.html

Breezie

 

[High Plains Digger]

I always wondered......but it seemed like a lot of work to make fakes. Don't know about the fancy ones, but I am not convinced the color is latex paint, probably dyed like Breezie said. For a back woods Tennesesse ditch digger, (Not a slam on the wonderful people of Tennesesse in general) he did pretty good. I'll bet he's selling ice to the eskimos right now. Fortunately, I have sold all of mine, except for a hand full. That seems to end this thread on marbles, except for the hanging question for OhioDeb: Make a guess on how long you think it was out there. If you think it was in the guidelines of the "facts", then we know the story. And it is an interesting story, ain't it??

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I always wondered......but it seemed like a lot of work to make fakes. Don't know about the fancy ones, but I am not convinced the color is latex paint, probably dyed like Breezie said. For a back woods Tennesesse ditch digger, (Not a slam on the wonderful people of Tennesesse in general) he did pretty good. I'll bet he's selling ice to the eskimos right now. Fortunately, I have sold all of mine, except for a hand full. That seems to end this thread on marbles, except for the hanging question for OhioDeb: Make a guess on how long you think it was out there. If you think it was in the guidelines of the "facts", then we know the story. And it is an interesting story, ain't it??

You would think the guy would have changed the story about finding them while excavating at the Atlanta olympics. I am never surprised at the lengths people will go to sell fraudulant antiquities..