Clay marble?

[Older The Better]

I don’t come to the marble section but I’ve been organizing and I had this kicking around a back room, I don’t remember where I found it but I was curious if there was anything to tell from it. Age, history, maybe where it was made… or maybe it’s just a marble, or ball. I don’t know much about these things. I took multiple pictures to try to show it’s not perfectly round. The smaller one is a round ball but it’s about the size of what I would consider a standard marble.

 

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[ToddsPoint]

Some of those were used in water filtration. Here’s a good read about them.

“River Balls” & Their Toy Marble Legacy - The Secret Life of Marbles

River Balls: Have you ever seen something similar to this in an antique store, flea market, or yard sale and wondered what it is? And have you seen the same

thesecretlifeofmarbles.com

 

[routefood]

I don’t come to the marble section but I’ve been organizing and I had this kicking around a back room, I don’t remember where I found it but I was curious if there was anything to tell from it. Age, history, maybe where it was made… or maybe it’s just a marble, or ball. I don’t know much about these things. I took multiple pictures to try to show it’s not perfectly round. The smaller one is a round ball but it’s about the size of what I would consider a standard marble.
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Back in '89 we did a dig at a Swedish cabin purportedly built in the 1650's here near Philly. We found many clay marbles. The kids would roll the clay into marbles,toss them into the fireplace and come morning.....voila!

 

[tamrock]

Back in '89 we did a dig at a Swedish cabin purportedly built in the 1650's here near Philly. We found many clay marbles. The kids would roll the clay into marbles,toss them into the fireplace and come morning.....voila!

Huh, I've never heard of that before.

 

[ncsuwolf]

In my area they’re called peadabs. Have found several around the old tenant houses on our farm. Always assumed they were homemade or cheaper to buy than glass marbles as a kids toy.

 

[Crow]

If they was found near the coast i would be see if they can get an XRAY of the clay balls? Sometimes smugglers used to hide gems in clay unfired balls. Sailors engaging piracy used to hide gems in clay balls when living in cramped conditions to disguise treasure being stolen off each other as there is no honor among thieves.

A man was exploring caves by the seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man so he took the bag out of the cave with him.

As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could. He thought little about it until he dropped one of the balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful, precious stone.

Excited the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left. Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he just threw it away.

i got told a similar story above by Man called Dennis in Lae New Guinea was from East coast of the United States cape cod? Cannot remember his last name over 30 years ago.


Crow

 

[Older The Better]

I want to say it either came out of the yard of a farmhouse or I may have plucked it from trench on a construction job in the nearby small town, but I don’t remember but either way it came from a place fairly close to a river and there is a water treatment facility so i can see either possibly, unfortunately being in se Kansas I don’t know if it contains a gemstone, but that’d be cool.

 

[Bucket Lister]

If they was found near the coast i would be see if they can get an XRAY of the clay balls?

For a pile of marbles, maybe. For a single, unless you happen to know someone with an x-ray machine that would be willing to x-ray it for free, it wouldn't be cost effective.

Maybe someone here could dowse it remotely...

If I really thought something of value was inside, I might just bust it open. YMMV.