Stone Marble??? Help!!

[hikermike]

I found this last week at a site where an old house once was. The house was built in the late 1800's.
I found it in next to a 1919 wheatie. It is made of rock or ceramic.....or could be of some type of clay.
I was told it was a dauber(a handmade marble). It is heavy and solid! Any help in identifying this
would be greatly appreciated!!
thanks
mike

 

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[Monty]

Looks like a homegrown marble to me too! Monty

 

[incajoe]

Clay marbles were quite common during that period. Many of the early pottery makers would also make marbles to give away to kids and such. I guess it was something constructive to do with the bits of leftover clay when they were finished making their wares. Sometimes they were glazed just like the pottery and sometimes they weren't. You will often see the brown mottled glazed ones which were from Bennington Pottery in Vermont. This glaze was called "Rockingham".
I should also mention that clay marbles can date back to ancient times too. I'm not an expert though and I wouldn't know how to determine the age of yours. Nice find!

 

[boomer46901]

Holy cow. I have 2 of the4se that I found 30 years ago in a ditch as a boy. What the heck are they?

 

[boomer46901]

I always called them dinosaur eggs.. LOL

 

[ivan salis]

clay marbles "daubers" --made of a a dab of clay --- were the cheap everyday ones - glass ones were the fancy "high dollar" ones --kids were proud of the glass marbles when they could afford to get them --it was a boys status symbol type toy back then to have glass marbles-- the big over sized shooters werecalled aggies.-- and you had to taw the line--drawn in the dirt a bit from the circle drawn out on the ground. and shoot at a batch of marbles in the circle (each kid would put the same amount of marbles in the circle to play) they took turns shooting --those marbles you knocked out the circle you kept (provided your maw didn't find out and make you give em back)-- kids today wouldn't know what to do with a set of marbles -- and god forbid that you should let them have a pocket knife to play mumbly peg with. --- Ivan

 

[boomer46901]

In 5th grade in 1976, my Indiana school banned playing marbles. They decided it was gambling.

 

[ivan salis]

uh does the state have a lotto (normal touted to "promote education") --do the state allow folks to buy stock in the stock market? -- both are gambling --your betting your stocks value will go up --- geez life is gambling.--- some folks need to get a grip on reality --- Ivan

 

[duffytrash]

looks like a china marble to me...often these were decorated with lines or geometric shapes...or flowers stuff like that..nice old marble...maybe it was decorated and the decoration was unglazed and it dissapeared in the ground...is there any indication of faint lines you can see under magnification

 

[briankb70]

I used to have a clay marble collection growing up. From what I remember they all had a flat spot , from hand rolling before firing them . I never had any white ones like those in the collection. Hope this helps.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

In 5th grade in 1976, my Indiana school banned playing marbles. They decided it was gambling.

Only of you "play for keeps".

 

[hikermike]

well my dad was right.....he said it was a dauber and you all have confirmed it!! Guess that will teach me to doubt him!! We grew up playing marbles but we had the small glass type and a few of the larger glass kind we called clod knockers.It's sad to know it is considered gambling.......I guess metal detecting will be next to be called gambling Thanks to all for the great info!! This will help when I put it on our eye spy category at our next club meeting!! You guys rock!!
hh
mike

 

[TRHunter]

Try this one thing. Put your ball on an ice cube does it melt the cube real fast and get very cold. The gold mining industry made a ceramic ball to fine crush ore to talc powder size before using mercury to retort it. Those balls got quite small before they were discarded. I have some and they look like your ball.

 

[RickyP]

a piece of Catalyst of some type

 

[GL]

I have several baseball sized ceramic balls.

 

[MonkeyBoy]

That "sort of" looks like the stop in some bottles? The neck of the bottle held the ball so the liquid inside could only flow out if it was on it's side.. just a guess.. but I have seen some of these in bottles before. Then again, how could you tell the difference between them and a marble??

MonkeyBoy

 

[carpetbagger]

Whats going on buddy, nice clay marble. Looks just like the one I have. Hope your doing well @ the Treasure Hunt of the Carolina's this weekend. 1800's house site you say you been holding out on me?
Mark and I went out today for a little while and wouldnt you know he found a whole pocketwatch. I found a few odds n ends and a 1919 wheatie.
Safe Hunting
Jeff

 

[Monty]

My Dad use to work for Southwest Porcelan Steel. The made large business signs from steel with a porcelain finish. A byproduct of the porcelanizing process was white balls of solid porcelan. They we extremely hard and almost impossible to chiip, even with a hammer. I have no idea how they wee made or used in the process, but Dad use to bring them home and put them under his laying hens to simulate eggs and keep the hens on the nest. As long as the hens thought they had an egg they would lay all their eggs in one spot and make it easy to gather eggs. They look like porcelan balls to me. Monty

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

They used to use ceramic balls to clean coal (there's a picture of some in the May'08
Western & Eastern Treasures)