Identifying Clay Marbles

Clay and crockery marbles clay manufactured mainly in the last part of the nineteenth and the early part of the twentieth century they are probably the latest of what are considered antique marbles and the most numerous.

Identifying clay marbles.

Clouds end of day marbles with colored flecks of glass that aren t stretched which look like clouds floating over the core. Radiant and aesthetic in appearance with patterns materializing from different countries each one of these handmade marbles were skillfully made. Mass production of marbles started only in 1800 s. Look for recognizable patterns such as the furnace swirl and the champion swirl look for a corkscrew pattern when identifying marbles manufactured by akro agate.

Feb 24 2013 marbles have been valued by collectors for nearly 100 years. Clearies clear glass marbles made of a transparent single color throughout. Comics or comic strips marbles with comic book characters on the surface. There are a number of types of non glass marbles that collectors seek out.

While identifying a marble look with a magnifying glass to see if it has eyelashes or little dings. You will be surprised how much damage the older used marbles often have. They come in varied range of colors with diverse vein patterns on them. Marbles have been made from non glass materials such as wood clay and stone for hundreds if not thousands of years.

If you want to start making them part of your collection you should know how to identify vintage marbles. This section discusses these types and offers an image identification library. Only made for a brief time period so they are rare. Identify champion agate marbles by their trademark swirls.

Clay marbles are usually found in their natural tan color but they may also be dyed. Certain examples of these miniature pieces of art have since become very valuable but unless you know exactly what you re looking out for it can be difficult to tell if you ve just found the big one. Foil clays are small usually less than 1 2 diameter clays with a metallic coating on them. Vintage marbles are only limited in number which is why they are more expensive.

The marbles were made both in europe and in the united states and possibly produced in other areas as well. Since condition is related to value it is helpful to identify the condition along with the kind of marbles. Avid collectors regularly study realized. Collectors must quickly identify a vintage marble recognize its manufacturer spot any flaws and have an in depth knowledge of the market.

Prior to the introduction of machine made marbles almost all were hand blown. The dyed marbles are usually found in red blue brown green or yellow. These marbles are often difficult to distinguish from swirled marbles made by other manufacturers. Watch this video summarizing a book on collecting antique marbles and identifying them by paul baumann.

Colored clay marbles were referred to as polished.