This is the third of several rare marbles being liquidated from the estate of a collector near Cincinnati. This one is rather fantastic in its size (1 1/4\" diameter), complexity, and multiple, vivid colors (three). Blue and Red alternating concentric rings surround two green leaf sprays. Very good condition with no chips or cracks. Extremely rare---> especially in this condition. 1840-1860 \"early period\". Great addition to your primitive marble collection. Please check out my other rare marbles on E-bay!
Money back if not completely satisfied. offer with confidence as YOUR complete satisfaction is very important to me (100% response file).
THE MARBLE YOU ARE offerDING ON IS THE ONE ON FAR RIGHT..(others soon to follow).
Thanks for looking. FAST FREE SHIPPING!!!
The collecting of antique marbles, specifically \"China\" hand-painted marbles has become a popular hobby in recent years. As most relic hunters and collectors can attest to these type marbles can be difficult to find, especially in good condition. While most other types of marbles can be found in many places between the floor- boards of an old house, or buried just about anywhere children once played the best source for old Chinas remains the backyard privies of mid-nineteenth century America.
The term \"China Marble\" probably originated as a result of all of the fancy porcelain tableware and figurines, that was arriving in Europe from the Orient, thus the term \"China\" became synonymous with any porcelain objects, including marbles.
Almost all of the hand-painted China marbles that are found in America came from Europe, specifically, Germany, and date from the mid 1840\'s to around 1910.
Although there has been some confusion as to how these marbles should be properly classified; most agree, that they definitely belong in the porcelain category of ceramics. As with other porcelain items China marbles were traditionally made from the purest of Kaolin (Feldspar) white clays fired at extremely high temperatures; were generally the most expensive to produce, and were harder than either stoneware or earthenware.
Throughout most of the nineteenth century, and up till the outbreak of War in Europe, Germany led the world in toy manufacturing, with the United States being a major market for German toys, games, and marbles. An early reference to China marbles comes from Belfast, during the 1850\'s, describing them as, \"China Alleys\", with \"white glaze and painted rings of different colors, parallel or at different angles equatorially.\"
Although German potters are credited with making the first truly painted marble, it may very well be that the first actual mention of these marbles may be in America, and not Germany. In 1844 a Staffordshire potter, named Jabez Vodrey, while working at the Indiana Pottery Company, in Troy, Indiana, first mentioned China marbles by name in his account books and diaries he kept while employed at the pottery. There on February 25, 1846, Vodrey recorded a sale of \"800 painted chimes\" marbles, along with the sale of some other large sized carpet ball and stoneware marbles. If the Vodrey ledgers are correct than it is entirely possible that he may have been trying to copy German imported Chinas, or recreating what he had seen while he was still working in England. Fact is, we just don\'t know for sure. Coincidently, 1846, is also the year that glass marbles were first manufactured in Germany.
The Vodrey documents are also unique, in that they also tell of him painting smoking pipes, and at least on one occasion these pipes were sold along with a shipment of China marbles. For Vodrey, or any other experienced potter at the time, it wouldn\'t have been to hard to go from painting clay pipes, to also painting marbles, especially since both are made out of similar type clays. Again, we can only make an \"educated guess\" till all of the Vodrey account books are looked at, or further archaeological diggings in the area tell us otherwise.
Although all China marbles were made with similar clays, and are considered porcelain, not all of them can be called painted China marbles. The earliest ones were rather plain looking and not decorated, with any of the familiar designs common to these type marbles. In addition, most of the earlier examples are unglazed. As their popularity increased, and as more of the artistic potters began hand crafting different colored paints and designs onto their finish product, you finally started to get glazed examples, along with the earlier unglazed varieties still being produced.
By the 1860\'s both varieties of marbles were known all across the American landscape. From the tiniest mid-western settlements along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the crowded streets of many of the older seaport cities in the east, and down to New Orleans in the south, there wasn\'t a family that had kids, that didn\'t know about children\'s marbles, particularly China marbles..
As for the marbles themselves, the decorated Chinas are the most collectible, especially amongst privy diggers like myself. The general trend of excavated examples tends to show the painted designs, as well as the presence or absence of a glazed surface, are good age indicators for specific time periods within the 1846-1910 period.
Based mostly on the field work of archaeologists who excavated a number of sites in both Zanesville, Ohio, and in New Orleans during the mid 1980\'s, the entire period of China marble production is now divided into three time frames.
THE EARLY PERIOD
(CA. I846-I870)
The first, or early period reflects mostly unglazed (bisque) examples. Chinas made during the early or \"Civil War\" period (ca.1846-1870) were mostly decorated with sets of parallel and intersecting lines, consisting of lines of varying widths and colors; the pinwheel, and several bull \' s eye designs, including, the solid and doughnut shaped bull\'s eyes. Other popular motifs included: both plain and fancy flower and pedal leaf designs, as well as, combination of pinwheels lines and, or flowered designs often on the same marble.
THE MIDDLE PERIOD
(CA. I870-I890)
The varied styles, colors, and individual artistry of China marbles of the early period were beginning to wane by the early 1870\' s. As the demand for marbles increased, short cuts in production were needed. Gone were the plain and exotic pinwheel designs and time consuming sets of parallel lines that had traditionally been painted on each individual marble. During the middle period the helix and spiral had replaced, for the most part, earlier paralleled examples because they could be produced much faster. Helixes are easily recognized because the first pass around the marble with the paint bush usually left a much wider line than later passes, due to the excess paint on the artisans brush. Although the helix and spiral are sometime seen on earlier dig sites, they are much more common during the middle period, with a good many also being glazed.
Spirals are also a common decoration of the middle and later periods. They consisted of a line starting at one of the poles of the marble and winding around the pole numerous times, towards the center, and sometimes to the opposite pole.
The biggest difference between the flowered examples of the early and middle period is that most of the China marbles of the middle period are glazed. In addition, the familiar leaf sprays, of the early period, that were used so successfully as \"fillers\", between sets of intersecting parallel lines had almost died out by the mid 1870\' s. Generally, the flowered Chinas of the middle period were not as detailed, and lacked the radiating flower, and leaf designs of the 1850\'s and 60\'s.
THE LATE PERIOD (I870-I890)
By the turn of the century China marbles were almost always glazed, and the designs were painted over the glazed surface. In the later period most marbles went through the usual two firings (as did all Chinas from the early period on), and an additional third firing before the design was finally painted on. This only worsened the cost cutting strategies that had begun in the middle period, and forced marble makers to speed up their work in order to increase production. The result being that, by the 1890\'s, the designs became quite simple and sloppy, with a majority of decorations being nothing more than a simple looking short spiral, or a narrow lined bull\'s eye that were haphazardly painted on, sometimes overlapping each other. By the early 1900\'s, it simply didn\'t pay anymore to devote to much time to decorating China marbles. The practice had become to labor intensive to remain profitable, and with the first machine-made glass marbles now becoming available. few manufacturers wanted to continue with China marbles.
\"SCENIC\" CHINA MARBLES
Another type of China marble that seems to predominate during the early period, along with the other more common motifs of the period, are the much rarer \"scenic\" Chinas.
To date, known decorations on these include: a sailing ship, a farmer plowing his field, a woman besides a castle, a phoenix, and several other animal and human forms, plus the silhouette of a man, possibly that of George Washington. As with all marbles. their size varies greatly, from one half an inch to almost two inches in diameter. The picture on these marbles is often opposite a more common design, such as a pinwheel, or in rarer instances, across the equator of the marble, with various designs on either pole. The majority of scenic Chinas are not glazed, with few examples dating into the l870\'s.
COLOR
Just about any color available in the ceramic industry was used in marble making, Colors run the gamut, from the commoner shades of green, to the much rarer blues and yellow.
Two and three color combinations on the same marble are not uncommon. Typically, the first color was applied to a batch after their initial firing in the kiln, allowed to dry .and after that a second color was applied, and allowed to dry, and so forth, until the desired effect was completed.
Based largely on archaeological diggings carried out in the mid-western United States, the most frequently seen colors on China marbles are from the common to the rare true red ( often mistaken for brown because either the color had faded, or the original red pigment darkened when the marble was fired), green, black, orange, blue, pink, yellow, brown, violet, and shades of lavender.
From a diggers standpoint China marbles are good indicators for the age of other artifacts and bottles they might be buried with. Some of the more important things to consider when viewing them at marble sales, shows, or digging them are:
1)Un-glazed Chinas are generally older than glazed examples.
2)The Pinwheel design and sets of intersecting and parallel lines are more characteristic of the early period, as are, most un-glazed Bull\'s eye types.
3)Scenic China marbles mostly date from the early period, and are considered rarer than other decorated Chinas.
4)The Helix and Spiral first appear during the middle period, and become simpler and less decorative towards the later period.
5)Un-glazed flowered designs almost always date from the early period.
Middle period flowers are mostly glazed, and later ones are often quite simple and less colorful.
Of course these are generalizations, and you are bound to find that marble that just doesn\'t fit, or was not found in a datable context. Fact is, when your dealing with a collectible that was produced over many years, by many different craftsmen, and in different parts of the world, there\'s bound to be some overlapping of dates. Especially since the artisan can only work his wares given his immediate technology,regardless of the time period he\'s working in.
