December 3rd 2011 Marble (19)
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/2/2011
This marble was purchased by Paul and his father (mainly his father), probably in 1955 when Paul would have been nine. They bought it from C.E. "Cleve" Long, who had an article on marbles published in "Hobbies, The Magazine for Collectors" in May of 1950. He had purchased this marble in 1946 or 1947 from another collector, who had owned the marble for over a decade. It predated modern sphere machines and is, as you would expect, not completely round, although just looking at it you would not be able to tell. Petoskey stones are fossilized corals of the genus Hexagonaria (the "hex" referring to their six-sided cells) which flourished about 350 million years ago. They are the state stone of Michigan, although related species are found in northern Europe. Paul assumes the marble was produced by a milling process, similar to those used in Germany for limestone marbles (the stone's hardness is the the same). His guess is that it was made in this country in the 1920s or early 1930s, although it could have been produced in Germany and made at an even earlier date. The fossil specimen itself is extraordinarily fine, and the marble is unique, as far as we know. Photo list: A and B.
Condition: (9.5).
Item Dimensions: 2 - 1/4" Dia.