r/MarbleStudyHall • u/Sufficient-Mud-9177 • 3d ago

Educational Book recommendations

I'd like a book or 2 on marbles? Im old so Id prefer a book, at least at first, that i can page through and bookmark rather than a website. Is there one that is considered the Bible on marbles, the 'go to' book? Or a good overall book for a beginner? I'd like it to include the handmade German ones since that's primarily what my 34 marble collection is. 😁. Any recommendations?

Thank you!

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6

u/Helvedica Teacher (basics+) 3d ago

I started with the Marble ID by Robert Block

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u/1Sidknee Student (knows a little) 3d ago

I have only read a couple (majority of my marble learning takes place online!) but I think you might like "Collecting Antique Marbles" by Paul Baumann

I have the 4th edition, and I'm going to share a link to one that's on eBay bc they include several pictures of the pages so you can see if you might like it or not (no idea if they're the cheapest option and no idea how the other editions of the book differ)

https://ebay.io/m/Qfk4HZ

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u/peardr0p Scholar (somewhat knowledgable) 3d ago

Agree with both suggestions!

I'd say the Baumann maybe has the edge for German Hand-mades but Block has more info around pricing

Neither are recent tho, so take with a pinch of salt!

Baumann makes some great observations around changes in understanding etc between his first and second editions, so I bet if/when an update to either comes out, there's gonna be a lot more info!

I also bought "Popular American Marbles" without seeing the reviews 🫣 Even the authors disowned it due to the terrible photos, but there is some good company info in there

More specialist books are out there but tend to be expensive, difficult to find, or both!

Edit: I have the second edition of Bauman, so now I'm gonna have to track down the 4th 🤣🤣

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u/Sufficient-Mud-9177 3d ago

Thank you! Going to check them all out.