Collecting Antique Marbles

My wife got this for Christmas and was really thrilled with this book. She has been collecting "german swirls" for 30 years and we have many of those. This book provides great detailed pictures and descriptions of the process used to make these remarkable craft pieces. She thought that there was different explanations in this book from some others she has, but the differences were really minor. Also, she thought in some cases the values seemed to be extremely high; yet, we both thought that that could be the result of the marble being reviewed by the author versus ones we have seen of a similar type. Quality is always the key! A great book for a marble collector.

I is a good reference book for marbles. A bit dis-jointed and hard to follow. Pictures are not as clear as some other referance material but book should be in a marble collectors library.

As the wife of a train collector, I found this book very familiar territory -- but even better. Baumann's grasp of history, archeology, industrial technique and the esthetic of marble art is wonderful. This was a great read (and look--the color plates are a real asset), as well as an excellent reference.

176 pages with 1,200 color pictures and many black and white plates. This book really provides a comprehensive history of marbles including how to classify and collect them. Details on clay and crockery, china, swirls, solids, opaques and sulphides. Transition and machine-mades, reproductions and toys are discussed. A comprehensive price guide is included, and a marble club listing. Add this book to your collection if you're a new marble collector or a long time collector. A great reference source.