AUCTION  / 

#1104 Marble Auction

Auction CurrencyUSD Auction Location10 Twarog Pl, Shelton, Connecticut, 06484, United States

Auction Details

Marble CyberAuction #1104 is the beginning of the Joe Rocco collection. This collection will take 3 or 4 auctions to get through.

Joe owned Strider Records in Greenwich Village and began collecting in the 1960s. (Go to http://jazzcollector.com/guest-columns/guest-column-more-tales-of-the-hunt/#more-3520 to see a great story about a record deal Joe was involved in. All the marbles in this auction came out of the basement described at the end of the story). He was known in The Village (and throughout the metropolitan area) to be a marble collector. Customers would often bring marbles into the store in the 70s and 80s and trade them for records. He also frequented the Manhattan flea markets. Can you imagine what it must have been like to go to flea markets back in the 1970s and 1980s? I can still remember Joe and his wife, Marie, coming to the marble shows that my dad held in Fairfield and Westport Connecticut in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Joe passed away in 1993 and Marie packed the entire collection into boxes and put them in the basement of their house. Nothing was touched in the intervening 19 years. I found the boxes still stacked the way they were back in 1993. When I started unpacking boxes I found a number of marbles that we had auctioned back in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Block’s Box Absentee Marble Auctions 1 through 9.

This collection offers a unique window into marble collecting habits prior to the explosion of interest in marbles in the 1990s. Back in the 70s and 80s, marble collecting was still in its infancy as a hobby. Many antique dealers considered them a novelty and didn't take the hobby seriously. This stage of the hobby was prior to the point where the really colorful and Mint handmades were coming over from Europe, and before the Berlin Wall came down. It was very difficult to find quality handmade marbles at that time. Large Mint handmades were especially rare, and many collectors bought damaged handmades and had them polished. In addition, virtually no one was collecting machine made marbles. The Larry Castle/Marlow Peterson book did not come out until 1989 and knowledge of machine made companies and product lines was very limited.

Joe was a true collector. He bought what he liked and what appealed to him. He wasn't in the hobby as an investment, he reveled in the sheer joy of having beautiful marbles to look at. Many of the large handmades, as is typical of this period, are polished so that you can see the internal design. There are a lot of handmade rarities in this collection, although all are not Mint. On the machine made side, Joe liked colors and patterns, so there is an interesting predominance of Christensen Agates and very early Alleys. There are also the more typical Akros and Peltiers. Joe also bought contemporaries that he liked. Since his collection froze at 1993, there are not many contemporaries, and only very early artists are represented. In addition, most of the contemporaries are not signed, as this did not become the norm until later in the 1990s.

Everything is offered as it came out of the boxes. In a number of instances there are still price tags and inventory tags on the marbles that he bought at marble shows.
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Marbles: Lot #31. Onionskin with Mica. 11/16". Mint 9.7.31 - Marbles: Lot #31. Onionskin with Mica. 11/16". Mint 9.7.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
END OF DAY, Onionskin. Superb Onionskin with mica. Pink skin on white base. Super layer of mica flakes on the core. One very tiny pit. Gorgeous. Groun
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 125.00 - 250.00
Sold to tdushan for (100.00 + 0.00BP) = 100.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #32. Onionskin. 11/16". NM+ 8.9.32 - Marbles: Lot #32. Onionskin. 11/16". NM+ 8.9.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
END OF DAY, Onionskin. Opaque bright white core. A couple of blue and a couple of orange bands on it. One melt spot, two tiny chips. Germany, circa 18
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 30.00 - 60.00
Sold to floor for (22.00) = 22.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #33. 6-Panel Onionskin. 7/16". Mint 9.9.33 - Marbles: Lot #33. 6-Panel Onionskin. 7/16". Mint 9.9.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
END OF DAY, Paneled Onionskin. Six-panel Onionskin. Peewee. Core is white with pink skin on it. Three equadistant blue bands on the core. Germany, cir
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 50.00 - 100.00
Sold to cemib for (26.00 + 0.00BP) = 26.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #34. 4-Panel Onionskin. 5/8". NM+ 8.9.34 - Marbles: Lot #34. 4-Panel Onionskin. 5/8". NM+ 8.9.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
END OF DAY, Paneled Onionskin. Four-Panel Onionskin. White core. Two blue and two turquoise panels. One very tiny subsurface moon, one tiny pinprick.
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 20.00 - 40.00
Sold to lornorm for (18.00 + 0.00BP) = 18.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #35. Onionskin. 5/8". Mint- 9.2.35 - Marbles: Lot #35. Onionskin. 5/8". Mint- 9.2.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
END OF DAY, Onionskin. Nice Onionskin, some might call it a Cloud. White core. Blue, pink and turquoise splotches. One tiny manufacturing pit. Germany
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 35.00 - 70.00
Sold to marblemikey for (34.00 + 0.00BP) = 34.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #36. Submarine. 21/32". Mint 9.9.36 - Marbles: Lot #36. Submarine. 21/32". Mint 9.9.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
OTHER HANDMADE, Submarine. Odd Submarine, from near an end of the cane. Transparent blue base. Panels of stretched white and stretched yellow. In grea
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 80.00 - 175.00
Sold to tdushan for (90.00 + 0.00BP) = 90.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #37. Banded Opaque. 23/32". NM 8.6.37 - Marbles: Lot #37. Banded Opaque. 23/32". NM 8.6.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
OTHER HANDMADE, Banded Opaque. Nice Banded Opaque. Semi-opaque white base. Two panels of stretched translucent pink. A couple of tiny chips, tiny subs
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 75.00 - 150.00
Sold to marblehag for (21.00 + 0.00BP) = 21.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #38. Clambroth. 25/32". NM- 8.1.38 - Marbles: Lot #38. Clambroth. 25/32". NM- 8.1.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
OTHER HANDMADE, Clambroth. Shooter Clambroth. Semi-opaque white base. Thirteen pink strands. Tiny subsurface moons, tiny chips and pits. Germany, circ
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 75.00 - 150.00
Sold to marblehag for (26.00 + 0.00BP) = 26.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #39. Indian. 5/8". Mint 9.5.39 - Marbles: Lot #39. Indian. 5/8". Mint 9.5.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
OTHER HANDMADE, Indian. Gorgeous Indian. Opaque black base. Two bands on the surface. One is blue on white, other is pink on white. A couple of tiny p
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 60.00 - 125.00
Sold to hillfrost2.. for (55.00 + 0.00BP) = 55.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #40. Indian. 21/32". NM 8.6.40 - Marbles: Lot #40. Indian. 21/32". NM 8.6.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
OTHER HANDMADE, Indian. Nice Indian. Almost a 360. Opaque black base. Surface is about ninety percent covered with white stretched bands. One panel of
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 35.00 - 70.00
Sold to jamespatch.. for (30.00 + 0.00BP) = 30.00
 
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