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 #51. Handcut Agate. 5/8". Mint- 9.1.51 - Marbles: Lot #51. Handcut Agate. 5/8". Mint- 9.1.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
NON-GLASS HANDMADE, Agate. Handcut Carnelian Agate. Germany, circa 1850-1920. 5/8". Mint(-) (9.1). Provenance: ex-collection Joe Rocco. Estima...
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 10.00 - 20.00
Sold to jhomer2172 for (5.00 + 0.00BP) = 5.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #52. Handcut Agate. 23/32". Mint- 9.0.52 - Marbles: Lot #52. Handcut Agate. 23/32". Mint- 9.0.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
NON-GLASS HANDMADE, Agate. Handcut Carnelian Agate. One tiny hit mark. Germany, circa 1850-1920. 23/32". Mint(-) (9.0). Provenance: ex-collecti...
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 10.00 - 20.00
Sold to jhomer2172 for (14.00 + 0.00BP) = 14.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #53. 4 Large Clay and Bennington. 1-1/2"-1-13/16. Mostly Mint.53 - Marbles: Lot #53. 4 Large Clay and Bennington. 1-1/2"-1-13/16. Mostly Mint.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
NON-GLASS HANDMADE, Earthenware. Lot of four (4) marbles. All are large. Two are Dyed Clay, 1-1/2" & 1-13/16", Mint (9.7). Other two a...
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 50.00 - 100.00
Sold to tpgmarbles for (24.00 + 0.00BP) = 24.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #54. Transition, Leighton Oxblood. 27/32". Mint 9.6.54 - Marbles: Lot #54. Transition, Leighton Oxblood. 27/32". Mint 9.6.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
TRANSITIONAL, Leighton. Exceptional Leighton oxblood. Super oxblood spiral in seedy clear glass. Gorgeous example. Some tiny melt airholes. Germany, c
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 300.00 - 600.00
Sold to marblemikey for (380.00 + 0.00BP) = 380.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #55. Transition, Regular Pontil. 1-5/16". NM 8.5.55 - Marbles: Lot #55. Transition, Regular Pontil. 1-5/16". NM 8.5.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
TRANSITIONAL, Regular Pontil. Very interesting marble. Translucent purple and pink spirals in clear. Very light wear to surface, and a chip on one sid
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 200.00 - 400.00
Sold to stanmarbles9 for (120.00 + 0.00BP) = 120.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #56. MF Christensen & Son, Oxblood Slag. 19/32". Mint- 9.0.56 - Marbles: Lot #56. MF Christensen & Son, Oxblood Slag. 19/32". Mint- 9.0.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
M.F. CHRISTENSEN & SON COMPANY, Oxblood Slag. Sometimes referred to as a Green Brick. Oxblood swirled into dark transparent green. Excellent oxb...
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 100.00 - 200.00
Sold to jhomer2172 for (170.00 + 0.00BP) = 170.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #57. Transition, Melted Pontil. 15/16". Mint 9.6.57 - Marbles: Lot #57. Transition, Melted Pontil. 15/16". Mint 9.6.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
TRANSITIONAL, Melted Pontil. Beautiful marble. Purple and white with great swirling. Nicely melted pontil. In great shape, two tiny pinpricks near the
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 60.00 - 125.00
Sold to stanmarbles9 for (28.00 + 0.00BP) = 28.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #58. Akro Agate Company, Slag. 21/32". Mint 9.9.58 - Marbles: Lot #58. Akro Agate Company, Slag. 21/32". Mint 9.9.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
AKRO AGATE COMPANY, Slag. Brown Slag. The glass did not shear off properly and there is a wrapping melted tail swirling around the marble. Odd marble.
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 10.00 - 20.00
Sold to jlj_abc for (7.00 + 0.00BP) = 7.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #59. MF Christensen & Son, Slag. 7/8". NM+ 8.8.59 - Marbles: Lot #59. MF Christensen & Son, Slag. 7/8". NM+ 8.8.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
M.F. CHRISTENSEN & SON COMPANY, Slag. Brown Slag. Handgathered beauty. Nice "9". One very small chip, two tiny chips. Akron OH, circa ...
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 10.00 - 20.00
Sold to lornorm for (5.00 + 0.00BP) = 5.00
 
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Marbles: Lot #60. Christensen Agate, Guinea. 21/32". Mint- 9.0.60 - Marbles: Lot #60. Christensen Agate, Guinea. 21/32". Mint- 9.0.
Block's Marble CyberAuctions
CHRISTENSEN AGATE COMPANY, Guinea. Blue Guinea. About half covered with colored flecks. Two tiny melt spots, one tiny pit. Cambridge OH, circa 1927-19
Bidding Has Concluded
Estimate : 275.00 - 550.00
Sold to marblemikey for (260.00 + 0.00BP) = 260.00
 
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