Customer Reviews

Everett Grist's Big Book of Marbles

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The book was complete concerning the marbles and marbles companies shown, but the book missed its mark by not going into greater depth and detail concerning the great variety of individual marbles. The book lists several prices of near mint marbles of various sizes but stops there. I would have liked to seen prices for the not so perfect marbles (different grades) and, in my opinion, should have been about twice as thick to cover photos and descriptions of a greater variety of marbles, not just submissions from his collector friends.

Grist has made it easy for young and old alike to discover the wonderful world of marble collecting--without getting taken to the cleaners. Not only does this volume throughly describe how to identify various marbles, it pictures many of the common marble varieties with very clear, full color, closeup photographs. Especially beneficial in identification is Grist's description of the manufacturing process which helps one understand why different marbles are marked the way they are and dispells a common myth that marbles must be perfect to be valuable. This volume did not earn a fifth star only because it seemed so short, but it is indeed a great addition to a collector's library.

I decided after attending a national collector-run marble show in my area to get this updated Third Edition of Grist's book, because it looked like it would have enough new pictures to make identifying all those troublesome common marbles a possibility. And the pictures in the book are nice, being clear and color-accurate, and showing multiple marbles so one can see the range of designs/colors that fall within a category. However, I've always considered Grist to be a lazy author, and this just confirms it. Yes, it takes some work to get the pictures of so many marbles, but that is something almost anyone could eventually do. This is sub-titled a 'comprehensive' ID book, so I expected Grist to deliver. He does not even come close to delivering on that promise! First of all, many marbles are left out and many more poorly dealt with. As new as I am to marbles, even I know that there are subtle differences that help one to differentiate between marble companies. Yet Grist has virtually NO TEXT explaining how to ID various types of marbles. It is simply pictures and an occassional comment, and as we all know, pictures of certain marbles, such as cateyes, do not do justice in showing the differences. Those need to be EXPLAINED (how many vanes, shape, etc) because the differences usually do not show well in pictures. None of this happens. Many of the Peltier marbles are simply lumped together as 'Champion Jrs.' with none of the common names used in the trade included. And as far as being a comprehensive value guide, only ranges are given with no differention for size or condition given. That is hardly a comprehensive price guide! On top of that, most prices on common marbles (under $10 each) appear to be grossly inflated over what is actually happening in the marketplace today. I wish I could get those prices for my commons - I'd be rich! The final insult is the poor editing done in the book. "Peltier" is spelled "Pelitier" half the time. There are pictures where the heading states "row 1" when it means "column 1." Just plain sloppy. Most pictures of the rarities have no prices at all and only general category IDs for the entire group shown. In general, a nice picture book but nothing about it is 'comprehensive' - just more false advertising. Why can't anyone put out a book with the quality and extent of pictures Grist does and the helpful, detailed text and variety listings such as Block attempts? Then we would be approaching a 'comprehensive ID and value guide.' So far, I've found nothing close.

This second edition is updated for 2,000. 190 pages with hundreds of large, full color, sharp photos. Major topics include: Who Can You Trust?, Manufacturers, Antique and Machine Mades, Rarities, Marble Boxes, Christmas Cards, Clubs, Paper Items, etc, etc. A great reference for marble fans.

Everett Grist's Big Book Of Marbles appears in its second edition to provide excellent photos lending to marble identification: a fine art. Pages identify styles, makers, and include values for games and sets.

Excellent book for identification of marble types and values, and for general history of marble manufacture and select manufacturers. Grist details characteristics of marbles to identify the manufacturing method and general production dates, but you cannot identify marbles to manufacturer or more specific production dates by this book. Excellent pictures and selection of marbles. Overall, this is a good quality marble book.

I didn't find this book very helpful, you have to have a pretty good knowledge about your marbles and where they are made and stuff. Not a good reference book unless you already know what you have.

Great pictures, and lots of them, with information on go-alongs and on manufacturers, but not a great an ID guide as I had hoped it would be. I still can't tell who made my vintage marbles.

As a serious marble collector, I think this book is invaluable. It's informative and very well put together. I believe it could also work well for non-marble collectors. Marbles are pretty universally fascinating and this book can inform anyone about the worth and characteristics of marbles.

This is a great, glossy reference for identifying marbles. Copyright 2006, the Big Book of Marbles gives a great overview of the history of the game and of the manufacture of marbles, both antique and machine-made.There are several hundred very sharp photos of the many, many kinds of marbles one can collect, and equally sharp and knowledgeable technical discriptions.