Atlanta Antique Porcelain Marbles as found.. they haven't been cleaned and this bottle has not been opened.. there was another bottle that I did open and I rinse off a green one... see pictures..

The marbles story..... I was lucky enough to purchase a few bottles of these marbles as I was working at the Ga Dome during the Olympics in 1996.

    I have never opened this bottle.  The marbles are in the same condition as they were collected so they appear dirty because they are! But they clean up beautifully!

MARBLE HISTORY!

Here is some information that I have "dug up" ..... Atlanta, Georgia was an exciting place to be during the planning stages of the 1996 Olympics. So much construction went on around town, it was hard to keep up with it all. While removing masonry remnants of an early 19th Century building, crews uncovered thousands of pre-civil war era marbles from an old cistern located in what remained of the building's basement. After researching the location, they found that the building had been a marble factory from 1820-1837. They are solid marble with a porcelain coat. Handmade from marble chunks, they were dropped down a brick column resembling a shot tower. The action of rolling and bouncing against the sides of the tower shaped them into rough symmetrical spheres. They were covered in kaolin clay, painted,and then some were glazed, then fired. No two are alike. Some have a glazed sheen and many have a flat finish. The green and cobalt blue marbles are the rarest! In fact, variation is part of their charm. Remaining marble stock was stored in the basement of the building after the business closed. The building was burned just before Christmas, 1864 by Sherman's troops immediately following the battle of Atlanta, during the Civil War. A series of other buildings were later erected over the basement and foundation where the marbles were stored. And stayed there ~ until they were discovered in 1995, by a Mr. J. Kirkland of Harriman, Tennessee, during Olympic construction and sold to Georgians and tourists during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.