Pool Ball Collecting.

[hunger strike]

Hello. I'm new to the site. This is a very informative forum and the genuine friendships and generosity between contributors is wonderful. The reason I'm here is that I recently got a set of 2 1/16" clay agate balls. Pictured below.

I can't find any history of these. View attachment 794101K2K alludes to turn of the century but exactly when and what gives them their unique colors? Any information or even book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

These balls are "speckled," not "agate." Speckled balls look like a Robin's egg, one color like a blue 2 ball with white specks. Your balls to look to have a tiny amount of other color specks as you may notice on your 9 ball. But on most of your balls you need reading glasses to see anything but white specks. Agate balls do not have specks within an overall solid color. Agates are made totally of ground-up bits of multiple colors. Early 1900's Agate balls may have been an agatized mix of red and white, possibly with small amounts of other colors making an overall red or pinkish-looking design. An example set like that sold very high a few years back, in the thousands. But some nearly identical balls sold for much less as the ground up bits were so tiny that the material looked like ground beef "hamburger balls" rather than "confetti" balls.
Other Agate balls resembled the traditional 8 different ball colors that had all 8 color bits (or 9 including white bits) - a green 6 resembled a solid green ball because in addition to the other colors, much more green bits were added to create an overall green look.
Your speckled balls are also not early 1900's ....they are in 1950's catalogs and we're listed as "molded balls" and were also sold in nearly identical non-speckled sets. I have a 1950's catalog that lists molded balls in 7 or 8 different sizes, but your speckled balls were made in fewer sizes. Your balls are just as nice looking as they would be if they were the only known set. But luckily for those that want to display a set, they are on eBay frequently for relatively cheap. The most beautiful pool ball set ever made, true Agate colors with thin Compo-Ivory, Brunswick style numbers in 2-1/4" full size have sold for at least $5,000.00. Be happy in a Buddhist billiard monastery that you have never seen them. Because you would have taken out a second mortgage to outbid the man who bought them.
There is a set out there that are 2-1/4" and are white-speckled with red rings and red numbers. There is only one known complete matching set. I have only seen two loose single balls like them - check out this near-mint #7. Imagine what that set would sell for!

 

[Hard Knock Cues]

These balls are "speckled," not "agate." Speckled balls look like a Robin's egg, one color like a blue 2 ball with white specks. Your balls to look to have a tiny amount of other color specks as you may notice on your 9 ball. But on most of your balls you need reading glasses to see anything but white specks. Agate balls do not have specks within an overall solid color. Agates are made totally of ground-up bits of multiple colors. Early 1900's Agate balls may have been an agatized mix of red and white, possibly with small amounts of other colors making an overall red or pinkish-looking design. An example set like that sold very high a few years back, in the thousands. But some nearly identical balls sold for much less as the ground up bits were so tiny that the material looked like ground beef "hamburger balls" rather than "confetti" balls.
Other Agate balls resembled the traditional 8 different ball colors that had all 8 color bits (or 9 including white bits) - a green 6 resembled a solid green ball because in addition to the other colors, much more green bits were added to create an overall green look.
Your speckled balls are also not early 1900's ....they are in 1950's catalogs and we're listed as "molded balls" and were also sold in nearly identical non-speckled sets. I have a 1950's catalog that lists molded balls in 7 or 8 different sizes, but your speckled balls were made in fewer sizes. Your balls are just as nice looking as they would be if they were the only known set. But luckily for those that want to display a set, they are on eBay frequently for relatively cheap. The most beautiful pool ball set ever made, true Agate colors with thin Compo-Ivory, Brunswick style numbers in 2-1/4" full size have sold for at least $5,000.00. Be happy in a Buddhist billiard monastery that you have never seen them. Because you would have taken out a second mortgage to outbid the man who bought them.
There is a set out there that are 2-1/4" and are white-speckled with red rings and red numbers. There is only one known complete matching set. I have only seen two loose single balls like them - check out this near-mint #7. Imagine what that set would sell for!

Hunger strike, that is some interesting information. Can you take a picture of the catalog page that shows these balls?
I would have guessed they were from around 1900 like in Mark and Connie Stellinga's book