I had 3 or 4 sets of them in various sizes and styles. I live near a huge flea market that had a number of Asian vendors at the time, and it seems that all of them had these along with the herbs, counterfeit toys and throwing stars. I’m wondering if that was just a local thing, or if there was a wider Baoding ball fad.
I did indeed have a set in the 90s. I think I tossed them before the recent move though. I remember them back to the 80s though overseas in East Asia. I bought mine in either NJ or possibly a NYC street vendor.
I have a pair of them on my desk. I am using them right now. I got mine in San Francisco.
I knew I had a pair, and this post prompted me to look for them; found them in the back of my sock drawer. I have them on my desk now.
Mine look similar to the OP’s Amazon link, except one has an image of the sun and the other a crescent moon and stars. I don’t remember where or when I got them.
I think some of mine had dragons. I know some had yin/yang symbols.
I had some for years, but they disappeared during our recent move. I suspect goodwill has them now.
Yes, i had a couple of sets. Hmm, i wonder where they’ve gone.
Like this?:
Stranger
Damn. Ninjad. I went to Youtube to find that and when I came back you had beaten me to it.
I remember years back seeing people with those balls and I kept thinking how everyone must be cracking up like Queeg.
I never owned a pair, but I’m familiar with them. And yes, it was probably in the 90s that I encountered them. I’ve seen them for sale at curiosity shops (usually in a fancy box, with a velvet cushion - and I just clicked on the OP’s link, and yep, just like that). And I knew a couple of people who owned them, so I experienced rolling them around in my hand.
I never got any entertainment or utility out of them, though, which is why I never owned them. I suppose they were probably the precursor to fidget spinners, but I actually find a fidget spinner useful (and I have a couple of them).
I always thought those were repurposed Ben Wa balls.
I have two sets on my desk but hadn’t opened the boxes in a long time, until I saw this thread. One is small silver balls and the other is large cloisonné balls with images of pandas. I don’t remember where or when I got them. I had them on my desk at work for years and occasionally played with them back then.
Jingling? No.
OK, I have a couple of pairs on my desk right now. Couldn’t tell you precisely when I got them, though. Also, while one pair indeed consists of jingly metal balls, the other appears to be solid quartz. No symbols or anything else written on them.
No, “Ben Wa balls” are smaller, and have a string so you can pull them out. These are definitely “Baoding balls”.
Right. And here is a video (among many) showing how to “exercise” with them…maybe the health benefits are woo, but it is kinda fun to roll them around like that…
I did indeed, bought in Chinatown my during senior class trip to NYC in 1995; they were a pretty enameled green. I believe I know where they are, though I would need a ladder to access that shelf of knicknacks.
And just this week I found a plain sliver(y) set that must have belonged to one of my parents. The cats were surprisingly disconcerted by the sound when I rolled them to them.
White elephant party, 1998. Jingle the magic, musical balls in your hand. Some of us had to be helped from the room…
Ever since birth, I imagine.
Wasn’t there a funny scene in Wayne’s World 2 where one of them is fighting with the girlfriend’s dad and a pair of those Baoding balls fall out of the dad’s trousers after getting kicked in the nuts?
I always wondered what the jingling bit looked like.
Never did get a pair to cut open (besides, cutting a round object like that wouldn’t be trivial).
Have any of you sacrificed a pair of jingling balls to see what’s inside?