Jo and Larry Garrett

As imagined by Microsoft Copilot Nestled in the quiet rhythm of suburban streets, the Lunt Avenue Marble Club lives on—not in buildings or bylaws, but in the worn curves of concrete and the memory of play. This story traces the outlines of a neighborhood tradition where marbles weren’t just toys, but tokens of imagination, rivalry, … [Read more...] about Where the Sidewalk Remembers

  A few weeks ago we received an email from a gentleman [1]  who we will call Jeff in this story. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri. Here’s what he said: “Larry, please look at the pictures of these ‘marbles’ and see if they are something you are interested in." "By the way, I am not one of your readers. I am not a marble … [Read more...] about Post Holes And Possibilities: Digging Up Marbles

1907, 0119.38 © The Trustees of the British Museum, Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license[1]. Woops, we did it again![2] We have always been interested in history, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnography. We also love to explore and to discover new places. … [Read more...] about Mud, Minoa and … Marbles?

An Abandoned Western Town as Imagined by Microsoft Copilot   So, what is a ghost town?  A ghost town is any historical town or site that leaves evidence of a town’s previous glory. This could be in many forms — all businesses closed, municipal services at a minimum, rubble and old nails strewn about, ruins of former … [Read more...] about Ghost Town Marbles

Photograph by Jo Garrett People often ask how we got started looking for marbles.In the mid 1990s we were living in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. “Al Ain” is “The Spring” in Arabic. There were about 225,000 people living in the thriving City at the time. It is also known as the "garden city." There is a large Oasis and … [Read more...] about Looking For Lost Marbles & Finding So Much More

    The Metropolitan Museum of Art Fifth Avenue NY The Cesnola Collection, Purchased by Subscription, 1874 – 1876 #74.51.328 This gorgeous glass marble was probably found by Luigi Palma di Cesnola in Cypress between 1865 – 1876. It dates to the Imperial Roman period 1st – 4th CE. It is considerably older than … [Read more...] about Roman Glass Marbles

As Imagined Copilot – Microsoft Back To The Abyss We recently published “Limestone Marbles & The Eutaw Farm” which is about fossiliferous or shelly limestone marbles. Tons of these marbles were made in Germany and exported during the 19th century. This type limestone is chock full of marine fossils and shells or shell … [Read more...] about In The Shadows Of The Tomb: Marbles From The Guldara Stupa

Baltimore Heritage[1] 612-614 S. Wolfe Street (2012) Exterior View We recently had fun with the story “Limestone Marbles & The Eutaw Farm” (https://thesecretlifeofmarbles.com/limestone-marbles-the-eutaw-farm/) In that post we told you about the significant public archaeology digs in the northeast of Baltimore, Baltimore … [Read more...] about Marbles From the Caulker’s Homes: Historical Status Markers from Baltimore’s Iconic Past

Etching “Marbles” by James McNeill Whistler[1] https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010648381/ Whistling In The Newspaper Morgue Files If you have read some of our stories then you know that we enjoy reading old newspapers at the the Library of Congress digital newspaper morgue (https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/). The site … [Read more...] about Moth Marbles & Other Brevities

  Photograph: Belongs to A.Davey, 1 September 1914, This file is licensed under the Wikimedia Commons Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license[1]. We really like this photograph! Each girl is baby-sitting a child younger than her. Look at their “geta sandals”. These are designed to keep your feet dry and it looks like … [Read more...] about Ohajiki: “Looks Like Flat Marbles to Me!”