Marble Stories

 "Never laugh at live dragons." ― J.R.R. Tolkien The Hobbit Relax & have fun! This Isn’t Rocket Science! We always had fun collecting marbles. Over the years we have traveled in search of marbles and we have found over 2,700 marbles in 239 different communities. Check our story Far-Flung in Wimauma in this magazine. We have … [Read more...] about Dragons and Farbles With A Pinch of Pewter

It’s got to be Art! In 2007 we had only been collecting marbles for a few years and our focus was on glass mid-20th century American machine-made marbles. However, we had learned about stone (and agate), clay, and other marble materials and we had seen all sorts of handmade art marbles online and in a few shops. For Christmas … [Read more...] about Contemporary Art Glass Marbles

“Boston boys are sore because the girls are playing marbles. Gee whiz, hoaly smoak, paw, isn’t there any limit to sex invasion?” Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, PA, March 22, 1922, Night Extra, Page 8. Their Marble Playing Blazed a Trail for Others “Hoaly Smoak”! In recent posts we have noted that we enjoy browsing in the … [Read more...] about Girls Are Crack Shots With A Marble

"It is a bold mouse that makes her nest in the cat's ear." --- Danish Proverb A Few Thoughts about Nests Yellow Jackets make their nests in the ground. Storks make nests; so do osprey. Machine gunners use nests and sometimes snipers, too. Alligators, blue birds, some spiders curl leaves into nests. Bees, and whole families of … [Read more...] about A Nest of Monkeys

Yep, a Lead-Clad Glass Marble: But Why? We learn a lot of interesting things from the comments we receive from this magazine and from emails from readers of our book The Secret Life of Marbles. We enjoy hearing from readers. Just awhile ago we received this intriguing email sent from an iphone. A Remarkable Email “I found this … [Read more...] about A Lead-Clad Marble

“Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall….” Daniel 5:5-12 “Everybody’s Leaving Town….”[1] This old truck is ready to haul one more load of scrap glass down from Pennsylvania or one more truck load of crated marbles to the rail depot. It was a misty cool morning as we climbed down the ridge … [Read more...] about Road Trip to West Virginia III

  “Almost Heaven….”   Wild & Wonderful Some of our readers live in West Virginia and they have the luxury of exploring the wild and wonderful State at their leisure. Others of us have visited many times, explored the Rails to Trails and other hiking trails, and seen mink in the wetland., We know for certain that black bears … [Read more...] about West Virginia Here We Come!

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. “Tiles with Scenes of Children Playing”; BK-1955-328-A; Netherlands ca. 1680 – 1730; Tin glazed earthenware majolica; height c. 107 cm × width c. 80 cm; Used with Permission Wie wat bewaart, die heeft wat . Who saves, has something.  Old Dutch saying. 400 Years of Playing Marbles & Other Children’s … [Read more...] about Playing Marbles As Shown on Dutch Tiles

 “What is history, but a fable agreed upon?”---Napoleon Bonaparte On The Hunt for Marble Competition Medals We had been learning about marble competition medals, as told in the first part of this story, for many years before we ever found one for sale.  We had had no luck finding one until we visited an antique shop in Tifton, … [Read more...] about What a Spectacle! The Rest of the Story

“Not so bad – huh” Ray Snow, artist. Harrisburg Telegraph, PA, 1924. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. “Memory itself is an internal rumour.”— George Santayana, Reason in Science, 1906.  1922 Was a Long Time Ago Einstein theorized that both time and space are relative. One … [Read more...] about What A Spectacle! National Championship and Tournament Marble Medals

"I'd horsewhip you, if I had a horse." - Horse Feathers (1932) Five unused tickets to the one-night-only Midnight Burlesque Show La Vie Paree, Saenger Theatre, Mobile, Alabama, 13 January 1934. Balcony seats cost .55¢ with tax. “Say it Ain’t So! A Fantasy?” Note from the Editor:  This story was updated on February … [Read more...] about Meet Me At The Rio: On The Track of Theater Marbles