When I retied in 1998, a friend said that I needed a hobby. He collected marbles - name is Landon Daniels - many of you might know him from shows over the last 20+ years (he is not online). Anyway, he pulled out a towel, opened his safe, and proceeded to show me and my wife his marbles. This one is x and is worth about $300; this one is y and about $2,000, etc. He warned me about foreign marbles that were similar to older US machine made, like Vacor Serpent vs. Peltier Superman. He mentioned the Sea_Tac marble show that was a month or so later and we went to it - just on show day. We walked around mesmerized by the varieties and ended up buying one marble - a Marble King Bumblebee for $7. That was the beginning.