Redeeming Ball Bearings :)

[Steph]

I know that people mainly talk about "real steelies" as not being ball bearings because there are some special hollow ones which are distinctive, and it's pretty hard to know whether a ball bearing was ever used as a marble. But ball bearings really were steelies too. Which probably almost everybody knows. I just heard something about them which made me want to say it out loud.



This first clip was from a big spread in the sports section in 1928 about a marble tournament and marbles in general. Lots of steelies offered as prizes, more than just the 24 mentioned here. Other prizes included "glassies", clothes and baseball equipment. There were four different classes of play (Expert, Average, Beginners and Steelie). In addition to the other prizes there was an award of $1 in each class for the "best loser".





This clip was from the time when bike shops might have been carrying the less expensive and more reliably made bearings made possible by Martin Christensen's invention.

[lstmmrbls]

We never allowed steelies anywhere near a ring. Too heavy to move much with the hit of a glass marble. And the opposite if used as a shooter. But we all had some for sure, just never used them in the ring

[joesmarbles]

Hi Steph, remember one of the photos I sent was an box of original steelie ball bearings sold by the original owners family.....Joe McDonough

[Steph]

Yep!