Oldest glass marble?

[PittsburghMarbles]

What is the oldest glass marble made for a game or play? I’ve seen many examples of ancient glass beads in museums dating to around 1500 BC from Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. But I haven’t found definitive information as to when the first glass marbles were made. Stone and agate marbles have obviously been made ever since humans first started making stone tools. Are there examples of a glass marble making industry before the 1800s? 

[cheese]

Yes, the Romans made some glass marbles. There was a collector, I forgot his name. Someone help... Brian something? Last name maybe started with E? I'm so bad with names. He had a collection of them. Let me do some looking.

[cheese]

Bert. Not Brian. Bert Cohen. He had them. 

[PittsburghMarbles]

5 minutes ago, cheese said:

Bert. Not Brian. Bert Cohen. He had them. 

Any photos exist of them?

[wvrons]

No pictures but I had two of those in my hands. Each one was about 1 1/4 inches. The first time I met Bert he put those in my hands and ask me what they were. I had no idea. He said they are Roman glass marbles. He had just come back from Europe to get those two marbles.  I gave them back to him fast, before I dropped one or both of them.  I met Bert at the first marble show ever held in Canada. He had a room beside of mine. I spent most of three days and evenings there with Bert Cohen and Jack Bogard.  That must have been about 2000 or 2002 ?   Wish I had pictures, but if I did they would have been on floppy disks. Which most will not open now.  

[PittsburghMarbles]

4 minutes ago, wvrons said:

No pictures but I had two of those in my hands. Each one was about 1 1/4 inches. The first time I met Bert he put those in my hands and ask me what they were. I had no idea. He said they are Roman glass marbles. He had just come back from Europe to get those two marbles.  I gave them back to him fast, before I dropped one or both of them.  I met Bert at the first marble show ever held in Canada. He had a room beside of mine. I spent most of three days and evenings there with Bert Cohen and Jack Bogard.  That must have been about 2000 or 2002 ?   Wish I had pictures, but if I did they would have been on floppy disks. Which most will not open now.  

How did they differ from antique german handmades? Did they have pontil marks if you remember? 

[wvrons]

Not that I remember. I think they were slick all over, probably polished. They were white, gray, shades of brown and black random twist around the marbles.  

[PittsburghMarbles]

10 minutes ago, wvrons said:

Not that I remember. I think they were slick all over, probably polished. They were white, gray, shades of brown and black random twist around the marbles.  

It would be hard to date them or definitively know where they came from. Ancient glass vessels from western roman times to early Islamic age look nearly identical. Glass marbles would most likely date post 50 BCE; when glass blowing became common in the ancient world.
 

I really wish there were some photos. Been scouring the internet for ancient examples and can’t find any. 
 

I’ve also been to the Corning Museum of Glass, but don’t recall seeing any ancient marbles. They do however have an extensive and amazing collection of Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, western and Eastern Roman and Mesopotamian glass. As a side note, anyone who loves antique and or glass in general needs to see that museum. It’s incredible. 

[PittsburghMarbles]

Some may find this interesting, here are some examples of glass beads. 

These first two examples are roughly from 1200-900 BC from Greece. 

ancient_glass_eye_bead_1a by PittsburghMarbles, on Flickr

ancient_glass_stratified-eye_bead_8a by PittsburghMarbles, on Flickr

Roman beads from around 100BCE to 300 CE. 

roman-bead-msa52b by PittsburghMarbles, on Flickr

millefiori-bead-msa56 by PittsburghMarbles, on Flickr

 

[akroorka]

47 minutes ago, wvrons said:

I gave them back to him fast, before I dropped one or both of them. 

Good stuff Ron--I always ask before I pick up—big old potato fingers—they drop a lot of marbles.
Have you ever been to a show without carpet?
I wonder why—lol.
Marble—On!!
 

[cheese]

Found some pics online

 

[Al Oregon]

Bert Cohen had some Roman marbles but the only picture that I  can find of his was one picture of one donated to the Marble Museum, back when Chris Cooper ran it.  Here is the pic. - not really helpful.

 

[Al Oregon]

Then there was a post by Jeroen back in 2010 about a Roman marble (200 - 300 AD) found in The Netherlands.  Here are some pics of it.

 

[akroorka]

8 minutes ago, Al Oregon said:

Then there was a post by Jeroen back in 2010 about a Roman marble (200 - 300 AD) found in The Netherlands.  Here are some pics of it.

 

Great stuff Al!

Considering the way that I believe the "Romans" were--these were rejects--very cool indeed.

Marble--On!!

[akronmarbles]

Here is one that I own - measures around 3/4". Has green, red, and yellow on a black base glass.