What Started it all?

[AvvaRae]

❓What got you into Marble Collecting? & How did you find this page ❓

[SF2KY]

I was looking for things to fidget with during work meetings and bought a bag of Vacor marbles from American Science and Surplus. That led to rediscovering why I'd gotten interested in marbles when I was a kid. The difference now is that I can fully pursue marble collecting now because I'm an adult with a job and no dependents except for a cat.

[AvvaRae]

24 minutes ago, SF2KY said:

I was looking for things to fidget with during work meetings and bought a bag of Vacor marbles from American Science and Surplus. That led to rediscovering why I'd gotten interested in marbles when I was a kid. The difference now is that I can fully pursue marble collecting now because I'm an adult with a job and no dependents except for a cat.

That's a unique fun way to get back into something you liked as a kid

[et cetera]

I bought a jar of old marbles at an auction years ago because they were so colorful and no one else bid on them.   I had collected and studied EAPG and antique fine French glass for years  - but it takes up so much room and the cost was getting outrageous.  Marbles are small and easy to display and store. The colors and patterns are endless, and the research and learning are a challenge that I enjoy. If anybody thinks collecting high end marbles is expensive try looking at prices for Galle, Daum and Lalique, or early American Sandwich glass!  Collecting marbles is the perfect way for me to feed my love of old glass without breaking the bank (with self control of couse!). I found this forum while conducting research. 

[AvvaRae]

15 minutes ago, et cetera said:

I bought a jar of old marbles at an auction years ago because they were so colorful and no one else bid on them.   I had collected and studied EAPG and antique fine French glass for years  - but it takes up so much room and the cost was getting outrageous.  Marbles are small and easy to display and store. The colors and patterns are endless, and the research and learning are a challenge that I enjoy. If anybody thinks collecting high end marbles is expensive try looking at prices for Galle, Daum and Lalique, or early American Sandwich glass!  Collecting marbles is the perfect way for me to feed my love of old glass without breaking the bank (with self control of couse!). I found this forum while conducting research. 

Loved your share!!! A really unique and fun way to get into marble collecting. I'd love to see any of your glassware collection if you're open to sharing:) 

[et cetera]

Honestly I am not much of a social media type person with sharing photos and such, in fact I don't even really know how!  Just a history buff/glass lover/ research freak here!  When I say I USED to collect early glass I am taking 25-30 years ago and the bulk of my collection has been sold off by now.  I always kept the angle of investment for my glass purchases right next to my love for it, and no regrets. I retired early thanks to wise choices in buying and selling. 

[AvvaRae]

27 minutes ago, et cetera said:

Honestly I am not much of a social media type person with sharing photos and such, in fact I don't even really know how!  Just a history buff/glass lover/ research freak here!  When I say I USED to collect early glass I am taking 25-30 years ago and the bulk of my collection has been sold off by now.  I always kept the angle of investment for my glass purchases right next to my love for it, and no regrets. I retired early thanks to wise choices in buying and selling. 

Totally understand. I am not a social media person myself. 

Very smart, never thought of glass as investment pieces hehe and that's amazing you got to retire early 😀. Not everyone gets that grace now unfortunately. 

Have a blessed day. 

[et cetera]

Thank you AvvaRae!  I don't consider my marbles as an investment really, and I don't plan on selling them anytime soon - too much fun!  Being a quality vs./ quantity type collector my goal is to collect a single fine specimen of each type from all the early USA makers with a few German HMs thown in.  I donate the common duplicates to various charities. This goal might take the rest of my life but I'll enjoy every second of it!.  Hey, the way prices are going for premium examples of vintage marbles these may turn into a good investment after all - BONUS!! 

[akroorka]

My wife and I collected slag glass for a while before we discovered the Hardy’s book in an antique mall. Then we discovered that Akro Agate made what we were collecting. On top of that—they made marbles too.
The search was on from that point onward with limited success. 
Then a friend of ours stopped over with a two pound coffee can full of marbles to ask my opinion. At the time the Pelts that she had in that can were called “Millers”. It was just a great once in a lifetime find. Friends are just that, I told her if she would trust me, I would get her some bucks
She was happy with the results( she may have peed her pants a bit), I sold five of them at a show for just under $5000—nothing beats a bidding war with a walk on rookie in the middle of it all (me, I kept my cool and walked around and around, table to table—nerves of steel). 
The rest of her marbles were sold to a buyer that was more than happy to give a few thousand more. 
I did keep a Sparkler and a few corkscrews for my efforts. She told us years later that she held some back—all clays—common clays.
I did try to sell after that—too much hassle. Now I just keep them and enjoy them, I love to share them as well.
I sleep well—that is all that counts, it is a great memory.
Marble—On!!
 

[Alan]

I read an article in the Washington Post that people collected vintage marbles.  (Found it):  https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/05/16/aggies-glassies-mibs/b9fd82ce-daee-4f5b-9bc0-9d7aa21311a5/

I thought it quite odd.  I went to a bookstore and saw a Grist book.  Saw the pics - boom!  I was hooked.  First show was a Philadelphia PA show.  Wow.  People were just expanding to MFC and CAC from handmades (handmades ruled).  All other machine mades were ballast.

[Melissa]

I bought my first jar of clearies and cats eyes last summer. I got home, thought it was cool that some were uv reactive, and then put them in my sons toy box. Months later I found myself thinking about them again and I wanted to know their history which led me here. 

[AvvaRae]

3 hours ago, akroorka said:

My wife and I collected slag glass for a while before we discovered the Hardy’s book in an antique mall. Then we discovered that Akro Agate made what we were collecting. On top of that—they made marbles too.
The search was on from that point onward with limited success. 
Then a friend of ours stopped over with a two pound coffee can full of marbles to ask my opinion. At the time the Pelts that she had in that can were called “Millers”. It was just a great once in a lifetime find. Friends are just that, I told her if she would trust me, I would get her some bucks
She was happy with the results( she may have peed her pants a bit), I sold five of them at a show for just under $5000—nothing beats a bidding war with a walk on rookie in the middle of it all (me, I kept my cool and walked around and around, table to table—nerves of steel). 
The rest of her marbles were sold to a buyer that was more than happy to give a few thousand more. 
I did keep a Sparkler and a few corkscrews for my efforts. She told us years later that she held some back—all clays—common clays.
I did try to sell after that—too much hassle. Now I just keep them and enjoy them, I love to share them as well.
I sleep well—that is all that counts, it is a great memory.
Marble—On!!
 

What a way to get started!!! That's an awesome beginning and what a kindness you did for a neighbor 😁. I very much so believe in Karma and I'm sure life has blessed you along the way. Either way, I'm happy to have your knowledge and good energy in such a fun space:) 

Did both you and your wife love slag glass or did one of you get the other into it ? 

[AvvaRae]

1 hour ago, Alan said:

I read an article in the Washington Post tat people collected vintage marbles.  (Found it):  https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1988/05/16/aggies-glassies-mibs/b9fd82ce-daee-4f5b-9bc0-9d7aa21311a5/

I thought it quite odd.  I went to a bookstore an saw a Grist book.  Saw the pics - boom!  I was hooked.  First show was a Philadelphia PA show.  Wow.  People were just expanding to MFC and CAC from handmades (handmades ruled).  All other machine mades were ballast.

Thanks for sharing the article it was a very interesting read. I giggled at teachers being annoyed and with the clanking of marbles in pockets and parents dreading muddy knees lol. 

So by that article they named the true marble game "Ringer" very interesting... 

 

Anywho a great way to get into marbles 😀. Do you still go to shows? 

 

[AvvaRae]

1 hour ago, Melissa said:

I bought my first jar of clearies and cats eyes last summer. I got home, thought it was cool that some were uv reactive, and then put them in my sons toy box. Months later I found myself thinking about them again and I wanted to know their history which led me here. 

Very cool!!! Is your son into marbles too? Getting mine is proving to be a smidge tougher than I expected but my girls love it which has been fun to enjoy with them 😀 

You seem to find great pieces!!! You got some marbles magic and a great eye hehe 

 

Thanks for sharing 

[schmoozer]

I received a small wood box of marbles when my second MIL passed away. They were Vacor meteors. It all went south after that, been collecting for 25+ years. I am more a hunter, preferring to collect what I find in the wild.

[Joe2]

I've always had them in my thoughts but did not start collecting them till 2o12. I've been with The Marble Connection just over a year. Was invited. 

[cheese]

I was a teenager visiting my grandparent's house where my Mother grew up in New England and she found her old childhood marbles in the attic. She gave them to me, this was around the mid 1980s. I admired the different styles and colors, and back home we frequented an antique store and I had to go since I was still a teenager. The store owner let my family browse while I checked out his display case full of marbles behind his desk. He was a big husky guy named Sarge, hair everywhere out his shirt and from under his floppy fishing hat. He taught me what to look for (good colors and lots of them). He let me buy some nice Akro corkscrews for a price befitting a young teenager with no job and a genuine interest. He kept my interest fed and before long I somehow got a Grist's book on marbles. It was a thin and small book, and mainly focused on handmades with a few peltiers and akros in the back under the minimal machine made section. I still have that book. I was in middle schooI with no job, but picked up bicycles from the dumpsters at the end of the road and bought unclaimed ones at the police auctions every year and fixed them to resell and used some of that money to buy marbles when I could find them at flea markets and yard sales. I would ask every vendor that looked likely if they had marbles. I had an old samsonite travel case that I kept my marbles in, all sorted in cardboard jewelry boxes with labels telling what was in them. The swirls and other stuff were just in those big round Christmas cookie tins. Every time I found one that was in the book, it topped my fuel tank with enthusiasm until the next find. I graduated from High school and got busy finding my way into a career and marriage and still had marbles on the radar but didn't hunt them much. I knew nobody else in the entire world that collected them at that point and thought it was just a weird thing I did and nobody else cared. I was never into the internet or any of that, always working and fishing and being outdoors. One day I discovered how much stuff really was on ebay and looked for marbles and was amazed at all the handmades that I had held in such high esteem for so many years. Then I found this board, AAM, and LOM and a few others... wow, there were other people who were really into marbles! I got to looking and found that many of the machine made marbles had ways to be identified, so I started catching up. Then the big digs at Alley happened and I was instantly into learning swirls. I went about that route for many years until I got invited by Ron S to dig Heaton. And it has been doing nothing but steadily gaining momentum since then, digging multiple sites and meeting many people, most of them pure gold. Still constantly learning and finding new things, and that's what drives me. The best hobby ever and I've pursued many through the years alongside mibology. It's the one thing I haven't lost interest in over time.

[akroorka]

18 hours ago, cheese said:

it was just a weird thing I did and nobody else cared.

 

18 hours ago, cheese said:

Still constantly learning and finding new things, and that's what drives me.

Rock on Cheese--Great story!

Thanks for all that you do to contribute to this fine hobby.

Sharing what you do and what you have learned is a great tribute to those that you have learned from.

Marble--On!!