“ Marbles ” redirects here. For other uses, see marble ( disambiguation ) little ball-shaped plaything
Marbles of different sizes and types A marble is a humble ball-shaped object much made from methamphetamine, mud, steel, fictile, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most normally, they are about 13 mm ( 1⁄2 in ) in diameter, but they may range from less than 1 millimeter ( 1⁄30 in ) [ citation needed ] to over 8 cm ( 3 in ), while some artwork field glass marbles for display purposes are over 30 cm ( 12 in ) wide. Marbles can be used for a variety of games called marbles. They are much collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors. In the North of England the objects and the game are called “ taw ”, with larger taw being called “ bottle washers ” after the use of a marble in Codd-neck bottles, which were frequently collected for play. These toys can be used to make marble runs, a form of artwork, or they can be used in marble races.

Games [edit ]

history [edit ]

Roman children playing with nuts, child sarcophagus circa 270–300. Museum Pio Clementino, Vatican In the early twentieth century, modest balls of stone from about 2500 BCE, identified by archaeologists as marbles, were found by excavation near Mohenjo-daro, in a web site associated with the Indus Valley refinement. [ 1 ] : 553 Marbles are much mentioned in Roman literature, as in Ovid ‘s poem “ Nux ” ( which mentions playing the game with walnuts ), and there are many examples of marbles from excavations of sites associated with Chaldeans of Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. They were normally made of mud, rock or glass. Marbles arrived in Britain, imported from the Low Countries, during the chivalric era. [ 2 ] : 19 In 1503, the town council of Nuremberg, Germany, limited the play of marble games to a hayfield outside the town. [ 3 ] It is obscure where marbles were inaugural manufactured. [ 4 ] A german glassblower invented marble scissors, a device for making marbles, in 1846. [ 5 ] : 148 Ceramic marbles entered cheap batch production in the 1870s. [ citation needed ] The crippled has become popular throughout the US and other countries. [ 6 ] The inaugural mass-produce miniature marbles ( cadaver ) made in the US were made in Akron, Ohio, by S. C. Dyke, in the early 1890s. Some of the first US-produced glaze marbles were besides made in Akron by James Harvey Leighton. In 1903, Martin Frederick Christensen —also of Akron—made the beginning machine-made glass marbles on his patent car. His company, M. F. Christensen & Son Co., manufactured millions of toy and industrial methamphetamine marbles until they ceased operations in 1917. The future US company to enter the glass marble commercialize was Akro Agate. This company was started by Akronites in 1911, but located in Clarksburg, West Virginia. today, there are entirely two American-based toy dog marble manufacturers : Jabo Vitro in Reno, Ohio, and Marble King, in Paden City, West Virginia. [ 7 ]

Types of crippled [edit ]

assorted games can be played with marbles. One crippled popular in the United Kingdom and United States is ring taw ( or “ ringer ” ), where a hoop is drawn on the ground and a count of small marbles placed within it. Players take turns to flick a larger “ taw ” marble at these marbles, attempting to knock them out of the call. [ 8 ]

World championship [edit ]

The british and World Marbles Championship has been held at Tinsley Green, West Sussex, England, every year since 1932. [ 9 ] [ 10 ] [ 11 ] ( Marbles has been played in Tinsley Green and the surrounding sphere for many centuries : [ 9 ] [ 12 ] TIME magazine traces its origins to 1588. [ 13 ] ) traditionally, the marbles-playing season started on Ash Wednesday and lasted until noon on good Friday : act after that was thought to bring bad luck. [ 10 ] More than 20 teams from around the world take share in the championship, each good Friday ; german teams have been successful several times since 2000, [ 9 ] [ 12 ] [ 14 ] although local teams from Crawley, Copthorne and early Sussex and Surrey villages much take separate a well ; [ 9 ] [ 13 ] [ 15 ] the first championship in 1932 was won by Ellen Geary, a young girl from London .

Gameplay terminology [edit ]

  • “Knuckle down”: the position adopted at the start line at the beginning of a match. The player begins with his or her knuckle against the ground.
  • “Quitsies”: allows any opponent to stop the game without consequence. Players can either have “quitsies” (able to quit) or “no quitsies”.
  • “Keepsies” (or “for keeps”): the player keeps all the marbles he or she wins.
  • “Elephant stomps”: when called, it allows a player to stomp his or her marble level with the ground surface, making it very difficult for other players to hit.
  • “Bombies”: when called, it allows a player to take one or two steps while holding his or her marble and, while closing one eye, will line up over one of the opponent’s marbles and drop the marble trying to hit the marble on the ground.
  • “Leaning tops”: when called, a shooter leans in on his or her off hand for leverage over an indentation on any type of surface or obstacle.
  • A “taw” or “shooter” is generally a larger marble used to shoot with, and “ducks” are marbles to be shot at.
  • Various names refer to the marbles’ size. Any marble larger than the majority may be termed a boulder, bonker, cosher, goen, masher, plumper, popper, shooter, thumper, smasher, goom, noogie, taw, bumbo, crock, bumboozer, bowler, tonk, tronk, godfather, tom bowler, fourer, giant, dobber, dobbert, hogger, biggie or toebreaker. A marble smaller than the majority is a peawee, peewee or mini. A “grandfather” is the largest marble, the size of a billiards ball or tennis ball.
  • Various names for different marble types (regional playground talk, Leicester, UK): Marleys (marbles), prit (white marble), Kong (large marble), King Kong (larger than a bosser), steely (metal bearing-ball). Names can be combined: e.g. prit-Kong (large white marble).

Types of marbles [edit ]

A cadaver marble, found in a field in the East Midlands An orange and white toothpaste marble Glass marbles from Indonesia A green glass marble in India There are diverse types of marbles, and names vary from vicinity to vicinity. [ 16 ]

  • Aggie – made of agate (aggie is short for agate) or glass resembling agate, with various patterns like in the alley
  • Alley or real – made of marble or alabaster (alley is short for alabaster), streaked with wavy or other patterns with exotic names like corkscrew, spiral, snake, ribbon, onyx, swirl, bumblebee, and butterfly
    • Ade – strands of opaque white and color, making lemon-ade, lime-ade, orange-ade, etc.
    • Cat’s eye or catseye – central eye-shaped colored inserts or cores (injected inside the marble)[17]
      • Beachball – three colors and six vanes
      • Devil’s eye – red with yellow eye
  • Red devils – same color scheme as a devil’s eye but swirly
    • Clambroth – equally spaced opaque lines on a milk-white opaque base. Rare clams can have blue or black base glass. Medium-high value for antique marbles; rare base color valued much higher.
    • Lutz – antique, handmade German swirl, containing bands of fine copper flakes that glitter like gold. Erroneously thought to have been invented by noted glassmaker Nicholas Lutz. Medium-high value for antique marbles, depending on specific sub-type of Lutz design.
    • Oilie or oily – opaque with a rainbow, iridescent finish
    • Onionskin – antique, handmade German swirl, with many closely packed surface streaks. Medium price range for antique marbles.
    • Opaque – a popular marble that comes in many colors
    • Oxblood – a streaky patch resembling blood
    • Pearls – opaque with single color with mother of pearl finish
    • Toothpaste – also known as plainsies in Canada. Wavy streaks usually with red, blue, black, white, orange.
    • Turtle – wavy streaks containing green and yellow
  • Bumblebee – modern, machine-made marble; mostly yellow with two black strips on each side
  • China – glazed porcelain, with various patterns similar to an alley marble. Geometric patterns have low value; flowers or other identifiable objects can command high prices.
    • Plaster – a form of china that is unglazed
  • Commie or common – made of clay; natural color or monochrome coloration. Made in huge quantities during nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
    • Bennington – clay fired in a kiln with salt glaze—usually brown, often blue. Other colorations fairly scarce. Fairly low value.
    • Crock – made from crockery (earthenware) clay
  • Croton alley or jasper – glazed and unglazed china marbled with blue
  • Crystal or clearie or purie – any clear colored glass – including “opals,” “glimmers,” “bloods,” “rubies,” etc. These can have any number of descriptive names such as “deep blue sea”, “blue moon”, “green ghost”, “brass bottle”, “bloody Mary”.
    • Princess – a tinted crystal
    • Galaxy – modern, machine-made marble; lots of dots inserted to look like a sky of stars
  • Indian – antique, handmade German marble; dark and opaque, usually black, with overlaid groups of color bands; usually white, and one or more other colors. Can also have many colors like blue, green and scarlet. Medium price range for antique marbles.
  • Mica – antique, handmade German marble; glassy to translucent with streaks or patches of mica, ranging from clear to misty. Value depends on glass color.
  • Steely – made of steel; a true steely (not just a bearing ball) was made from a flat piece of steel folded into a sphere and shows a cross where the corners all come together.
  • Sulphide – antique, handmade German marble; large (3 to 8 cm [1.25 to 3 in] or more) clear glass sphere with a small statuette or figure inside. Most common are domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, cows, etc.; then wild animals; human figures are scarce; inanimate objects such as a train or pocket watch are very rare and command high prices. The interior figures are made of white clay or kaolin, and appear a silvery color due to light refraction. A sulphide with a colored-glass sphere, or with a painted figure inside, is also very rare and brings a high price. Like other types of antique marbles, sulphides have been reproduced and faked in large quantities.
  • Swirly – a common marble made out of glass with one swirly color
  • Shooter- any marble but in a bigger size
  • Tiger- clear with orange-yellow stripes
  • Baby – white with colors visible on the outside
  • Tom bowler – large glass marble at least twice as big as a normal marble

art marbles [edit ]

art marbles are high-quality collectible marbles arising out of the art glass bowel movement. They are sometimes referred to as contemporaneous glass marbles to differentiate them from collectible antique marbles, and are spherical works of art glass. collectible contemporary marbles are made by and large in the United States by individual artists such as Josh Simpson.

Read more: Wikipedia

artwork marbles are normally around 50 millimetres ( 2.0 in ) in diameter ( a size besides known as a “ toe circuit breaker ” ), but can vary, depending on the artist and the print .

marble gather [edit ]

Some historic marbles marble players often grow to collect marbles after having outgrown the game. Marbles are categorized by many factors including condition, size, type, manufacturer/ craftsman, old age, manner, materials, scarcity, and the universe of original box ( which is further rated in terms of condition ). A marble ‘s worth is chiefly determined by type, size, condition and eye-appeal, coupled with the jurisprudence of provision and demand. Ugly, but rare marbles may be valued ampere much as those of very fine quality. however, this is the exception, rather than the rule, and normally “ stipulate is king ” when it comes to marbles. Any coat damage ( characterized by missing glass, such as chips or pits ) typically cuts book prize by 50 % or more. ascribable to the large market, there are many refer side businesses that have sprung up such as numerous books and guides, web sites dedicated to know auctions of marbles entirely, and collector conventions. additionally, many looking glass artisans produce art marbles for the collectors ‘ market alone, with some sell for thousands of dollars. [ 18 ]

Manufacturing [edit ]

Marbles are made using many techniques. They can be categorized into two general types : hand-made and machine-made. Marbles were primitively made by hand. stone or bone marbles can be fashioned by grinding. Clay, pottery, ceramic, or porcelain marbles can be made by rolling the fabric into a testis, and then letting dry, or dismissal, and then can be left natural, painted, or glazed. Clay marbles, besides known as crock marbles or commies ( common ), are made of slightly porous cadaver, traditionally from local cadaver or leftover earthenware ( “ crockery ” ), rolled into balls, then glazed and fired at low estrus, creating an opaque imperfect sector that is frequently sold as an “ honest-to-god timey ” marble. Glass marbles can be fashioned through the production of glass rods which are stacked together to form the coveted design, cutting the perch into marble-sized pieces using marble scissors, and rounding the still-malleable glass. [ 19 ] One mechanical proficiency is dropping globules of melt glass into a groove made by two interlocking latitude screws. As the screw rotate, the marble travels along them, gradually being shaped into a sphere as it cools. Color is added to the independent batch glass and to extra glaze streams that are combined with the chief current in a variety of ways. For case, in the “ cat’s-eye ” style, colored field glass veins are injected into a guileless main stream. Applying more expensive discolor glaze to the coat of cheap guileless or white looking glass is besides a common proficiency. presently, the populace ‘s largest manufacturer of playing marbles is Vacor de Mexico. Founded in 1934, the ship’s company now makes 90 percentage of the world ‘s marbles. [ 20 ] Over 12 million are produced daily .

Related games [edit ]

Video games [edit ]

other [edit ]

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]

Notes
Sources

  • Baumann, Paul. Collecting Antique Marbles (4th ed.).
  • Collins, Sophie (2007). A Sussex Miscellany. Alfriston: Snake River Press. ISBN 978-1-906022-08-2.
  • Gwynne, Peter (1990). A History of Crawley. Chichester: Phillimore & Company. ISBN 0-85033-718-6.