The History of Ordinary Things ‘Keepsies’ and Your Marbles

Playing with small, round balls may have started with cave people. Clay balls have been found in the tombs of Egypt, in Native American burial grounds, and in the ancient Aztec pyramids.

Smooth stones, nuts, fruit pits, and fired balls of clay were used for games. In the 1700s the globes were made of white alabaster, a marble stone — hence the name “marbles.”

Hand-blown glass marbles were made in Germany between the 1860s and 1920s. A “glass marble scissors” had been patented to cut the ball of molten glass, thus creating small globes.

In the heating of the glass, the form was rolled in colored sand, creating the patterns in the marbles. Swirl-design marbles were made into the 1920s. The German glass-blowing companies closed after World War I.

Machine-made marbles were created in America during the 1920-1940s. The Christensen Agate Company of Akron, Ohio, produced a machine where hot glass was dropped onto steel rollers to shape the glass into smooth marbles.

Recognized names like Akro Agate, Peltier Glass, and Master Made Marbles made marbles of baked clay, glass, steel, plastic, onyx, and agate. By the 1940s, the Catseye, produced in Japan, became the most popular marble of our era.

Today, Vacor de Mexico is the largest maker of machine-made marbles, producing over 90% of the world’s supply.

The individual marble names may relate to their use, such as the “shooter.” Others are named for the material they are made of, such as “Steelies” from steel and “Alleys” from alabaster. Flints, Cloudies, Corkscrews, and Peerless Patches refer to the appearance.

Other names include China, Aggie, Commie, End of Day, Bennington, Onion Skin, Mica, Bamboozer, Popeyes, Sparklers, and Moonies.

The standard marble is a half-inch in diameter. These small marbles are called “ducks” or “mibs.” They are the marbles that players try to knock out of the ring drawn on the ground. The large marble, called the “shooter” or “taw,” please see MARBLES on facing page

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