Mad about Marbles

The art of making marbles, originally practiced in the Roman times, was revised by the Venetians, who introduced techniques for encapsulating patterns and spirals in coloured and opaque glass.  This process spread to Bohemia and Silesia in the fifteenth century, then to France and the low Counties of England.

Marbles reached the height of their popularity in the mid nineteenth century and ranged from tiny beads to giant marbles up tot two inches in diameter, these were known as bouncers.

Some of the marbles from Ronnie's collection

Marbles can be found in glass, various kinds of pottery, porcelain, stone, agate and baked clay.  Porcelain marbles are the scarcest variety.

Taws or alley marbles are plain pottery marbles, blood alleys are plain pottery streaked with red.  Cinnamon are large pottery marbles with a black and white glaze and Dutch Stones are German marbles made from Coburg Slate.

Written by Ronnie, date unknown