Im quite sure anyone who regularly reads my columns is like me. They need a break from the news of the day. There needs to be something in our day that focuses our attention elsewhere. Maybe its an exceptional novel or planting the garden; walking a trail in the Nature Park or some new or old hobby. Maybe you have a meditation practice like mine, where you can just disappear for a bit into the ether, refreshed at the end.
Just get me away from the TV, Google News and the newspaper. I want ignorance, at least for a spell. Its healthy. It moderates my anger and especially with meditation, encourages me to find nonviolent responses to the violence of the day.
I also have an old hobby that can focus my attention! I collect marbles. When people discover this hobby, I cant tell you how many times someone has said to me, have you lost your marbles? The jokester will smile, even laugh at their own wit; and in turn, I try to smile just to humor them. Little do they know without a hobby, sometimes I might lose my marbles; the mental kind.
Over the years I have found lots of marbles and continue to look for more. It all started one year when I earned a short sabbatical and found time for area auctions. Often there would be a jar of marbles and I discovered I could get them cheap. Then when I got them home and looked through the jars, I became fascinated with the colors and designs. I purchased books about collecting marbles. I soon discovered there were several different companies that produced machine made marbles, recognizable by their designs. They would have names like moonies and corkscrews, swirls and flames. Some could be rare and expensive; but most were fairly common, unique and available to all.
Now and then I would come across an antique, hand-made marble. These were identifiable by the pontil marks where the marble was separated from the cane, and the often intricate weaving of different strands and colors of glass. Some of these marbles, one and three quarters inches in size, can bring as much as $3,000. The artistry in some is spectacular!
Marbles are made from different materials. There are clay marbles. Benningtons, a common clay marble, comes in different colors; brown, blue and mottled. Even though common, they can also be sought after and valued items in a collection.
There are china and crockery marbles. Made in Germany, these marbles have different designs. They could have flowers or concentric circles. Many are hand painted. Most of them will range in price from half a hundred to a few thousand dollars.
Sulphides are clear glass marbles with a figure inside. It could be an animal, a number; even an angel or crucifix. You might even find a bust of Beethoven, Columbus or Goliath. Or how about a Santa Claus, Mother Goose or a Sphinx. Many of these are priceless, too rare to estimate.
A favorite of mine are the stone marbles. They come in various colors and designs. Their shine and the brightness of their colors make them especially attractive and they can come in sizes as large as three and a half inches in diameter.
Then there are carpet balls. They arent exactly marbles. They are even larger than the stone marbles and were originally used in a game. Nevertheless they have become collectible, have rather intricate designs, and come in several different colors.
Probably most people arent aware that some kids still play marbles. There has been a National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, New Jersey, since 1922. Every summer it provides thousands of dollars in college scholarships to the winners. Over 1,200 games are played over four days with opportunity for families and fans to cheer on their favorites.
Rolling them on the ground or admiring their workmanship in a display case, marbles can be a game or a hobby, or both. Either way, they can place your focus on something besides the ills of the world, and later, enable you to jump back into the fray with new vigor.
I should mention that sometimes they wouldnt have a jar of marbles at the auction, but they would have a jar with buttons. Clothing buttons! Did you know they used to make buttons from many different materials; sometimes with beautiful hand-painted designs that were worth a lot to button collectors? But thats another story for another time.
Happy marble hunting.
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