Antique glass marbles are highly collectible, from handmade examples by German glassmakers of the 1800s to marbles made by machine in the early 1900s by U.S. companies like Christensen, Peltier Glass, Akro Agate, and Vitro Agate.
Marbles have been made from a variety of materials throughout the ages, such as stone (limestone, agate, and semiprecious stones), clay (which were so common at the time that they were known as “commies”), and china, although glass marbles are the most popular to collect.
Handmade marbles are especially sought by collectors, especially examples from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s, which can be identified by a pontil mark, formed when the ma...
Machine-made marbles came about during World War I when the U.S. stopped importing handmade marbles. Many collectors enjoy them because they remember playing with them as children.
German swirls, the most common handmade glass marbles, were first produced in Thuringen, Germany. There are five types of German swirl marbles. The most common, latticino core marbles, were created from the 1840s (the beginning of glass marble production) until the mid-1920s. Most cores are white or yellow.
Other German swirls have a solid core (either cylindrical or ridged), a divided core (with multiple strands in the center, most commonly 3 or 4), a ribbon core (with either a single or double ribbon), or a complex core, in which two or more variations are used within the same marble.
Other types of colored glass marbles include maypole marbles (threads swirled on or near the surface of the marble), mists (color created by overlaying glass on or near the surface of the marble), micas (colored glass with silver flakes), solid-colored swirls (such as onionskin and peppermint marbles), and opaque glass.
Lutz marbles are also sought-after by collectors for their beautiful swirls of goldstone decoration. Goldstone, glass made with copper crystals, was first discovered in Venice in the 1600s, but marbles using the material weren’t produced until the early 1900s, just before World War I.
Another popular style is the sulphide marble, which is clear with a small figure in the center. These were produced in the same location and around the same time as German swirls.
Interviews & Articles
Agates, Corkscrews, and Onionskins: Fun with Antique Marbles

Like most kids growing up in the late ’60s, early ’70s, I played with marbles. Of course I grew out of it, but I carried those goo… [more]
Marbles Among the Earliest Games

If we attempt to trace marbles back to the time in history when first they were devised and employed by people for amusement and g… [more]
Antique Marbles of Stone, Pottery and Glass

There is amusement for children of nearly all ages in such elemental manifestations as quick motions, bright colors, symmetry of f… [more]
Loetz Glass Collector Eddy Scheepers on the Pride of Bohemia

Loetz was a Bohemian company. It was a factory; and the region’s biggest and best glass manufacturer. There were other contemporar… [more]
U.S. Studio Art Glass, Before and After Chihuly

Marvin Lipofsky introduced me to glass while I was getting a bachelor’s degree in ceramics at the California College of Arts in Oa… [more]
Reyne Haines Spills on Tiffany, Chihuly, and Loetz

I started becoming interested in art glass when I moved from Texas to New York, and wanted to decorate my apartment with New York-… [more]
Best of the Web (“Hall of Fame”)
Museum of Talking Boards

Prepare to enter the strange world of Ouija, the Wonderful Talking Board game, which captured imaginations en masse… [read review or visit site]
Loetz.com

This fabulous site is a guide to Bohemian art glass makers from 1885 to 1920. Loetz was the premier Bohemian glass … [read review or visit site]
Cloud Glass Reference Site

Chris and Val Stewart’s impressive attempt to create a complete catalogue of all known cloud glass, a decorative … [read review or visit site]
Elliot Avedon Games Museum

This in-depth University of Waterloo virtual exhibit showcases vintage games in a variety of categories, from class… [read review or visit site]
Antiquesaltshakers.com

This website, home of the Antique and Art Glass Salt Shaker Collector's Society, offers a beautiful photo gallery s… [read review or visit site]
Handhelden.com

From Tomy to Coleco to Mattel and Nintendo, check out this collection of over 660 handheld and tabletop videogames … [read review or visit site]
Pong Story

David Winter's tribute to early video games, and to Ralph H. Baer, 'inventor of the video game.' Offers a detailed … [read review or visit site]
Clubs & Associations: Art Glass
- Antiquesaltshakers.com
- The Glass Art Society
- Stained Glass Association of America
- The Glass Association
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