Glass Marble Collecting

Do you remember when you were a kid how you would play marbles with your friends. You would draw a large circle on the ground and place a bunch of marbles in the middle. Your friend would sit outside of the circle and try to aim his marble in a way to get one of your marbles outside of the circle. Or maybe your friend and you would chase each other’s marbles around the play area. Now you can relive those fun times by collecting glass marbles.

If you have any children, but sure to include them as partners in your collection expanding activities. Collecting glass marbles is a fun hobby, providing you a chance to bond with your children. After you’ve collected a few dozen marbles, it’s fun to try and identify the maker and style of each one. To identify the marbles, you should get yourself some books and also use the internet.

You can usually find some cool glass marbles by visiting yard sales or going to antique stores. It is an inexpensive way to add beautiful marbles to your collection. If you decide to shop online, it can be fun to just look at the photos and trying to figure how much each marble is worth. Some marbles are very exquisite to look at and are probably outside your price range, but you and your kids can still admire them.

Although you can find great glass marbles over the internet, be careful before you buy because a picture might not show you every detail. The side of the marble in the photograph may look wonderful, but when you get it, you may discover an unattractive nick on the other side. The only way to know whether you’re getting a high quality glass marble is to hold it in your hand and take a good look at it. Think about taking a magnifying glass with you when you inspect a potential purchase.

Be sure to ask your older relatives if they have any old marbles they can give you. Some of the marbles are not only great to look at, but they also have interesting stories behind them. Another good way to add to your collection is join a group of glass marble collectors. Two websites you can join are Land of Marbles and Marble Connection, which gives you information about values of marbles. As a general rule, a larger a marble is more valuable.