After going through a trinket box saved from his childhood, Jered McLaughlin found a large green, twist marble. This discovery has led him on a year long marble collecting spree.
Collecting and playing with marbles is not a thing of the past. People of all ages are becoming interested in the world of glass art.
There are marbles in many different styles, types, colors, and sizes — something for everyone.
McLaughlin likes to collect peewee-size marbles, which are a half-inch or less. His favorite one is called Joseph’s Coat, which has many different colors.
His Lynnwood home displays a collection of about 500 marbles.
The only thing that competes with the love of his job as a meat cutter is the excitement of collecting marbles.
His goal is to give away all of his large marbles to children and create a neighborhood sand pit to play and trade marbles in. This would get him closer to having a collection of only peewee size marbles.
“I want to get the local community together and teach them about their marbles,” McLaughlin said.
Marbles used for playing are called player-grade marbles. Although pretty, they have nicks and scratches on them from being played with and being carried around in jars with other marbles.
Collectors not only like to trade marbles and bargain hunt, but they enjoy playing the game marbles were intended for.
The most common game of marbles is called taw. Marbles of any size are randomly put within a circle-shaped ring. The goal is to knock other players’ marbles out of the ring in order to keep them.
McLaughlin said he doesn’t play the game well enough to win collectible marbles. This is why he gets approximately 70 percent of his marbles from eBay sellers. In the past year he has purchased 84 marbles through the Web site.
“I don’t think of it in terms of money, but in terms of enjoyment. The thrill of the hunt,” McLaughlin said.
Today most marbles are made by machine but in the 1800s they were made by hand.
“It’s entertaining that in this day and age where everything is machine-made we can still have preservation of the past,” McLaughlin said.
One of McLaughlin’s marbles is Italian and 500 years old. He also obtains rare marbles from Lauscha, Germany. McLaughlin said they have the best marbles but a buyer must pay the right price to have them.
Some people do not know the value of their marbles or do not highly value them and sell them at cheap prices. A buyer might be willing to spend hundreds on the same marble, he said.
“Value is in the eye of the beholder,” McLaughlin said.
He sought advice from fellow marble collectors and joined the International Association of Marble Collectors (IAMC).
The IAMC was started in 2003. A group of collectors started the club to have a place to meet and trade.
In less than two years the club has accumulated 115 members and put on more than 30 marble shows across the country. There is a major show once a year in the Seattle area during the summer.
Vice president Lee Linne has been collecting marbles since 1990.
“We are really a social group. We are as much into people as we are into marbles,” Linne said.
Marbles are given slang names because they have become associated with things such as baseball players (peewee), Boy Scouts, and food.
They are not just made of glass. They are available in steel, clay, and stone as well.
“People that like marbles can enjoy and see marbles, and have them evaluated,” Linne said.
Collectible marbles increase in value over time, but the true value depends on trends in the collectors market, he said.
“They are all different, all unique, all beautiful,” McLaughlin said.
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