The history of marbles and games involving the use of marbles goes back perhaps before modern civilization. Certainly there were many ancient cultures that partook in some form of old marbles games. These different civilizations include the Roman empire where marble playing was written about and ancient Egyptian where marbles were found in tombs.




However, these first old marbles were found throughout the world and show how far reaching the appeal of the simple, ancient game is. Not only have marbles been found in relation to the Native American tribes but going back thousands of years even further, spanning the globe.



The first old handmade marbles consisted of different materials depending on what was available, who was using them and what they were actually used for. Typically, various basic stones, rocks and clay were used for marbles. However, it is thought that the term marbles comes from the use of actual marble in their composition.



These old marbles and their styles remained essentially unchanged until fairly modern terms. It was in Germany in the mid 19th century - 1848 to be exact - that the first marble scissors were invented and put into use. These were created by a glass blower and were a mold to be used to create glass marbles. Thus the glass marble was born and the popularity of marbles continued to spread.



At this point however the glass marbles still had to be made from hand and molds. By the 1890s there were machines that were created to produce marbles, however these did not gain extreme use for several more decades. It was not until World War I that glass marbles were made in large amounts from machinery, stemming from the shortage of marbles due to the war itself. American ingenuity and machinery got put into use and soon machines were producing glass marbles en masse.



With these two developments, first of the glass marble itself and then of the machinery to produce them, marbles have been able to evolve and expand to a wide array of designs and styles. For example, the cats eye marble was created in Japan in the 1950s with the injection of colors into the glass itself. With different temperature techniques many other effects could be created such as bubbles, streaks and cracked appearances.



Of course today glass marbles are the most popular and the most prevalent. Swirl marbles feature many colors and a swirl design. Additionally there are Superman marbles and a whole slew of marble varieties. There are also other types of marbles used today such as mica marbles, while the old homemade marbles and vintage marbles are rare and hard to find. There are thought to be literally just several people left in the world making marbles by hand today.



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