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Marbles in the News
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Richland Man is Mad for Marbles
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Original Publication Date: March 2, 2010. published in the "News Tribune," a Tacoma WA newspaper
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Aggies, cat's-eyes, steelies, spirals, sparklers, slags: If it's a marble, there's a good chance the Kennewick collector has at least one, more likely several hundred.
He's been collecting them since second grade when a schoolmate, Holly Berry, gave him a peewee. He still has it.
A peewee is a marble a half-inch or less in diameter.
"They're the most desirable," he said, "but as a general rule, bigger is better."
He followed that rule at a recent marble convention in Canton, Ohio, where he bought -- for $2,300 -- two antique marbles each measuring 2 3/8 inches in diameter.
"They're the largest in my collection right now," he said.
One, a tri-stage solid core, is actually three layers of glass, each with a different color swirled inside. The second, a ridge core, is the rarer of the two.
"Both date from around 1870-80s and were made in Germany. I can tell that by the quality and workmanship. Marbles this size are really hard to find, especially in mint condition like these are," Thompson said.
The game of marbles has changed a lot since Thompson was a schoolboy kneeling in the dirt flicking his shooters into the ring trying to win his chums' prize marbles four decades ago.
His playground now stretches across the United States to the big marble conventions, where Thompson and other collectors gather several times a year with $100 bills in their pockets. But the object is still the same.
"We're still trying to get the other guy's marbles," he joked.
Size and rarity are only one aspect of a marble's value. Age, condition, color, material and craftsmanship all figure in too.
"Marbles aren't like coins. They all come out a bit different. With a coin if you have one of a certain year and in a certain condition, it'll be worth the same as another of the same year and condition," Thompson said.
"With marbles, you have to recognize the difference between them, even two of the same type, and recognize beauty too," he said.
Thompson has been collecting them seriously for about 23 years and has totally lost track of how many he actually owns.
"I have about 300 pounds at home and at least another 300 pounds here at the shop," he said.
He and his wife, Liz, own Uptown Girl Antiques in the Richland Uptown shopping mall.
Another large part of his collection is locked up at their bank.
"I'm pretty sure I've bought and sold over $1 million in marbles over the years. I remember one show where I bought $30,000 in marbles," he said.
But not all his marbles came with a multi-zero price tag.
"I have many in my collection that I paid less than $5 for," Thompson said, pulling out two purple swirled marbles, slags, as an example.
Not all marbles are glass. Clay, china, wood, steel and minerals such as agate, jasper, rose quartz and malachite are also used.
"Marbles are still made, but there's not as much workmanship in them," Thompson said. "Many of the contemporary marbles are simply meant for display."
You can see some of Thompson's collection at Uptown Girl Antiques, 1367 George Washington Way. The store is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
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This submission was made by Peter Caparelli (New York, New York) on March 4, 2010
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