AGATE: noun. A type of fibrous quarts called chalcedony; used to make marbles highly desired by players, as in bulls-eye agate. 2. A name adopted by early American marble manufacturers to describe any and all classes, types and styles of marbles, including; ceramic, as in the trademarked Dyke’s American Agates, registered to Samuel C. Dyke; also, glass toy marbles as in Akro Agates registered to The Akro Agate Company. See photo

 

AGATE, IMITATION: See Imitation Agate. See photo

 

AGATE, INDIAN: noun. A brown, opaque marble, a term used in Kentucky. (CASSIDY)

 

AGATE, SNOT: noun. An agate with a veined and clouded interior; considered very superior, a term used in Nebraska. (CASSIDY)

 

AGEING: pronoun. Variant of Edging, a term used in Oklahoma. (CASSIDY)

 

AGGIE: noun. Also aggy, aggety; a player’s term for a marble; can be of any class, type or style, though originally derived from the word agate (see,) as in a natural stone marble.

 

AGATE, AGGIE, BULL’S-EYE: noun. A name for a marble, a specific type of marble made from agate, a naturally occurring stone called chalcedony, a type of quartz, with bands of different colors layered through the body of the stone. When ground into spheres the marble appears to have a bull’s-eye design at one pole. Primarily used as shooter marbles, ranging in size from 11/16” to 7/8”; these were among the most coveted of all toy marbles. Historically produced in the Iber-Oberstein area of Germany, the oldest of these highly collectable marbles have a diagnostic mark consisting of tiny facets covering the sphere, representing spots where the marble touched the grinding stone, showing it is a hand-made marble. Those produced in later years might also be dyed to enhance the color and with the invention of modern lapidary equipment the marbles are free of facets. These prized marbles were still sold in the USA in the 1970s, but are unavailable from any source today. See photo

 

AGGIE, CAT’S EYE: noun phrase. An agate marble that gives the appearance of having the likeness of a cat's eye in it; a term used in Ohio around 1900. (HARDER)

 

AKRO AGATE COMPANY, THE: proper name. (1911-1951) A marble company located in Akron, Ohio, formed in 1911 to sell glass marbles made by The M.F, Christensen & Son Company and sold through direct advertising in popular boys magazines. In 1915 the company opened their own marble factory in Clarksburg, West Virginia, but company’s office and owners remained in Akron. It was Akron’s last marble company, closing its doors in 1951.

 

AKRON DAILY NEWS, THE: proper name. A newspaper owned by Walter Wellman, doing business in Akron, Ohio in the early 1880s. It had a reform oriented editorial page and was Republican press. However, in 1882 it endorsed a local Democratic candidate for Congress (who won) earning the paper the title of a Mugwamp Press.  In 1883 Wellman was offered a lucrative job at a prestigious Chicago newspaper and turned his newspaper over to Samuel Dyke, his protégé in the field of journalism. Wellman has just incorporated a small company called the Akron Toy Company and when he left town he turn this over to Sam Dyke as well. In 1884, Dyke used the newspaper’s presses in a novel way; printing small lithographs of Grover Cleveland, Democratic Candidate for President and pasting them onto a miniature replica of a whiskey jug; the product called a “Little Brown Jug”; it sold as a campaign novelty and was a huge success. Dyke turned those profits into a new venture to mass-produce clay marbles.

 

AKRON, OHIO: noun. The industrial center of marble manufacturing in the United States from its beginnings in1884 to 1951; location of 32 marble factories or their corporate headquarters; the place where the first toy marble was mass-produced in the USA; this also being the first mass-produced toy - a clay marble. Was a huge center of ceramic manufacturing in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries; achieving in the year 1900, the title of largest producer of ceramic good in the world. Also the location of non-profit, The American Toy Marble Museum, since1990, now located at Lock 3 Park in Downtown Akron, former site of The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company.

 

AKRON INSULATOR & MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A company founded by Samuel C. Dyke (see) in Akron, Ohio in1893; manufacturers of ceramic and glass toy marbles; also made electrical insulators.

 

AKRON MARBLE & NOVELTY COMPANY, THE: proper name. This was one of a number of marbleworks started by Samuel C. Dyke upon his leaving as Superintendent of The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1892. This was a partnership with P.D. Hall, Jr. one of Akron’s most prosperous merchants. The office of this company, Sam’s office, was at Hall’s Corners, the heart of Akron’s business district, a very prestigious address in 1890s Akron. This company evolved into The Akron Stone Marble Company with its marbleworks located in nearby Boston, Ohio.

 

AKRON ROLLER(S): noun. A marble; a term coined by collectors to identify stoneware marbles glazed in multiple colors and in abstract patterns, appearing in some cases like random stripes of different colors; as if inspired by the artist/painter Jackson Pollock; the result of a simple coloring process, patented by A.L. Dyke in 1890. The process involved pouring a thin layer of glaze in a pan or sheet of metal and then rolling a stoneware marble through the glaze; moving the marble onto other sheets with different colored glazes. These were made by The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company until 1904. See photo.

 

AKRON STONE MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. (1892-1898) Located in Boston, Ohio, seven miles north of Akron on the Ohio & Erie Canal. Owned by Samuel C. Dyke, in partnership with P.D. Hall of Akron, converted an old grist mill on the Cuyahoga River to grind stone “there convenient and in abundance,” into marbles. A copy of the old German marble mills, this was America’s only marble mill. These marbles appear similar in appearance to limestone marbles from Germany (also see,) but these marbles were manufactured from a blue-gray shale found in throughout the Cuyahoga River Valley and are therefore easy to identify. See photo.

 

AKRON TOY COMPANY, THE: proper name. (1884-1888) Founded by newspapermen Walter Wellman and Samuel C. Dyke of the Akron Daily News and others; Incorporated August 1, 1883, capital stock $10,000; intended to produce toy banks (the type unknown,) began by manufactured “Little Brown Jugs”as a campaign novelty for the 1884 US Presidential election and the first toy marbles turned out in the United States.

 

AKRON WHITE SAND & STONE COMPANY: proper name. When deposits of excellent quality sand for glass making was discovered just outside of Akron, in the early 1890s, this glass sand manufacturing company was founded; the company pioneered the development of sandstone crushing machinery; after a fire and litigation, J.H. Leighton was appointed receiver by the bank; Leighton turned the company around and made it profitable, much to the delight of the bankers; produced fine glass sands for Ohio and Midwest glass factories. Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, one of America’s finest castles, now stands upon this site. Another site where sandstone was quarried for this company, in nearby Copely, Ohio, continued producing fine sand for the 3M Company’s sandpaper until the 1980s.

 

ALABASTER: noun. A stone used to make marbles; highly desirable by players. The agates manufactured by The California Agate Company were made from Mexican Alabaster.

 

ALABASTER(S): noun. A players’ term for a ‘real’ marble, one made of marble, also called Marble Marbles; and what were called real taws, of pink marble, with dark red veins, ‘blood allies’, were preferred to all others.” (Francis.)

 

ALBRIGHT COMPANY, J.E., THE: proper name. A toy marble company located in Ravenna, Ohio, 12 miles east of Akron; made clay marbles; the last ceramic toy marble factory in the United States. The company stopped manufacturing clay marbles in 1942 at the beginning of World War Two, turning its production capacities over to the war effort. You can easily identify the clay marbles made by this company because they are almost perfectly spherical. Most clay marbles made by other marble companies used S.C. Dyke’s patented technique and these are not perfectly spherical. The J.E. Albright Company also distributed marbles made by The Christensen Agate Company in the 1920s. See photo

 

ALBRIGHT & LIGHTCAP COMPANY, THE: proper name. In the late 1980s John E. Albright & John J. Lightcap bought out their bosses, the Mishler Brothers, and took over the Limaville Marble Works in Limaville, Ohio. Soon thereafter the marbleworks burnt to the ground; their near location to the railroad tracks likely allow a spark from a passing freight train to ignite the roof. Fully insured the partners moved their marbleworks to a new location in Ravenna, Ohio. Later Albright bought out Lightcap and changed it’s name to The J.E. Albright Company.

 

ALLIES: noun. A player’s term for a common marble, most often found in the historic record and rarely if ever used today.

 

ALLEY, ALLY, ALAY: noun. 1. The area marked off to play marbles in. 2. A favorite marble used as a taw or shooter. 3. A marble made of alabaster. Origin uncertain; perhaps a diminutive of alabaster; qualified etymology accepted by Webster's New International Dictionary (2nd ed.) and the American College Dictionary (New York, 1947); may have had origin in the game of bowling (see 1 above). Standard marble term 1720-1848. (HARDER) 

 

ALLEY AGATE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A glass marble company founded by Lawrence Alley in Paden City, West Virginia in 1929; also operated in Sistersville, Pennsboro and St. Marys all of West Virginia. In 1949 Mr. Alley sold his St. Marys marbleworks to the partnership of Sellers Peltier and Berry Pink who changed the name of the company to Marble King. Alley’s marbles are commonly called West Virginia Swirls. (MARBLE ALAN.)

 

ALLEY, BOB: noun. A marble; “made from Saxony stone as a rule; the bob alley was also called a “Tom-troller,” and was used to “bob” with,  being larger than the other alleys, which were usually employed as “snappers” or “shooters.” (Steele.)

 

ALLEY, BLOOD (bloody-olley, bloody-alley): noun. A highly valued marble made of red painted alabaster or clay, or painted with red streaks or circles. (HARDER)

 

ALLEY, BLOOD: noun. A stone marble; a players’ term for a ‘real’ marble, one made of marble, actually alabaster, also called Marble Marbles; “and what were called real taws, of pink marble, with dark red veins, ‘blood allies’, were preferred to all others.” (Francis.) Also see Alabaster or Marble Marbles.

 

ALLEY(S,) CROTON: noun. A players’ name for an unglazed porcelain marble “handsomely marbled with blue;” a type referred to in the historical record as a Jasper. (ROBERTS) Also, the term “croton” refers to a plant with variegated (different colors) leaves. Jaspers are a variegated white-bodied stoneware with different colored lines of blue, green and rarely pink, running through the body of the marble. (Roberts)

 

ALLEY, LAWRENCE: noun. proper name. Owner operator of at least three marbleworks in West Virginia during the 1930s and 40s; The Alley Agate Company.

 

ALLEY TAW (tor, taw): noun. (tautological compound). The offensive marble, or the marble used as a shooter. (HARDER)

 

ALLEY, WHITE (white-al): noun. A marble made of white alabaster or of clay painted white. (1848) see alley for several quotations. (HARDER) See photo  

 

ALOX MANUFACTURING COMPANY, THE: noun. proper name. A toy manufacturing company located in Saint Louis, Missouri; made glass marbles for a short time after WWII.

 

AMERICAN AGATE COMPANY, THE: proper name. Believed founded by Samuel C. & Acteaon L. Dyke (older brother of Samuel) in Akron Ohio at some time after Sam invented his method of mass-producing marbles in 1884 and before the incorporation of The S.C. Dyke & Company in 1888; Sam and his brother A.L. were at times partners and at times fierce competitors. It’s reasonable to suppose that Sam and A.L. were partners in the formation of this company, believed to be at the site of Lock 3 in Akron, later, in 1891, the site of The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company; then Sam and A.L. parted ways and Sam started another marbleworks further north on Main St.

 

AMERICAN CORNELIAN MARBLE: noun. A named manufactured by The M. F. Christensen & Son Company from 1905 to 1917 in Akron, Ohio; one of the most highly prized marbles in the hobby. It is a hand-gathered, machine-made marble using the rare oxblood color of glass. Also called an immie or imitation agate in the historic record; cornelian is an antiquated spelling of the more modern usage carnelian. Collectors call this marble a brick, because it has the color of a paving brick. See Brick

 

AMERICAN MAJOLICA MABLES: noun. A term seen in the historic record, found mainly in retail and wholesale catalogs, like Sears and Butler Bros around 1900, to describe a ceramic marble with a variety of different colored shellac or glazed designs. This was a patented toy marble made by The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company, US Patent Number 439,031. They were later also manufactured by other Akron, O. ceramic marble works and also manufactured in Germany and imported to the United States after World War One.

 

AMERICAN MARBLE COMPANY, THE: noun. proper name. A company formed in 1899 by parties from Navarre and Coshocton, O. to manufacture hand-made, glass marbles using J. H. Leighton’s patented tools and technique. See Navarre.

 

AMERICAN GLASS MARBLE COMPANY, THE: noun. proper name. A glass marble company founded by James Harvey Leighton in Steubenville, O. in the late 1890s’ formed as a partnership with a group of Pittsburgh businessmen; manufacturers of hand-made glass marbles.

 

AMERICAN MARBLE & TOY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, THE:  proper name. (1891-1904) This Akron, Ohio company was the largest toy company in the United States during the 19^th century; Incorporated July 1891, with $100,000 capital stock; employed 350 hands, mostly women and children to make marbles and toys. The company’s founder and first Superintendent was Samuel C. Dyke. They made almost all classes, types and styles of ceramic marbles, also hand-made glass marbles from cane and hand-made, hand-gathered glass marbles. The company burnt to the ground in 1904. Today the site is a city park, Lock 3 Park, and is the home of The American Toy Marble Museum.

 

AMERICAN TOY MANUFACTURING COMPANY, THE:  proper name. This Salem, Massachusetts company manufactured the game Marble Muggins, a popular turn of the 20^th century toy that used marbles. The object was to shoot marbles at a colorful cardboard prop featuring a character with a great big smile, mugging as if challenging the player. 

 

AMERICAN ONYX MARBLE: noun. A trademarked name given to a specific type of hand-made glass marble, the first glass marbles made in the United States; manufactured using a patented technique invented by J.H. Leighton in Akron, Ohio Also see Onyx. See photo

 

ANNEAL (annealing oven): noun. A glassmakers term for a specialized oven and process used to slowly cool a hand-made glass marble to room temperature over a 24 hour period. This gives the glass marble strength and keeps it from easily cracking, or breaking.

 

ANTE (antie): noun. As used in the games of marbles, where each game starts with players placing into a ring an equal number of marbles, or marbles judge to be of equal value (five commies might equal a crockie, 5 crockies might equal a glassie, etc.) as an entrance fee to be included in the game when playing For Keeps.

 

ANNY: noun. A choice marble; term used in Connecticut. Evidently a phonetic variant of Alley. (CASSIDY)

 

ANTE UP: interjection. A player’s term; call to place your marbles (your ante) in the ring.

 

ANYS (ennies): interjection. A call which if said before an opponent said vents entitles the player to any (whence the name) of a number of advantages; he may “tee up the objective, remove an obstruction in the surface of the ground, fill in a depression, exercise roundance, etc.,” term used in Oklahoma. (CASSIDY)

 

ANYTHING(S): interjection. A player’s term, which if called out first, allows the players to take liberal advantage of all the rules of a marbles game (the opposite of nothing(s). 

 

ARABIAN TWO-HANDED FLICK: noun. A player’s term describing a marble shooting style seen in North Africa, Middle East, India and now elsewhere in the world; described by Daniel C. Beard in his work, The Outdoor Handy Book (1882) “The Arabian Way of Shooting.. . little Arabs have a curious manner of shooting. They place their taw in the hollow between the middle and the forefinger of the left hand, the hand being flat on the ground with the fingers closed. The forefinger of the right hand is then pressed firmly on the end joint of the middle finger, which pushes the middle finger suddenly aside, and the forefinger slips out with sufficient force to propel the shooter very accurately.” (see photo) 2. A variant of this shooting style used in South America and elsewhere; the hands held perpendicular to the ground; the shooter held, as if teed up, between the middle and forefinger of the left hand, with the other fingers of the hand otherwise closed. The middle finger of the right hand is held back in a trigger position by the thumb. The two hands come together so the marble is now balanced on the right and left sides by both forefingers and resting lightly on the middle finger of the left hand. At the proper moment the shooter is flicked towards its target by the middle finger of the right hand. (See photo.) A 25 mm (one inch) shooter marble, or boulder, is most commonly used for both these shooting styles.

 

ARCHES: noun. A marble game; also the apparatus used in the game; same as Roley Boley and Bridgeboard; also the carved out tunnel-like holes, of various sizes, in the apparatus called a marble rake, or simply rake. (Steele.)

 

ASIAN SLING: noun. A players’ term; describing a shooting style used in many marbles games played in Asia and elsewhere. The player must plant their right thumb on the ground; a 25 mm (one inch) marble is then placed in front of the middle finger of the right hand; the thumb and forefinger of the left hand draw the marble back, bending the middle finger to its maximum point. At the correct moment the player releases the marble and is projected forward towards its target. (See photo.)

 

AT A CLACK: phrase. Together; referring to the marbles (usually “two at a clack,” sometimes three, rarely four) placed at one time in a pink. (CASSIDY)

 

AUGER, MARBLE : noun. A term used in the glass marble industry for a marble-forming machine; consisting of twin, helically grooved cylinders, which turns a gob, or charge of molten glass into a sphere. Invented by Martin Frederick Christensen of Akron, Ohio, around 1910; the design of which was stolen and patented in 1915 by his trusted bookkeeper Horace C. Hill, to form The Akro Agate Company. Hill was later arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to prison for the theft. In 1929, the federal courts recognized that M.F. Christensen invented the marble auger in the case of The Peltier Glass Company v. The Akro Agate Company and voided the Hill’s patent claims.  (See photo of a 1940s era marble auger donated to The American Toy Marble Museum by Johns Manville Corporation.)

 

AVENTURINE: noun. A beautiful type of glass that has tiny sparkling grains in its body; it is the result of manipulating the furnace environment while melting a batch of formula into glass. Most often see in shades of greens, but also in black, rarely reds.

 

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BABYING, BABYING-IN: noun. A player’s term; “Babying is shooting with little force, so as not to knock the ducks far or to cause your taw to fly far. Babying is not of much use in large rings, but is often resorted to in small ringers and in such games as Follerings. There is no rule that can make you stop babying, so the other players always try ridicule. This never succeeded to any extent, though it eases the minds of the unsuccessful player when another boy is skinning the ring by babying. (Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book.) Also see Laying-in and Sneaking; variously called, Baby-fingers, Baby-up,

 

BABY-FINGERS: interjection. A call to give oneself an advantage (baby-up) and deny it to opponents; a term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY)

 

BACK-KILL: verb. To strike a defensive marble with a taw that is rebounding, as heard in Kentucky. (HARDER.) 

 

BACK-KILLING (back-killin'): noun. Act of striking a defensive marble with a taw that is rebounding. Back-killin'(s) the cry that gives legality to the accidental strike. Vence ye back-killin'(s) The cry that revokes the accidental strike, if said before the call that legalizes the strike. (HARDER.)

 

BACK-LICK: verb. Variation of back-kill, 1888 Eggleston in Century Magazine. Their cries of `rounses,' `taw,' `dubs,' `back licks,' might often be heard." Backlicks; no back-licks. (HARDER.)

 

BACK SLAPS: noun. A marble game played between railroad tracks; the marbles are thrown against a rail so as to bounce back (whence the name) and hit other marbles lying on the ground; a term used in Wisconsin. Also see cross tracks. (CASSIDY)

 

BACKSPIN: noun. A players’ term describing a highly desirable action on a shooter marble. Also called English. An advanced player can control the amount of backspin deemed necessary by moving the shooter up higher on their thumb knuckle. Also see Cunny Thumb or Scrumpy Knuckles, shots that give topspin, a less desired spin, rarely used by advanced players.

 

BACK TO TAW: adverb phrase. In certain situations a player must return to the point from which he rolled or shot his marble, a term used around1899. (HARDER.) 

 

BAGATELLE: noun. A marbles game and game board; the fore-runner of the pin-ball game; popular around the turn of the 20^th century;

 

BAG, MARBLES: noun. A cloth or leather bag, usually with a double drawstring to hold a player’s marbles; sometimes imprinted with a company logo or advertisement.

 

BAG HOLDER: noun. A player’s term used in the game of Pyramids; at the beginning of each game the players choose a bag holder. (OTIS)

 

BAIT: noun. See Ante.

 

BAITS: noun. The marbles which a player puts in the game as his ante. (ZUGER)  

 

BALDY: noun. A ball bearing used as a marble; the term used in London, England. (CASSIDY.)

 

BALLOT BOX MARBLES: noun. Describes a number of white and black marbles popularly used for voting at board meeting, social clubs and professional society meetings. A white marble signifies yea, a positive or affirmative vote. A black marbles signified nay, a negative vote. A box with a hole in the top, called a ballot box, was passed to each member who would vote on an issue by placing either a white or black marble into the box. These marbles were commonly made of hand-made glass, but also of ceramic; later in the 1930s and forward, machine-made glass marbles were used. 

 

BAMBOOZER: noun. A players’ term for a large marble, see Boulder.

 

BANDED OPAQUE MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term, the name given to a specific type of hand-made, glass marbles made from canes; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between the late 1890s and 1936. These types were also made in Akron, Oho at The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1892 and 1893 by the Creighton Bros.  These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a glass cane; have an opaque base, usually of white glass but sometimes of a pastel color. They have thin stripes of colored glass upon its surface, running from pole to pole and the stripes are irregularly spaced and appear as if brush on the marble’s surface. Some of these marbles are out-of-round. (See photo)

 

BANDED TRANSLUCENT MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term, the name given to a specific type of hand-made, glass marbles made from canes; also called swirls; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between the late 1890s and 1936. These types were also made in Akron, Oho at The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1892 and 1893 by the Creighton Bros.  These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a glass cane; its base glass is translucent, or partly transparent, comes in a wide variety of colors and has thin stripes of colored glass upon its surface, running from pole to pole. (See photo)

 

BANDED TRANSPARENT MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term, the name given to a specific type of hand-made, glass marbles made from canes; also called swirls; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between the late 1890s and 1936. These types were also made in Akron, Oho at The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1892 and 1893 by the Creighton Bros.  These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a glass cane; its base glass is transparent, comes in a wide variety of colors and has thin stripes of colored glass upon its surface, running from pole to pole. (See photo)

 

BANKER: noun. The player who values the marbles in a game of chance. (HARDER.)

 

BENNINGTONS: noun. A collectors’ term for a type of glazed stoneware marbles; in common colors of brown and blue, and another ‘fancy’ type that have a mixture of both blue and brown glaze on a white background that appear to be applied with a sponge. In the early years of the hobby many collectors were under mistaken impression these were manufactured in Rockingham potteries in Bennington, Vermont because they used the same colors on their products; thus the name. These marbles were made in huge numbers in both Germany and in Akron, Ohio. Identifiable features on these marbles are small round imperfections in the glaze, called eyes. In the manufacture of glazed stoneware marbles, when they come out of the kiln they are stuck together by the glaze and must be broken apart. This leaves a diagnostic mark in she shape of a small circle of discolored glaze at the points where the marbles touched each other. These were commonly called crockies, or crockery marbles in the historic record. 

 

BARBERTON GLASS NOVELTY & SPECIALTY COMPANY, THE: proper name. A glass marbleworks located Barberton, Ohio, near Akron; operating from 1906 to 1908; owned and operated by J.H. Leighton; manufacturers of ‘hand-made, hand-gathered’ glass marbles; all showing a melted pontil, an identifiable feature of Leighton’s marbles, the same types of marbles made at all of Leighton’s numerous Akron area glass marbleworks. ( http://www.akronmarbles.com/barberton_glass_novelty.htm )

 

BARIO: noun. A toy marble made from barium; hence the name. (HARDER.)

 

BEAD: noun. A cheap marble; a term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

BEARD, DANIEL C.: proper noun. (1850-1941) Known as ‘Uncle Dan’ to millions of Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts; was a founding father of The Boy Scouts of America and it’s first Commissioner. He was a prolific author and illustrator. Illustrated a number of books for Mark Twain including Yankee at the Court of King Arthur, Tom Sawyer Abroad and American Claimant; wrote a large number of books and articles for boys on outdoors activities, woodcrafts and sports, including The Outdoor Handy Book originally published in 1882 and in continuous publication to the present. This is the definitive work on playing marbles in the United States and still among the best in publication today. Beard spent his formative years in Painesville, Ohio, near Akron and the rest of his childhood in Cincinnati, Ohio where he played a lot of marbles. “When we played marbles we played in a bull ring, shooting with our knuckles on the ground on the line forming the circle. The marbles in the center were called ducks. We did not bowl them out but “lofted” on them in a most skillful manner. The taw marble with which we shot described a slight curve through the air, skillfully and forcefully striking the duck.” (Hardly A Man Is Now Alive, The Autobiography of Dan Beard, Doubleday, Inc. New York, 1939, p 92.) Photo.

 

BELL: verb. To pick up the marbles and run, not with intention of keeping them. Perhaps from "to pick up everything and run when the school bell rings." (HARDER) See grabs.

 

BELL A MIRVIE: noun. phrase. “To “bell a mirvie” is to run away with it, but is hardly understood as denoting actual theft.” (PATTEN) See grabs.

 

BERRY PINK: proper name. Known as the "Marble King", Mr. Berry Pink was involved with selling and marketing toy marbles from the 1930's to 1960s. He started a marble company St. Mary’s, West Virginia in the 1950s named “Marble King” and later relocated in Paden City, West Virginia where it is still in business. The company specializes in manufacturing marbles for the board game industry and the only manufacturer in the USA still making Cats-Eye marbles.

 

BIF(F): verb. To hit or strike a marble with the taw, a term used in New England. (HARDER.) 

 

BIG RING: noun. A large marble ring, usually over ten feet in diameter. (ZUGER.)

 

BIG RING: noun. A marble game using a ring from 6 to 8 feet in diameter with 13 to 17 agates at the exact center in the form of a cross. Players lag for first play, knuckle down tight and shoot from outside the ring attempting to knock agates out, thus winning them. Upon knocking out an agate, the shooter remains in the ring or pays to get out. If a shooter is knocked out of the ring, its owner is out of the game; the game as played in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. (CASSIDY)   

 

     Also, Big Ring is one of the games that evolved into the game called Ringer.

 

     In the above sentence, “Upon knocking out an agate, the shooter remains in the ring or pays to get out” is believed to be a variation of the poison shooter rule. A player knocking a target marble out of the ring, and the shooter remains in the ring gets to shoots again. However, if the player fails to knock a target marble out of the ring and their shooter comes to rest inside the ring, it becomes poison, must stay in the ring and it becomes a target for the opponents. If a poison shooter is knocked from the ring, its owner in some versions of the game is killed or out of the game. Of particular interest in the above description is the unique rule or opportunity for the owner of the poison shooter to pay to get out. In certain cases, it might be to the advantage of the player with a poison shooter, depending upon the skill level of the opposition, to give each of other players a marble for the right to remove his poison shooter from the ring, instead of risking his shooter being knocked out of the ring and the player being killed and tossed out of the game.

 

BIRDCAGE MARBLE(s): noun. A players’ term for a type of Cats-eye marble where the interior colored vanes do not meet in the center, and looking as the clear interior is caged by vertical lines running just under the surface of the marble. Tern as used in Orange County, CA.

 

BLACK BEAUTIES: noun. Shooters usually made of obsidian or black agate. Heavy, extremely rare and prized. (FERRETTI.) See Snowflake Obsidian.

 

BLIZZARD: noun. A term for a specific type of hand-made glass marble made in Germany, called Snowflake marbles in the US historic record, Glimmers in the German historic record and Micas by collectors; a transparent marble containing such large amount of mica flakes it almost prevents one from seeing through the transparent glass; the mica sometimes swirls inside the clear glass in a twisting pattern giving the impressions of heavy snowfall and high winds, thus the name blizzard.

 

BLOCKING: verb. A British players’ term noting a foul, an infraction of the rules of marbles, by interfering with a marble or tolley while still in motion.

 

BLOOD ALLEY: noun. A stone marble; a players’ term for a ‘real’ marble, one made of marble, actually alabaster, also called Marble Marbles; “and what were called real taws, of pink marble, with dark red veins, ‘blood allies’, were preferred to all others.” (Francis.)

 

BOB: verb. To toss a Tom-troller (a marble larger than an alley) as in the game of Bob-on-the-line. (Steele.)

 

BOBBER: noun. A large marble; also called a Tom-troller in some localities. (Steele.)

 

BOBBER: noun. One who bobs, see bobbing. (Steele.)

 

BOBBING, Bobbed: verb. “defined as a “plumb shot” with “no dribbling. That is the bobber must strike the marble aimed at before it reaches the ground. (Steele.)

 

BOB-ON-THE-LINE: noun. A marbles game; “in placing the marbles they were arranged on a line, and at a distance of about ten feet the player “bobbed” at them with his “bobber” or “Tom-troller,” as it was called in some localities. (Steele.)

 

BOGARD & SON COMPANY, THE C.E. proper name. A glass toy marble factory located in Cairo, West Virginia. Founded in 1971 upon the purchase of The Heaton Agate Company; manufactured West Virginia swirls, cats eyes, game board marbles and industrial marbles.

removed upon industry mergers in 1987 to Reno, Ohio becoming JABO, Inc.;

 

BOGARD, CLAYTON E.: proper name. Founder of the C.E. Bogard Company of Cairo, West Virginia in 1971.

 

BOGARD, JACK: proper name. Son of Clayton Bogard, took over the operations of his father’s company in 1983 and changed the name to The Bogard Company. In 1987 removed to Reno, Ohio in 1987 to form Jabo, Inc. 

 

BOMB, BOMBSIES: noun. A type of shot made by a player; shooting into the air, above the ring surface so the shooter marble falls down, hopefully, on the targeted marble. Similar to, but not as skillful a shot as lofting; Ferretti describes it as “a rather unsophisticated arching, dropping shot.”

 

BOOGIE SHOT: noun. This occurs when a player drops a marble, picks it up instantly, and shoots from where it fell. (Sackett.)

 

BOOLS: noun. A marble game in Manitoba; the same games as Knuckley; “Played in Scotland 76 years ago” (as written in 1959, putting the date at 1883.) (HARDER.) Also; lag at the bools. (CASSIDY.)

 

BOOVER: noun. See bowl. (HARDER.)

 

BORGFELDT & COMPANY, THE GEORGE: A New York City distributor of toy marbles; operated around the turn of the 20^th century; represented The M.F. Christensen & Son Company, and others; also imported and distributed German toy marbles.

 

BOSS: noun. A large playing marble, of either stone or iron. (HARDER)

 

BOSS OUT: noun. A game of marbles in which two boys alternately shoot at their taws, usually called bounces in this game. Probably from buss, to kiss, i.e., the marble that is kissed, or touched, is out of play. Also known as boss and span: the boss, or taw, is pitched or tossed out and the other boss has to span the distance in order to hit the first one. (HARDER.) See Games, Boss Out.

 

BOSTON: noun. A marble game played with a large ring; a player keeps the marbles shot out of the ring; a term used in Oklahoma. Also, as used in Washington State and Missouri, the player’s hand is not obliged to hug the ground. (CASSIDY)

 

BOSTON, PLUMP: noun. A type of Boston in which the marbles are plumped ; the term used in Washington. (CASSIDY.)

 

BOULDER: noun. A large toy marble being upwards of one inch (25 mm) in diameter, to large to hold and shoot in the traditional American style, but used in many different types of games that require no shooting skills, instead being tossed, bowled or pitched towards a target; as used in the games of Droppies and Chasies; see Games. It seems every neighborhood had their own name for this size of marble; Bamboozer, Bumbo, Caboulder, Crackers, Crushers, Globolla, Jumbo, Knocker, Lob Taw, Scaboulder, Sinker, Smashers to name just a few. In countries where children hold and shoot their marbles in the cunny-thumb, sling or flicking styles, 25 mm (one inch) marbles are called shooters. In the United States and Western Europe, a marble this size is too large to hold and shoot in the traditional style and marbles this large are not called or used as shooters. The bags of marbles sold today at all major retail outlets in the United States contain a 25 mm marble, are foreign-made, and cannot be used as shooters in most traditional games played in the United States.

 

BOULES, FRENCH: noun. A French marbles game similar to Bowls that uses 3’ ceramic marbles, glazed and painted in fanciful patterns.

 

BOUNCE: noun. A marble game, usually played with large marbles, (1898), "There were large stone marbles called `bounces' but these were rarely played with. The glass monstrosity was unknown then." (HARDER.)

 

BOUNCE: noun. (Origin unknown.) Partridge derives the word from bonce, schoolboy's slang for head; possibly related to bounce). 1. A large marble. 2. A game played with large marbles, 1862-; but it existed earlier, as noted by John P. Stilwell, who writes of the game as played in the 1840's. Also as boncer. (Sackett.)

 

BOUNCE: noun. A marbles game; “Having provided yourselves with marbles, called bonces, let the one agreeing to commence the game, roll his marble a short distance. His adversary then shoots at it, and so on in rotation until one or other wins it, by striking the marble the number of times agreed upon.” (Appleton.)

 

BOUNCE EYE: noun. A marble game where players drop a boulder from eye level onto a group of marbles in the center of a small ring; the object, trying to knock the most marbles out the ring Also called Eye Drops, Bounce About, Droppsies, Droppers and Droppings. See Games, Bounce Eye.

 

BOUNCE ABOUT: noun. A marble game, see Bounce Eye.

 

BOWL(S): noun. Originally a Scottish game played with bowls, or large marbles. A popular British game played in the 19^th century. Also, a game, a form of lawn bowling, that uses a 4” ceramic marble called a Bowl, or carpet bowl and a 2 1/16” ceramic marble called a Jack. This game is activity played by Canadian clubs, for more information visit, http://www.bowlscanada.com/main.htm. Antique Bowls are highly collectable. Also verb. To roll a marble towards a target, as used in lagging.

 

BOWLDER: noun. (rare or obscure, probably influenced by both bowl, "game," and boulder or bowlder, "a large rock"; the term may have been mistaken for an Indian game of the same name). A special marble, usually large, used to roll towards the beginning line in order to determine the order of shooting. (HARDER)

 

BOWLER: noun. A players term referring to one who plays the game of Bowls. See bowl

 

BOWLER, CRYSTAL: noun. A bowler made of crystal or similar material; a term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

BOWLING: verb. A players term describing type of shot made by, tossing, rolling, or pitching a shooter towards a target, as in “bowling for the lag . . .” normally used in games that require little or no skill to play.

 

BOWLS: noun. A large ceramic marble, and game, similar to lawn bowling, as described in Beards, The Outdoor Handy Book, “At the beginning of this century [1800] marbles were sometimes called “bowls,” and all came from Nuremberg [Germany] . . .”

 

BREAKAGES: noun. A British player’s term, is name for the rules governing how players deal with the occurrence of a broken marble or tolley.

 

BRICK: noun. A marble collectors’ term for the American Cornelian Marble manufactured by The M. F. Christensen & Son Company from 1905 to 1917 in Akron, Ohio; one of the most highly prized marbles in the hobby. It is a hand-gathered, machine-made marble using the rare oxblood color of glass. Also called an immie or imitation agate in the historic record.

 

BRICK, GREEN: noun. An American Cornelian Marble that has a certain amount of green glass within the body of the marble. This green is not a separate color added during the manufacturing process to make the marble; it is the result of the reduction process (denying oxygen to the furnace) not being totally completed while melting the glass batch. If the oxygen reduction process was not used, the formula for the batch would produce a green glass, not a reddish color. This marble is more desirable to collectors that a regular cornelian.  (See photo)

 

BRICK, CRYSTAL: noun. An American Cornelian Marble; this marble was not a production item, was never offered for sale and is rightfully called whimsey; a playful use of extra molten glass being present  at the end of the workday and a glassworker, Harry Heinzelman, made these for personal use. It is a combination of cornelian and clear glass. These marbles are extremely rare, extremely desirable and among the most expensive machine-made marbles in existence. (See photo)

 

BRICK, BLACK: noun. An American Cornelian Marble; due to a partially incomplete reduction process (see Green Brick) what appears to be black glass is actually a very dark green glass. This marble is more desirable to collectors that a regular cornelian; but not as rare or expensive as a Green Brick.   (See photo)

 

BRIDGE: noun. A players’ term; an apparatus made out of wood with a handle attached having nine or ten different sized arches; used in the game called Bridgeboard, or Roley Boley; similar to a marbles rake. (Steele.)

 

BRIDGEBOARD: noun. A marble game, also spelled ‘Bridge Board,’ where the object is to shoot your agate through small arches cut into a board. Unlike the game ‘Nine Bridge,’ where the board stands up on it’s own, a bridgeboard is held in place by one chosen by the contestants, who they trust not to move the board and keep it steady. In 1876 a patent was filed called a Toy Marble Rake, which was used in the game of Bridgeboard. USPO # 180,226. Some times called a marble board. Variations called, Arches, Archboard. See Marbles Rake.

 

BRITISH MARBLES BOARD OF CONTROL: proper name. Headquartered at The Greyhound Pub, in Tinsley Green, Sussex, England; ably and beneficently governed by Sam Fox for many years, this organization is responsible for keeping the ancient tradition of Marbles Day alive in the United Kingdom. The games played under their authority involve mostly adults through various clubs and pubs. These offices are also put to good use encouraging marbles; also though contacts and travel with others internationally. 

 

BROWN, FRANK J.: proper name. Founder of The Standard Toy Marble Company in Akron, Ohio in 1893; a manufacturer of ceramic marbles; Brown got his start in the marble business as Sam Dyke’s protégé and used a license to manufacture clay marbles obtained from Dyke. He also obtained a license to use Matthew Lang’s injection molding process to make porcelain marbles. Brown’s company made all types and styles of ceramic toy marbles. During the 1890s Brown was elected to the Akron City Council where he served with such distinction the Council gave him an overcoat (which at the time was a big deal, since there wasn’t any real pay involved for his service.) When the City of Akron purchased the local water company, Brown offered to provide ceramic marbles to use in the proposed filtration unit. This experiment was a success so Brown offered his marbles to other water companies. Producing marbles for industrial purposes was at that time a novel idea and proved to be the future of marble-making.  

 

BROWN MARBLE: noun. phrase. A clay marble. ADS Also, A baked clay marble, “ten for a penny,” term used in New York. CASSIDY.)

 

BROWNIE: noun. A clay marble. Akron Daily Beacon, July 25, 1888 THE FIRST MARBLES MADE IN AMERICA . . . “these made by Mr. Dyke yesterday was the first "brownies" or "commas" so far as known ever turned out for the trade in this country . . .” Also, Akron Beacon Journal, April 2, 1936, “The 'commies'­ were sometimes also called “brownies” and some people used to say that was for dad,” [Obituary of Frank J. Brown owner of The Standard Toy Marble Company reported by Brown's daughter, Mrs. Helen Dewey.

 

BUBBLES: noun. Small pockets of air, usually spherical in shape, captured inside glass marbles, usually a flaw from a manufacturing point of view; often seen in figure marbles; in some cases gives a certain fascination to a clear glass marble.

 

BUCK: verb. To bounce a marble against a wall in an attempt to hit other marbles placed in a line below it; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

BULK: verb. To shoot a marble from the starting line; term used in 1899. (HARDER.)

 

BULL: noun. A large ring in the shape of a circle for playing marbles also called a bull ring.

 

BULLET MOLD MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term used to describe a hand-made glass marble manufactured using a two-part, clamshell type of mold. These marbles have two distinguishing and identifiable features; a slight ridge around the equator of the marble and a cut-mark showing where the excess glass was removed. These marbles are typically large, up to 3”, and made of clear glass; were used on the ends of furniture legs and were held in place by metal cast in the shape of an eagle’s claw. Smaller marbles, roughly 5/8” in diameter, were also made using this process and can sometimes be found in Codd-Bottles. (See photo)

 

BULLET MOLD PONTIL: noun. A collectors’ term used to describe a cut-mark on a Bullet-Mold Marble.

 

BULLOCK: noun. “A “bullock” is a cheat, and “to bullock” is to cheat at the game.” (PATTEN)

 

BULL RING: noun. A marble game for any number of players using any number of marbles desired; the shooter tries to clear the ring, keeping the marbles they knock out; if a player hits another player’s [shooter] marble, he collects one [target marble] from him – in this respect the game differs from keeps; the game as played in Ohio. (CASSIDY) This author is suggesting a variation upon the poison shooter rule in the game of keeps, which states, if an opponents shooter is knocked from the ring, all the opponents winnings are turned over to the player knocking out the shooter. But in this version of the game, the player with an offending poison shooter being knocked out gets off easy with only losing one marble. And, in some of the more ruthless games of keeps, a player could lose his prized shooter, if it became poison and was knocked from the ring. Also, one in a series of similar games that evolved in 1923 into the game called Ringer, (see Games, Bull Ring.) Also a term used to describe the circle drawn on the ground in which the game is played.

 

BULLSEYE: noun. A marble game; “shooting at a hole in the ground or at the marked center of a designated area. Those who play it say it is a skill game, those more honest admit there’s a large element of “luck.” (FERRETTI)

 

BULLSEYE MARBLE, BULLSEYE AGATE: noun. The name of a marble, usually a natural agate marble and sometimes also China marbles with painted rings. On Chinas, the hand-painted bullseye was a popular design feature and three types of bullseyes are common; A.) a single solid dot or ‘eye, B.) a single band or ring, 3.) thin, concentric rings. This is a desirable design for a shooter marble as the player can easily see the direction of spin. Also the name used for natural agate marbles where the stripes appear as circles of different colors ending in a single dot in the center. Bullseye agate were among the most popular of all shooters marbles during the later years of the 19^th and first 75 years of the 20^th centuries in the United States. Made mainly in Germany, but also Japan and also by The California Agate Company during the 1920’s. These are not made today. See Agate.

 

BUMBO: noun. A players’ term for a large marble, see Boulder.

 

BUNGUMS: noun. A marble game; where players to roll or shoot their marbles into a series of holes in the ground; in some neighborhoods the loser was forced to let the others players take shots at his knuckles. A variation of the game Knucks.

 

BUN-HOLE: noun. “A diminutive form of the game of golf, but played with marbles.” (PATTEN) An old American marbles game dating to the 1850s. It is similar to the game of Bungums and to the modern game of marbles golf. Variations of the game are Rabbit-Hole, Bunny Hole, Bunny in the Hole, Showy-Hole (sounds like Shuwy Hawle.) The “Bun” in Bun-Hole is likely an abbreviation of Bunny, as in Rabbit.

 

BUNKER: verb. To win at marbles in Missouri. Also, noun. A complete loss. (HARDER)

 

BURN: verb. To disrupt a game by illegal interference. (HARDER)

 

BURNED AGATE: noun. A glazed stoneware marble made in Germany; “In New York I seldom see this rich brown mottled marble, whose glossy surface is marked by three rough dots. The "crockery" never had the splashes of white that distinguished the "burned agate" of New York, nor the green of the "moss agate" of the same place. Both of the latter were unknown to the Western boys twenty-five years ago.” [1855] (BEARD) See Photo.

 

BURNINGS: noun. Probably from game of dice. The act of breathing or blowing on a marble in order to obtain certain advantages. Also – interjection. Call of - Fen burnings, or no burnings - the counter cry to burnings. (HARDER )

 

BURNS: interjection. A call by a player which allows him to roll his marble again after his shooter has hit some object that deflects from the desired direction. (HARDER) Also: Shouted by a player when his marbles hits a stone. It entitles him to shoot again. (ZUGER)

 

BURYING: verb. As used in play of marble games, to press into the earth a poison shooter, by stepping on it, giving it some protection from it being knocked out of the ring by their opponent. “Is the term applied to the act of placing your taw in a good spot and then forcing it into the ground with the heel of your shoe. Burying is sometimes allowed in all games of marbles, but only by unskilled players; with the others “Fen burying” is the unwritten rule of the game.” (Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book)

 

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CABBAGE LEAF: noun. A glass marble with greenish internal markings; a term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

CABBAGING: verb. A term used in the games of British marbles’; afoul, an act causing a marble or tolley, to be repositioned on the playing surface of a ring.

 

CALIFORNIA AGATE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A marble company located in Huntington Park, California (Los Angles area); they ground Mexican alabaster (a stone) into marbles by hand; operated from the mid to late 1920s. See photo

 

CALIPERS: noun. A measuring tool used to accurately measure a marble. In some cases it necessary to cite the size of marbles in increments of 1/64^th of an inch or mm. Due to the relative slight imperfections in the spherical body, at these exacting levels of measurement, a collector might spend a long time taking numerous measurements until they can find the widest spot on the marble. Among collectors, size is one of the criteria relating to the financial value of a toy marble.

 

CAIRO NOVELTY COMPANY, THE: proper name. A small manufacturer of glass marbles; founded by Oris Hanlon in Cairo, West Virginia; doing business from the mid-1940s to early-1950s. Their marbles are commonly called West Virginia Swirls. (MARBLE ALAN.)

 

CAMBRIDGE, OHIO: proper name. Second location of The Christensen Agate Company’s factory, or marbleworks. The company’s first factory was located in Payne, Ohio. This Akron headquartered company produced the first totally automated marbles (among the most beautiful ever made) in Cambridge in 1928.

 

CANE MARBLE(S): noun. A specific type of hand-made glass marble made from a decorated glass rod called a cane; most made in Lauscha, Germany from the 1860s to 1936; also made at The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company of Akron, Ohio in 1894-96. These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a cane. Sometimes these marbles are called swirls, or German swirls. They are subdivided by the type of core inside the marble, i.e.; latticino, solid, divided, etc.; also subdivision banded transparents, banded opaque, Indians; also Joseph Coat; also some are classified as onyx or slags; also micas, or glimmers.  Once the decorated canes are produced by glass-masters, lower skilled workers can turn out numerous marbles from the canes at cottage industry production facilities. (See photo)

 

CANDY STRIPES: noun. A marble; “Swirled red and white or red, white and blue marbles. Prized early glassies.” (FERRETTI) (See photo)

 

CANICAS: noun. The Spanish word for marbles in Latin America; the word comes from the sounds marbles make when they hit each other.

 

CANICK: noun. A “real agate marble, 30 cents to $150 apiece” (Illinois.) Abbreviation of kinicker, kinick. (CASSIDY)

 

CANTON PORCELIAN COMPANY, THE: noun. proper name. A ceramic company located in Canton, Ohio (near Akron) and doing business during the first half of the 20^th century; manufactured a wide variety of products out of porcelain, including china marbles. These marbles were once used in a children’s shoe promotion for Buster Brown shoes.

 

CAPTURE: verb. A player’s term; to knock a marble out of the ring, or to win a marble by hitting it, adding it to your collection, as when playing For Keeps.

 

CARBOULDER: noun. A players’ term for a large marble, see Boulder.

 

CARDINAL REDS: noun. The name of a red-colored, hand-gathered, onyx marble made by The Akro Agate Company in the 1920s; original boxes containing these marbles have a label showing the name was used by the company and was not simply a name adopted by players, as was normally the case.

 

CARNE: noun. Abbreviation of Carnelian, the term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY)

 

CARNEL: noun. An old fashion abbreviation of carnelian, the term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY)

 

CARNELIAN: noun. A marble made of carnelian or similar material. “The best marbles,” from South Dakota. “Ten or 15 cents apiece,” from Nebraska. (CASSIDY) Also; a type of natural agate stone marble, milled in Germany, its scientific name is chalcedony, and has a reddish waxy look. A very popular shooter marble that all the boys wanted, but was so expensive few could afford them. Also, a named glass toy marble made by The Akro Agate Company. Also, CORNELIAN, an old fashion way to spell the name, was a glass marble manufactured by The M.F. Christensen & Son Company, of Akron, Ohio from 1905 to 1914. See American Cornelian Marble.

 

CARPET BALLS: noun. see Bowls.

 

CATS-EYE MARBLE, CAT EYE, CAT’S EYE, CATEYE: noun. The name of a common glass marble; first made in Japan in the early1950’s, then copied by American manufacturers in the mid-1950s and then by almost all other marble-makers the world-over.  For a period between the 1950s and late 1960s these, multi-colored and sometimes beautiful marbles were among the most popular toy marbles made. They are still made today, though no longer multi-colored or beautiful, their uniformity of design and identical appearance make them undesirable for playing games For Keeps. They are the most common toy marbles sold in the world. See photo

 

CERAMIC MARBLE: noun. Ceramic means made of clay; where the most popular of all toy marbles made and sold in the USA from the 1880s to 1950. Hundreds of billions were made and sold during that time.  There are four main types of ceramic marbles; common clay, stoneware, vitrified stoneware and porcelain. First manufactured in the US in 1884 by Samuel C. Dyke, of Akron, Ohio; US Patent Number 432,127; at the Akron Toy Company; it was the first mass-produced toy. Ceramic marbles are probably the oldest toys made. Previous to 1884 these were imported to the United States in large numbers, primarily from Germany and were among the only marbles available in the USA.

 

CERISE AGATES: noun. A named marble; red colored, hand-gathered onyx marble made by The Peltier Glass Company of Illinois in the 1930s. The word Cerise is French for ‘cherries’. Similar in appearance to The Akro Agate Company’s Cardinal Reds, but Cereises’ have a more orange-ish tinge to the red glass.

 

CHALCEDONY: noun. A type of fibrous quartz, agate, used to make toy marbles in the Idar-Oberstien area of Germany beginning in1775, production peaked in the 1880s (Carskadden.) However, they were still being made for a short time after WWII. This is the stone that Bulls-Eye Agates were made from and until the post WWII area these were the most expensive and most coveted marbles by all boys. After WWII their relatively lower prices made them easily available to most boys and girls in the USA. They were last sold in commercial quantities in the USA in the early 1970s and then disappeared entirely from the American market.

 

CHALKIES: noun. The name of a marble; not used today and is more often seen in historic records of the United Kingdom than the United States. In the United States it is often seen in marble glossaries describing an unglazed clay marble, made of white clay, porcelain (china,) a light colored limestone or gypsum. School children called them chalkies because they looked and felted something like a stick of chalk that teachers used on black boards, but were not so soft.  Also, spelled Chalky.

 

CHALKY: noun. A marble made of chalk, a term used in Ohio around1900. (HARDER)

 

CHAMPION AGATE COMPANY, THE: noun. proper name. A marbleworks located in Pennsboro, West Virginia, started in the marble business in the late 1930s. They primarily manufactured cheap clearies, industrial marbles, puries and game marbles for Chinese Checkers. In later years they made more interesting multi-colored that are commonly referred to as West Virginia swirls by collectors. David McCullough, today the world’s greatest marble-maker and Superintendent of the JABO marbleworks in Reno, Ohio, got his start at Champion.

 

CHANGIES: noun. interjection. A call that allows the player to change shooters. (HARDER.)

 

CHANGING SHOOTERS: noun. A rule used in American marble tournaments. The players may change shooters only at the beginning of a game. The shooter used during the lag must be the same shooter used during the rest of the game. The penalty for changing shooters during the game will be forfeiture of all the marbles knocked out in that turn.

 

CHARGE: noun. A glassworkers term describing a specific amount of molten glass required to manufacture an item, a marble; also called a gather, or gob.

 

CHASER: noun. A large marble. Too large to be shot comfortably with the fingers; therefore tossed or dropped on objective marbles. (CASSIDY) See Boulder

 

CHASE, CHASING, CHASE UPS, CHASIES: noun. A marble game; Chase Ups being a regional variation of the name as used in Akron, Ohio; most often played while walking to and from school, it is a traveling game requiring little skill, as the player do not knuckle down or shoot the marble but toss, roll or bowl. Taking turns each player uses only one marble, usually a boulder, trying to hit their opponent’s marble. Your toss must be made in the same direction as you’re heading on your walk and it’s unfair to toss your marble in any other direction. Sometimes the game is played for Keeps, where if your marble is hit you must give your opponent a marble. Same as Followings.

 

CHEAPIE: noun. A cheap marble; the term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY)

 

CHEMIST: noun. A term found in the historic record of the glass industry to describe the chemical knowledge required to batch or to mix a formula for colored glass to make marbles. See J.H. Leighton.

 

CHICKADEES: noun. A glazed or baked marble of very good quality and with a glossy, porcelain-like finish, mottled, or “blotchy” in several colors but with no regular design; slightly smaller than regular mibs; term from Illinois. (CASSIDY) (See photo)

 

CHINA ALLEY (also chiney, chinie, chinee(s): noun. A marble made of china ware, often with rings painted in different colors. In Missouri spelled “chinees”in 1899. The term was also used in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Ohio around 1900. (HARDER)

 

CHINAS: noun. The name given to a marble made of porcelain, can be glazed, unglazed, painted or dyed. A very popular type of marble first made in Europe; Germany exported large numbers to the United States; sometimes highly decorated, with strips and designs or pictures with detailed images. The highly decorated varieties are rare and valuable. First made in the USA in the 1880s in Akron, Ohio - the last companies to make them in the USA, was The Canton Porcelain Co. (1910s-1930s) near Akron. They were also made and sold for industrial purposes; first by The Standard Toy Marble Company. Matthew Lang of Akron, Ohio, invented an injection molding system to make them for his company, The East End Marble Company, Akron, Ohio, later he licensed his patent to other Akron area marbleworks in exchange for royalties. Marbles made of porcelain are among the hardest and most difficult marbles to break or crack during play. Un-polished China Marbles, meaning un-glazed, make some of the very best shooter marbles, because their slight texture gives players a firm grip, better control, aim and backspin. Also see Un-Polished Chinas, Ceramic Marbles, Commies. Also called allies, chalkies, and plaisters. (See photo)

 

CHINAS, EARLY PERIOD: noun. (ca. 1846-1870) Early chinas, or porcelain marbles, were typically unglazed, or bisque. These marbles are known for their fine designs; beautifully detailed and colorful painted brushwork; commonly decorated with sets of very fine, parallel lines in varied widths and colors; motifs include pinwheels, bulls-eyes and flowers; some of them quite elaborate and realistic. (CARSKADDEN 1.)  These unglazed chinas in sizes near 3/4"make excellent shooters, with their a velvety textures.   (See photo)

 

CHINAS, LATE PERIOD: noun. (ca 1890-1910) Chinas from the later peiod are typically glazed and their design is laid on top of the glaze. Design are no longer fine and elaborate, but sometimes almost sloppy in application of the paints; motifs include helixes, spirials and some bulls-eye paterns. Even cheaper imitation chinas come into the market at this time; these are unglazed pipe-clays, kaolin, white-bodied earthenware. Common colors are green, orange and black. (CARSKADDEN 1.) These later marbles were likely called chalkies and plasters by the child players of the game. (See photo)

 

CHINAS, MIDDLE PERIOD: noun. (ca. 1870-1890) With increased competition from USA marble manufacturers, chinas from this period show short cuts in decoration; an attempt to reduce labor costs. Designs with helix and spirals are more common in this period. Imitation chinas were introduced; these were made of cheaper white earthenware and are glazed. (CARSKADDEN 1.)  (See photo)

 

CHINAS, MODERN REPRODUCTIONS: noun. Civil War marbles from Atlanta, dug during developments for the Olympics; sunken river boat cargo; from grandmothers, great uncles’ attic’; these phrases should cause you to run. These are industrial ceramic balls produced by the billions for industry; chemical, oil and gas, etc. they are decorated with magic markers called Sharpies in motifs you’d never see on genuine, authentic, antique chinas. For the past decade they’ve been sold all over the USA at flee-markets, yard sales, on Ebay (look for bad photos,) etc.

 

CHINESE CHECKERS: noun. A board game that uses marbles; introduced in the United States during the late 1930s. The boards used in this game are usually highly decorated, most often with oriental designs and bright colors, many printed upon sheet metal, also can be made of wood or cardboard; 60 puries or solid opaque marbles are used as game pieces, 10 marbles of six different colors.

 

CHINESE SPINNER: noun. A cat eye (marble) in which the design did not open out into four blades in the manufacturing process but remains a single wisp of color in the center of the marble. So called because of a fancied resemblance to a Chinaman’s eye. (SACKETT)

 

CHINEY, CHINIE: noun. A porcelain marble, possibly baby slag for a china marble.

 

CHIP: noun. A collectors’ term used to describe a type of damage affecting the condition of a glass marble; can apply to a missing section of a marble, or a tiny spot where a flake came off; depending upon the size and extent of chipping the monetary value is reduced.

 

CHIPPIE: noun. A marble, usually glass, in a chipped condition; the term used in Ohio around 1900. (HARDER.)

 

CHISTENSEN AGATE COMPANY, THE: proper noun. America’s fourth machine-made glass toy marble factory; 1925-1927 marble works in Payne, Ohio; 1927-1930 marble works in Cambridge, Ohio; corporate offices in Akron, Ohio. This company had no relation to The M.F. Christensen & Son Company, but the name was chosen because Christensen meant high quality marbles to wholesale toy buyers. This company made and sold some of the most beautiful glass toy marbles ever made. See photo

 

CHRISTENSEN, CHARLES F.: proper name. (1879-1922,) the “& Son,” part of The M.F. Christensen & Son Company; born in Cleveland, Ohio; the second child and only son of Martin and Jennie Christensen; was 3 years old when his family moved to Akron. He attended Spicer Elementary School and graduated from The Akron High School in 1897. His first job at 19, was working at the B.F. Goodrich Company where his sister Katherine also worked as a clerk. The next year, 1899, he’s listed as a clerk at a corner grocery; for the next few years he worked at various groceries in the area; in 1901 he enlisted with Company B. Eight Regiment, Ohio National Guard (During the Spanish American War); November 4, 1901 charged with absence without leave and threatened with Court Martial; Again on August 7, 1902 charged with failure to appear at camp. In 1904 he worked for the Union Rubber Company as a bookkeeper. From 1905 until his passing in 1922 he worked for The M.F. Christensen & Son Company as Vice President. In 1908 a warrant was issued against him for reckless driving and chasing a fire truck. In 1910 he “quietly” married Ester (Lena) Mowery, a neighbor and clerk at the corner grocery; in 1917 she divorced him in a very public trail, front page news, for among other things taking indecent liberties with his stenographer at the marbleworks. The next year 1918 he married his stenographer, Mary “Nellie” Ester Baughman. Charles adopted a young girl from North Carolina, a daughter Jacqueline. In 1922 Charles died of Uraemia  - chronic Nephritis, age 42. He is buried at the family plot in Glendale Cemetery. (See photo)

 

CHRISTENSEN, MARTIN FREDERICK: proper noun. (1849-1915.) Born 1849 in Copenhagen, Denmark and died in 1815 in Akron, Ohio. Immigrated to the United States in 1867; worked in the drop forge steel industry; founder, Akron’s Drop Hammer Forging Company (1890-1895); Akron’s The M.F. Christensen Company (1895-1898); invented first practical steel ball bearing machine US Patent Numbers 632,335 and 632,336 in 1899; invented first machine to manufacture glass balls, or marbles, US Patent Number 802,495 in 1902; invented the modern marble auger (helically grooved cylinder marble-forming machine,) but the design was stolen by Horace C. Hill, Christensen’s trusted bookkeeper, and patented under his name, US Patent Number 1,164,718; the US Federal Courts recognized and credited M.F. Christensen with the invention of the Hill machine in a 1929 court case called The Akro Agate Company vs. The Peltier Glass Company. Martin was married in 1873 to Jennie D. Levi, who gave him four children; Helen, Charles, Katherine and Jessie. Martin died of a stroke in 1915 and is buried in the family plot at Glendale Cemetery in Akron, Ohio. (See photo)

 

CHISTENSEN & SON COMPANY, THE M.F.: proper noun. The world’s first machine-made glass toy marble company, of Akron, Ohio (1903-1918.) Owned and operated by Martin Frederick Christensen (1849-1915,) son Charles and daughter Jessie. The M.F. Christensen marbleworks is today the oldest still standing toy factory in the United States. (See photo)

 

CHUCK: noun. 1. A shooter or taw that remains in the ring after being rolled towards the marbles in the ring; see fat [also called a poison shooter.] 2. A marble, taw. 3. A game of marbles for two players. 4. The area or ring for the game of chuck. (HARDER.) The game of Chucks, its object, rules and strategies are unknown at this time.

 

CHUCKS (chuckings in, chucky, chucks-up): noun. A variation of chuck used around 1894. Also, Chully, variation of chuck used in 1855 (HARDER.)

 

 

CHURN-DASHER: noun. A taw streaked with white and blue and, like the “aggie,” a harder, better marble than those shot at in the ring. (COMBS.) (See photo)

 

CHRISTMAS TREE: noun. A players’ name for a popular glass marble; a modern type of marble (gob-fed,) in red, green, sometimes white colors; manufactured by The Peltier Glass Company, in the 1940s and JABO, Inc. in the 2000s.

 

CINCI, CINCINNATI: noun.  A marble game played with a small ring; all marbles must be shot with two knuckles on the ground to prevent fudging. (CASSIDY) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown at this time.

 

CLAM: noun. Another name for marbles. (FERRETTI)

 

CLAMBROTH MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term, the name given to a specific type of hand-made, glass marbles made from canes; also called swirls; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between the late 1890s and 1936; a sub-class of Banded Opaque Marbles. These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a glass cane; have an opaque base, usually of white or black glass, with thin stripes of colored glass upon its surface, running from pole to pole and the stripes are evenly spaced. (See photo)

 

CLAY MARBLE(S): noun. A toy marbles made of ceramic materials, can be plain, dyed, painted or glazed. Also called clays, clayeys, clayies. See Commies, Ceramic Marbles.

 

CLAYIES (Clayeys): noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

CLEARANCE, CLEARS, CLEANERS, CLEARIES: interjection. A player’s term; if debris, such as a leaf, stick or pebble is in a players line of shot and a player wishes to remove the debris they must first call out the word Clearance, so all players can hear the call. Claiming clearance gives a player the right to remove the debris. However, if one of the players calls no clearance before the game’s start, or before another player makes the call of clearance, the debris must be left in place. In the historic record (Play Ground, 1866, p40) the call against clearance is “fen clearance,” meaning to defend clearance, or to defend the debris or obstruction from removal.  Also, a term used at American marble tournaments and in the Rules of Ringer. In tournament play, a contestant must ask the referee for clearance and if the referee agrees, the referee will remove the obstruction, not the contestant. 

 

CLEARIE(S): noun. A name for a glass marble made of any single color transparent glass. These were first made as furniture casters in the United States by J.H. Leighton and beginning in 1903 as industrial marbles made by The M.F. Christensen & Son Company. They were not sold to toy stores until the 1930s when a few children obtained samples, their playmates went wild for them and a keen marketing agent saw the potential of selling cheap industrial marbles as higher priced toy marbles. These are the most inexpensive of all marbles made. The vast majority of glass marbles made since the 1900s are clearies and intended for industrial purposes. Also see Purie, Crystal. (Also clearies as a variation of clearance.)

 

CLICKERS: noun. A German word; name for toy marbles; the name comes from the sound marbles make when they hit each other.

 

CLICKS: interjection A call claiming a right; term as used in Wisconsin. Perhaps a variant of kicks. (CASSIDY)

 

CLIP: noun. The act of hitting a marble. verb. To strike or hit a marble. (HARDER.)

 

CLODKNOCKERS: noun. Ordinary target marbles. (FERRETTI)

 

CLOSE: noun. A marble game played against a wall; the winner is the player who gets his marble closest to the object; game as played in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY) The rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

CLOUD MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term for a specific type of glass toy marble; a hand-made glass marble from Germany made until the mid 1930s. They have flecks of colored on the surface and some say it looks like colored clouds floating across the surface of a marble. (See photo)

 

CLOUDIES: noun. A ceramic marble; same as Jasper; term used in the historic record, found in US sales catalogs before 1910. (Carskadden 2.)

 

 

COB: noun. A large marble; a players’ term as used in the area of Hamilton, Ohio during the 1950s; also, Half- Cob and Quarter Cob, describing smaller sized marbles.

 

CODD-BOTTLE(S): noun. A glass bottle used most often in Europe during the 19^th century and having an ingenious shape to its neck with a pocket that holds a glass marble (often a bullet-mold marble.) The purpose of the marble is to act as a stopper to keep the beverage inside the glass bottle. These bottles were often smashed by young boys in order to free the glass marble so it could be used for games.  

 

COMBOS: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

COMMAS: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

COMMIES: noun. Glass marbles, particularly the creamy ones. (ZUGER.)

 

COMMIES (Commy): noun. A widely used slang term for common clay marbles in the historic record. Also, sometimes used to describe non-descript glass marbles, industrial marbles, or the common modern cats-eyes that are uniform and identical in appearance making them undesirable as an ante in games played For Keeps.

 

COMMON CLAY MARBLE(S): noun. A players’ term that described just about every type of ceramic marble, though normally reefer to the cheaper earthenware marbles. Common clay marbles were also called commies, combos, commas, commy, commons, commoney, commony, clayeys, clayies, crockies, dabs, dabbers, dibs, doughies, doggie, kimmie, predab, stookie, tooser, etc. in the historic record. Clay marbles are likely the oldest toys made in world history and are found in the archeological record of almost all ancient civilizations. These marbles were first manufactured in the United States by Samuel C. Dyke in 1884; US Patent Number, 432,127. All the commies made in the United States were made in area of Akron, Ohio from 1884 to 1942. Commies can be dyed, painted different colors or plain showing the color of the clay used. In 1884, these were the very first mass-produced toys and their introduction radically changed the American childhood experience. They were the first toys that all children could afford to buy with their own money. One penny could buy upwards of 30 commies.  Trillions of commies were made and sold in the United States, probably more than all other types of toy marbles combined up to the present time.

 

COMMONEY (Commony): noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

COMMONS: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

CONQUEROR: noun. A game played with chestnuts (HARDER.) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown. Also, a marble game described in the book Play Ground, 1866 (See game,) detailing the object, rules and strategies of play. It’s possible this later game is the same as described by Harder, however, no mention is made to the use of chestnuts and it was common for widely different games to use the same names if different parts of the country. Substituting nuts for marbles was common in the more primitive pioneer areas of the USA and to the period between ‘first contact’ in the 1600s and the early 1800s.

 

CONTEMPORARY ART GLASS MARBLES: noun. A collectors’ term for a modern, hand-made, glass marble or glass sphere made by a studio glass artist; these marbles are made in the old German style. Popular studio glass artists making marbles include Mark Matthews,  and the only contemporary glass marbles made in the traditional style of hand-gathered / hand-made glass marbles, as historically made in the USA, are made by Brian Graham, President of the Board of Directors of The American Toy Marble Museum in Akron, Ohio. (See photo)

COOBIE: noun. A marble of baked clay; term used in Kentucky. (CASSIDY.)

 

COON TRACK: noun. A regional dialect and variation from raccoon track. Same as boss out and boss and span. (HARDER.) Descriptions, rules, etc, for games with these same names can be viewed on our Games pages.

 

CORKSCREW MARBLE: noun. A name given by collectors to a type of machine made, glass marble made by The Akro Agate Company in the 1930s where the colors look like they form a corkscrew around the marble. The original name the company used for their marble was “Prize Name.”

 

CORNELIAN: noun.

 

CORNELIA: noun. A cornelian; term used in Wisconsin. See kineelia. (CASSIDY.)

 

CORNELIAN MARBLE(S), AMERICAN: noun. An reddish, opaque, glass marble manufactured by The M.F. Christensen & Son Company;  the company’s premium marble and for the period between 1905 and 1920 these shooter marbles were among the most coveted by players. Cornelian is an antiquated spelling of the word carnelian.

 

COUNTER: noun. A marble not used in playing, but ‘fine for stakes”; term used in Washington State. (CASSIDY.)

 

CRACKER(S): noun. A players’ term for a large marble, see Boulder.

 

CRACKLED MARBLES: noun. Glass marbles having a surface, which was cracked by putting a heated marble into cold water, then reheated. These are similar to frying marbles on a kitchen stove then crackled by immersion in water, see Fried Marbles

 

CREAMIES: noun. A term generally applied to all glass marbles. (ZUGER.)

 

CROAKEN: noun. A clay marble; same as Croaker. (Steele.)

 

CROAKER: noun. A clay marble; glazed and mottled, “well up in the estimation of players.” (Steele.)

 

CROATER: noun. A marble; same as Crockery.

 

CROCKER: noun. A cheap marble; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

CROCKIES (CROCKERY): noun. A players name for a glazed stoneware marble, most often Brown or brown in color but often with many other colors, as in American Majolica Marbles. Also, seen (rarely) in the historic record as a name for a common clay marble usually made of earthenware.

 

CROOKS: interjection. A call granting permission to the shooter to move around a ring to a more favorable position nearer the target. The counter call is no crooks, or vence ye crooks. Heard in Kentucky, crooks and no crooks. (HARDER)

 

CROOKIE: noun. Same as Crockies; term used in Nebraska. (CASSIDY.)

 

CROSS-TRACKS: noun. A marble game played between railroad tracks, in which the marbles are shot at directly; term used in Wisconsin. Also see back-slaps.(CASSIDY) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

CROTON ALLEY:noun. A players’ name for an unglazed porcelain marble “handsomely marbled with blue;” a type referred to in the historical record as a Jasper. (ROBERTS) Also, the term “croton” refers to a plant with variegated (different colors) leaves. Jaspers are a variegated white-bodied stoneware with different colored lines of blue, green and rarely pink, running through the body of the marble. (Roberts)

 

 

CRUCIBLE: noun. A glassworkers’ term used to describe a ceramic pot found in a glass furnace. It’s used to melt and hold molten glass; a device used for manufacturing hand-gathered items, marbles. (See photo)   

 

CRUSHER(S): noun. A players’ term for a large marble, see Boulder.

 

CRYSTAL: noun. The name of a marble, as in a crystal ball marble; sometimes called a clearie, or purie by those who grew up playing the games of marbles in the post WWII baby-boomer generation; a clear glass marble, without any color. Once made with lead to increase its clarity. However, lead is poisonous, or toxic and government regulations now forbid companies from using lead when making glass in the United States. Also called flint glass in the historic record when clear glass is made without lead; among the least inexpensive glass marbles made; mostly used for industrial purposes; also used sold as decorator marbles for use in the floral industry.

 

CULLET: noun. A manufacturer’s term; waste or broken glass that can be recycled into new marbles.

 

CUNGEON (cungeon roots): interjection. A call to preclude the hitting of one's marbles by an opponent, Georgetown, D. C. (HARDER.)

 

CUNNY-FINGERED: adjective. 1. Said of holding the taw or shooter before the thumb which is turned inward under the fingers of the closed fist; the way a girl shoots marbles (1949.) 2. Said of holding the taw on the middle of the forefinger instead of placing it on the tip of the forefinger, as experts shoot marbles. Also – from HARDER, this term is in general use in American speech.

 

CUNNY THUMB: adjective. A player’s term, referring to a childish shooting style - when uttered by older more advanced players that shoot with backspin, the term carries a demeaning connotation. This shooting style is sometimes called Scrumpy Knuckles in the historic record (Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book) At the National Marbles Tournament this style of shooting is called deadeye. Shooting in this style causes the marble to spin with top spin, not a desirable action in most traditional American marble games.

 

CUP (cupping): verb. A player’s term, used in American marbles tournament play, especially at those tournaments played in a windy areas; describing a situation where the player cups their hands around their still rolling shooter to protect the wind from pushing it out of the ring and ending their turn. Due to the strong winds referees allow the players to cup their shooters, as long as they are convinced the player’s hand never touches the shooter. Cupping is not allowed during the Lag.

 

CUPPING RULE: game rule. From the New Game of Ringer; Cupping is when a player protect his or her shooter from being moved about by the wind.  Placing hands or kneepads around the marble can protect the shooter.  The shooter may not touch the hands (or kneepads) or the turn is over.  To verify that the marble has not touched, an opening must be maintained at all times for the referee to view the shooter.  Target marbles may never be cupped.  Penalty for cupping a target marble is that the target marble must returned to the center of the ring and the forfeiture of the continuation of the shooting players turn. The shooter may never be cupped during the lag.

 

CUT-MARK (Cut-Off Mark): noun. A glassworkers’ term used to describe the mark(s) left on a glass item, a marble, resulting from excess glass being removed during the manufacturing method. The term applies to hand-made glass marbles made from canes, hand-made / machine-made glass marbles and from gob-feed marbles. The mark left on a hand-made / hand-gathered marble is rightfully called a pontil.

 

CYCLONE MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ name given to a specific type of marble manufactured by The Christensen Agate Company. (See photo)

 

CZECHOSLOVAKIAN FORTUNE TELLING MARBLE: noun. A molded, glass, game marble with numbers ‘0’ through ‘30’ impressed into the glass; a game used to discern the future for anxious players; game instructions encourage players to ask a question then roll the marble to obtain a number; the number corresponds to 30 answers under each of six columns titled Love, Marriage, Luck, Surprise, Finance, Home. (See photo)

 

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DABBERS: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware. (HARDER.)

 

DABS: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

DABSTER: noun. A player’s term for one who excels at the games of marbles. (Play Ground 1866.) Also see Mibster.

 

DABSTER, KNUCKLE DABSTER: noun. A piece of equipment for playing marble games, a soft piece of material or animal skin placed on the cold, rough ground to cushion a player’s knuckles. From Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book “Every boy who plays marbles should posses a knuckle dabster; these can be made from bits of soft woolen cloth, felt, or the skin of small animals. Mole skin makes the softest and prettiest of knuckle dabsters, but any piece of fur will answer. Some boys wear them fastened to their hand, but the most expert players seem to prefer to throw them down at the spot from which they are about to shoot and then knuckle down on the soft fur or woolen cloth. A knuckle dabster prevents one’s knuckles from becoming sore and raw, and adds greatly to the comfort of the player.” As the marbles playing season stretches from February to May, children began playing as soon as the snow melted. The sight of children playing marbles on a warm winter day was a sign that spring was just around the corner. At this time of year the ground was often frozen, or cold and damp, so a knuckle dabster came in handy. This is primarily a late 19^th century term. It seems to disappear from the historic record by the mib 1920s.  (See photo)

 

DAKE: noun. A marble used as a stake in a game. Probably from date with common phonetic substitution of k for t. – adjective phrase. Daked in.  (CASSIDY)

 

DAKED IN: adjective phrase. Said of marbles places within the ring; term used in Kentucky. From dake.  (CASSIDY.)

 

DAISY WHEEL: noun. A collectors’ term for a design applied to porcelain marbles (see chinas) manufactured in Germany before 1936; design resembles a daisy wheel, with anywhere from four to 12 brush strokes of color radiating out from one point.

 

DATE, (date-ups, dates): noun. same as ante. - verb. phrase. To date-up, to date one up, etc. - adjective. Dated up, dated one up. – interjection. Date me up.  (HARDER.)

 

DAUBS: noun. Another name for marbles. (Steele.)

 

DAVIS MARBLE WORKS, THE: proper name. A small and short lived glass marbleworks founded by Wilson Davis in Pennsboro, West Virginia in 1947. It appears to have done business for about a year. Its marbles are commonly called West Virginia Swirls. (MARBLE ALAN.)

 

DEAD: adjective. (A common term in various sports: 1658 bowling, 1844- cricket, 1868- croquet; also in baseball and football). 1. Of a marble or taw that through some specific occurrence is deprived of play during a particular game. 2. Of a marble or taw when it fails to clear the ring in which targets are placed (1899.) "The player's taw was said to be `fat' (`dead') when it failed to clear itself out of the ring after knocking out the stake." See fat and chuck' for other meanings. In one form of play, at least, the taw is "dead" only when it rolls into a ring that has already been broken, that is, one in which marbles have already been knocked out by an opponent. If the player who rolls into the ring has knocked out the marbles, he places them in the ring along with his taw, and his marble is called fat or chuck. The taw must remain in the ring until one of the marbles is knocked out, in which case the taw is "dead" and is out of play for that particular game, or until the taw is knocked out of the ring by a partner or an opponent. (HARDER)  Also see killed.

 

DEAD DUCK: noun. As used in the play of marble games, when a target marble or duck is sitting close and is an easy shot. Also see Snooger.

DEADEYE: noun. A player’s term used to describe a shooting style that causes top spin, a less desirable way of shooting that shooting with back-spin. The term is specific to the National Marbles Tournament and does not carry the negative connotations used elsewhere for this shooting style, in fact the term enhances this otherwise largely ineffective style of shooting. See Cunny Thumb. (See photo)

 

DEAD LEAD: noun. As used in the play of marble games, a turn is not over or finished until all the marbles in the ring have come to a complete stop, dead stop.

 

DEADLINE: noun. (Probably from military parlance; 1864-). The line behind which player must not allow his shooter to touch the ground on the first shot; if the marble does touch the ground behind this line, the taw is out of play or is dead. (HARDER.) Also, in lagging if the shooter crosses the lag-line and goes on to touch the backboard, the player’s lag is disqualified; which sounds similar to Harder’s definition.

 

DIAMETER: noun. A unit of measurement taken from one point on a circle or sphere in a straight line through its center to a point opposite the first. The size of a marble and the size of a marble ring are measured by its diameter, not the circumference. A circumference measures the distance all the way around the outside of a circle or sphere and is a much higher number than its diameter.  

 

DIB: noun. A shooter or taw; term used in Manitoba, from the English Dialectic Dictionary. (CASSIDY.)

 

DIBS: interjection. A player’s term, called out to make a claim for a certain marble, in the game For Keeps. Also, in the original Rules of Ringer, when a player knocks an opponents shooter, (known as a poison shooter ) out of the ring, the player then chooses any one of the target marbles in the ring as their point.

 

DIBS: noun. A marble game played by sending the marbles into a hole in the snow or sidewalk; a term from Manitoba, Canada. (CASSIDY) The object rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

DIBS: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

DIDDLE: verb. To move the taw or shooter forward unfairly. (HARDER.)

 

DIE SHOT: noun. A marble game where a marble is balanced on top of a die and the object is to knock the marble off; the successful player earns the points equal to the number shown on the die. (Play Ground 1866) See Games, Die Shot

 

DIGGER: noun. A collectors’ term for a treasure hunter who digs and searches for toy marbles at the site of old abandoned marbleworks. Often this is an unlawful activity requiring unauthorized access to the property and must be accomplished with great stealth, look-outs, etc; fines imposed by the courts, if apprehended by law enforcement officers, are often far less than the potential earnings, thus it’s become a popular hobby in and of itself. Diggers can destroy the potential value of a historic site for genuine archeology and have rendered some sites in the Akron area scientifically worthless. 

 

DING: noun. A collectors’ term describing a mark appearing on the surface of a marble; a type of damage that affects the condition and monetary value of a marble; usually a small spot showing an impact strike caused either by lax handling, or reflecting it’s prior use in the games of marbles, but no glass is missing as in a chip. Also called a moon or bruise by collectors. Players’ refer to the dings or moons in their real agate shooter marbles showing various impact points obtained during a game.

 

DING: verb. A players’ term describing the act where a shooter marble impacts a target marble, or the impact of two target marbles; term based upon the sound of two marbles hitting each other.

 

DIVIDED CORE MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term; the name given to a specific type of hand-made, glass marbles made from canes; also called swirls; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between 1860 and 1936. These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a glass cane. Distinguished from other cane marbles by their core; the core of these marbles are separated into two or more bands or ribbons of one or more colors of glass, twisting slightly and running from pole to pole. (See photo)

 

DOB: noun. Also dobber. A large marble. See quotation under dob in the ring. (HARDER.)

 

DOB IN THE RING: noun, phrase. A marble game. See quot. John T. Page, "The Origin of Taw," (1899), 66, West Haddon, Northamptonshire: "As boys we used to play a game of marbles here known as `dab in the ring,' which consisted of starting from a certain point known as `taw' and endeavoring to knock out with a big ‘dob’ as many marbles as possible." Also, dab at the hole (see chucks). (HARDER.)

 

DOB-TAW: noun. A large marble. (HARDER.)

 

DOBES: noun. Another name for marbles. (Steele.)

 

DOG UP: verb. phrase. To roll a marble to a more advantageous position, either nearer or sometimes farther away from the target. Also, from HARDER, dogging up.

 

DOGGIE: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

DOGGIE: noun. A brown clay marble. (Steele.)

 

DOOGIES: noun. A general term for marbles in Missouri; a diminutive of doogs: the number of marbles one has at stake in a game; observed in Suffolk. (CASSIDY)

 

DOUBLE ACTION GOES OVER: interjection. (Perhaps from the game of billiards.) A call that nullifies an opponent's hitting two marbles at once. (HARDER.)

 

DOUBLES: interjection. A call exclaiming the accomplishment of knocking two marbles out of the ring on the same shot. Also see Dubs and Trips for three marbles knocked out.

 

DOUGH-BABE: noun. A common clay marble; term used in Washington State. (CASSIDY.)

 

DOUGHBOY: noun. A marble made of clay. (HARDER.)

 

DOUGHIES: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

DOUGHNUT: noun. A collectors’ term for a design applied to porcelain marbles (see chinas) that resembles a doughnut.

 

DOUGHY: noun. A cheap clay marble, usually painted red, blue, green or brown; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.) See common clay marbles.

 

DOWN AND OUT: noun. A marble toy/game manufactured by The Milton Bradley Company around the turn of the 20^th century. The object being to drop a marble into the helically grooved cylinder standing in the middle of a convex board having numbered holes representing points; the player with the highest total points wins. Marbles purchased by Milton Bradley, from The M.F. Christensen & Son Company, were used in some of these games.

 

DOWNSIES: interjection. A call demanding that the shooter keep his knuckles on the ground when shooting. (HARDER)

 

DRAGON’S EYE: noun. A Chinese spinner, according to some informants; according to others, a cat’s eye in which the design has opened out more than a Chinese spinner but still not completely. (SACKETT.) See photo

 

DRAKES: noun. A term used in the game of hundreds; the line from which the marbles are rolled. (HARDER.)

 

DRAT: noun. A marble of baked clay; a term used in Kentucky. (CASSIDY)

 

DRIBBLE: verb. To roll a marble, usually a large marble, at a target; in some games a player cannot dribble his marble; the call made being fen dribbing, or no dribbing and instead the player must take a Plumb Shot, sometimes called Bobbing. 

 

DRIBBLES: interjection. A call claiming the right to dribble one’s marble. English Dialectic Dictionary, dribble, verb. 6: “To cause to move slowly, especially to roll or shoot a marble along the ground in small shots.” (CASSIDY)

 

DROP: noun. An expert marble player. See quote, "Marbles," (1899), 66: "A good and accurate shooter was called a ‘drop’- respected, envied, and feared." (HARDER)

 

DROP-BOX: noun. A marble game in which marbles are dropped from chin height though a small hole in the top of a box (such as a cigar box.) (CASSIDY.) Also, when playing Drop-Box For Keeps, if the player misses the hole the marble is placed inside the box. The player who successfully drops their marble through the hole and into the box wins all the marbles in the box. This is sometimes called a ‘suckers’ game because the player who controls the box always takes home a much greater share of the winnings.

 

DROPSIES (Droppsies): noun. A marble game played primarily by young children who’ve not yet developed the necessary hand coordination to knuckle down and shoot a marble. Players place a large number of target marbles in a small ring, stand with their toes to the ring and drop a boulder into the ring with the hopes of knocking out target marbles; see Bounce Eye.

 

DROPPERS: noun. A marble game, see Bounce Eye.

 

DROPPING THE MARBLE: verb phrase. A rule used in American marbles tournament play. “If the shooter slips from the player’s fingers after the shooting hand has touched the ring, and the shooter has traveled more than ten inches’ the player’s turn is then over. If his or her hand is not touching the ring or the shooter has not moved more than ten inches then the player may attempt another shot. The shooting player may not pick up the shooter to stop it from moving ten inches.  If he or she does so it will be considered to have moved more than ten inches and the shot will be forfeit.” See Slips.

 

DROPPINGS: noun. A marble game, see Bounce Eye

 

DROSS: verb. To win all the marbles; term used around 1877. (HARDER.)

 

DUBBED UP: verb. phrase. A player has dubbed up when he claims that he has lost all his marbles although he still has marbles in his possession; from 1884. (HARDER)

 

DUBS: interjection. A player’s slang for ‘doubles,’ as called out in excitement when a player knocks two target marbles out of the ring. “An abbreviation of doubles, means that you knocked two marbles out of the ring in one shot” (Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book). Also, Dubs: interjection. (? from either doubles or double the fist on the ground). 1. A call used by players to represent certain rules (1882). 2. A call giving the player right to take all marbles. -interjection. Fen doubs; fend dubs, (1882) no dubs. A call revoking the rights that would be obtained by calling dubs. Also, Dubs: noun. plural. 1. Two marbles. (1890). Also, dubbings in; dubs down for knuckles down. (HARDER) Also, dubs: interjection. Add 3. A call claiming possession if two marbles are shot out of the ring; a term used in Indiana. (CASSIDY)

 

DUCK: noun. As used in the play of marble games, another name for a target marble, often seen in the historic record referring to the marbles at stake in the game of keeps; from the term sitting ducks, or possibly from a game called duckstone.

 

DUCK IN A HOLE: noun. A marble game that uses three holes; played similarly to Pots that has four holes. (Steele.)

 

DUCKS: noun. singular. A stake in the game of keeps. (COMBS.)

 

DUCKS: noun. A marbles game. (FERRETTI) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

DUMP: noun. The same as dump up; term used in Missouri. (CASSIDY.)

 

DUMP UP: verb. phrase. To put a marble on a mound of dirt; the term used in Missouri. – noun. The mound itself, usually placed inside the pink. (CASSIDY.) This is a common game played in many places in the world. The object is to knock a target marble off a small clump of malleable clay or dirt from a good distance. The player who successfully knocks the marble off wins the marble.  A similar game using three marbles as a base to place a target marble on-top is called Pyramid, See Game

 

DOUBLE HAND’S LENGTH: interjection. This cry permits a player to move his shooter two hand’s lengths nearer to the marbles before shooting. (ZUGER.)

 

DUBBS: interjection. A general cry, giving claim to all the marbles and often used by a boy who grabs baits and runs. Always used as a preliminary to an argument over ownership. (ZUGER.)

 

DUG MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term for a toy marble dug by treasure hunters at the site of an old marbleworks, then sold to the hobby for a handsome profit. Often these toy marbles are inferior in quality, as for one reason of another the manufacturer choose not to market them and likely threw them into the reject pile, to be discovered decades later by a digger. Often these marbles are out of round, show signs of damage, etc., but can be polished and made to look brand-new. Sometimes rare variations of more common marbles are found, as they were discarded at the factory because for one reason or another they did not meet the specifications of the order; these are sometimes called Experimentals, or Hybrids. 

 

DUTCH ALLEYS: noun. phrase. Stone marbles burnt or glazed in various colors. (HARDER.)

 

DUTCH MARBLES: noun. A player’s term for a variegated clay marble, described in 1855; the lowest of three classes of marbles, the others being Yellowstone and Real Taws. (Francis.) This sounds like a description of a Jasper.

 

DYKE & COMPANY, THE S.C.: proper noun. (1888-1892) A marble company in Akron, Ohio once located at the present site of the Metropolitan building on South Main Street. The company made and sold one million marbles a day, filling five railroad box cars; President, Samuel C. Dyke merge the company with his brother’s marbleworks in 1892 to form The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company.

 

DYKE, ACTAEON L.: noun, proper name. Known as “A.L.” Dyke; the older brother of Samuel C. at times the two brothers got along famously, engaging in the newspaper and marble business together. At other times they were fierce competitors and alienated from one another. In 1893 Sam left his position as Superintendent of The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company to start his own venture and A.L. took over as Superintendent. Later, in 1904, when the marbleworks burnt to the ground, A.L. secretly left Akron owning debts to a number of prominent businessmen and was never heard of again.  

 

DYKE’S AMERICAN AGATES: noun. A term trademarked and registered in 1889 as a label with the US Patent & Trademark Office to Samuel C. Dyke; used on boxes of marbles shipped for retail sale, boxes designed as counter display units and in sales catalog advertisements.

 

DYKE MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. One of a number of marbleworks opened by Samuel C. Dyke after leaving as Superintendent of The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1892. The company manufactured Little Brown Jugs, ceramic and hand-made glass marbles, the later under license from J. H. Leighton. This was a partnership with Sam’s brother Daniel F., of Chicago, who worked for The Rand McNally Map Company. This company evolved into The Akron Insulator & Marble Company; located in the Switzer Allotment on Akron’s near south side.

 

DYKE, SAMUEL COMLEY: noun. proper name.(1856-1924) The Father of the modern American toy industry; first American to manufacturer marbles; first to mass-produce a toy, a clay marble, in 1884 at the Akron Toy Company; He invented and patented, US Patent Number 432,127, a molding device that allowed a single worker to make up to 800 marbles per hour, dramatically reducing the cost of a toy; allowing all children for the first time to buy a toy with their own money. Dyke was the owner of a number of marbleworks in Akron, Ohio; The S.C. Dyke & Company was first to make glass marbles in the United States in 1890; first to manufacture stone marbles in the United States in 1892 at The Akron Stone Marble Company. Dyke later became leading figure in the electrical insulating industry. In 1897 he became a United States Ambassador at-large under President William McKinley. In his last year of life, 1923 he assisted in the formation of the National Marbles Championship and was its honorary chairman that year. (See photo)

 

DYKE'S STONEWARE SPECIALTY COMPANY, THE:

 

 

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EASIES: interjection. A player’s term, a call allowing a player to shoot easy and slow into the ring to set themselves up for their next turn. See Laying-in

 

EARNEST: noun. A game in which the players keep the marbles they knock from the ring; a variant of keeps (HARDER.)

 

EARTHENWARE MARBLES: noun. See common clay marbles.

 

EDGERS: noun. The name for a target marble sitting near the edge of the ring; an easy shot. (FERRETTI)

 

EDGING: noun. The ante in marble playing; term used in Oklahoma. (CASSIDY.)  A variant of Ageing.

 

 

EGGET: noun. Variant of agate. (COMBS.)

 

EGGIES: verb. Short for “Can I borrow a few marbles?” as in “Eggies on the aggies?” (FERRETTI)

 

END OF CANE MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term relating to a specific and relatively rare feature seen in German swirl marbles; a hand-made glass marble made from a cane; manufactured in Germany before 1936; the design features of the marble, the colored stripes and core, are discontinuous, end abruptly inside the interior of the sphere and do not reach the surface of the cut-off mark on one end of the marble’s poles; described in collectors’ identification and price guides, as the first or last marble made from a cane; the end of the cane.  (See photo)

 

END OF DAY MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors term describing a type of hand-made glass marble made from cane; manufactured in Germany before 1936; identifiable design features show flecks of multi-colored glass; described in an old collectors’ identification and price guides as the last marbles made during a workday when all the scrape and waste glass resulting from that day’s production are melted into one marble, hence the name and it stuck in the hobby. While it’s a charming description, it’s not how these marbles were made. They were a specific style of marble manufactured for commercial sale over a long period of time. (See photo)

 

ENNIES (Anys): interjection. A call which if said before an opponent said vents entitles the player to any (whence the name) of a number of advantages; he may “tee up the objective, remove an obstruction in the surface of the ground, fill in a depression, exercise roundance, etc.” term used in Oklahoma. (CASSIDY.) Same as Anything; spoken as a diminutive or baby-talk; gives a player permission to take shots in a manner not normally allowed, bend rules, etc.

 

ENGLISH: verb. As used in the play of marble games, the act of putting backspin or sidespin on a marble. Being able to put English on your shooter allows one to play a much more controlled game and make more sophisticated and complicated shots, increasing the odds of winning. Backspin on a shooter is highly desirable as it causes the shooter to stop and come to rest near the point of impact with a target marble, hopefully sending the target marble out of the ring and thereby allowing the player to continue shooting, close to the other target marbles.

EAST END MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A very important marble company located in Akron, Ohio. Matthew Lang was its President, Superintendent and the inventor in 1889 of the marble making process that generated all of its income. Lang invented the injection molding process, receiving a grounded patent (an invention so revolutionary, the US Patent Office began an entirely new category to list his invention.) The marbles manufactured by Lang’s injection molding process are made of porcelain and are easily identifiable by a slight ridge, or grind marks to remove same, on the equator of the marble and sometimes you can discern the point where the porcelain slip was injected into the mold. Lang licensed his patent to all the major ceramic marble makers and also to the rubber industry where the patent’s true value was eventually realized. Lang’s injection molding process is still widely used in multiple industries today. 

 

EVERS (everythings): interjection. A call that allows all liberties in making shots. (1890) -interjection. under fen, fen everything. (HARDER) Also – interjection. A call to prevent an opponent from moving his marble. (CASSIDY) Same as Anything; giving a player liberal adherence to the rules and to take shots not normally allowed in most games or neighborhoods.

 

EVERS ON PARDS: interjection. A call to prevent an opponent from shooting one’s partner’s marble; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

EXPERIMENTAL MARBLE: noun. A collectors’ term referring to a marble that doesn’t quite fit the specific definition of a named marble. Often these are dug marbles, likely rejected by the manufacturer because it failed to meet the specifications required for an order, or was outside of the acceptable range of variation to be marketable. Rarely, an actual case of a marble being the subject of a marble-maker’s experiments. Not in the same category as whimsy.  

 

 

EYE: noun. In the manufacture of glazed stoneware marbles when they come out of the furnace they are often stuck together by the glaze and must be broken apart. This leaves a diagnostic mark in she shape of a small circle of discolored glaze at the points where the marbles touched each other, called an eye. (See photo)Also, in natural stone agate marbles, the small circular spots of different colors sometimes seen in the mineral Jasper (a material sometimes use to make marbles) are called eyes. Also a marbles game, a variation of Eye Drop.

 

EYES: interjection. A call to prevent another player from doing something; a term used in Wisconsin. Possibly from “I”, as claiming the right to oneself. (CASSIDY)

 

EYE BOUNCE, EYES BOUNCE, EYE DROP, EYE DROPPERS: noun. verb. A player’s term or game rule. The name for a shot made from a standing position in games like Droppies where the player places a shooter marble close to their eye (for a better aim) then drops the shooter onto a target marble intending to knock it out of a ring. A game rule where the shooter marble must be dropped from the player’s eye level. Also see Nose Drop, a British marble term used to decide the order of play, with a shot similar to the eye drop only the shooter marble must touch the nose before being dropped; see Bounce Eye.

 

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FACET: noun. The oldest agate marbles manufactured in Germany were ground round by hand and upon close inspection with a magnifying glass reveal numerous tiny flat spots or facets all over the surface of the marble. Facets are an identifiable feature confirming an agate is a genuine antique. Also, facets are sometimes seen on hand-made glass marbles made in Germany where the pontil was ground smooth.

 

FAT: noun. noun. A "ring" in the shape of a square. - adjective. Condition occurring when a shooter remains within the ring or square in which the targets are placed. See dead for quotation and comment. In common use in English-speaking world. (HARDER)

     An important and often played marbles game in the 19^th century in the United States; also used in marbles tournaments before the mid 1920s. The game of Ringer eventually replaced this game in all tournament play. Fat is a more aggressive game than Ringer, requiring greater skill and advanced strategic play. It is played in a 15 foot ring, with a two foot ring inscribed in the center (sometimes called the pink)where 10 target marbles are placed, in two man match play the player knocking out 6 of ten target marbles is declared the winner. The space between the inner and outer ring is referred to as “the fat.” Fat, has been described as a hunt and destroy game where killing the opponent’s shooter in the fat was an important object. (Ringer is more of a targeting game.) A variation of the game Fat, as played in some parts of the country, had the same central ring which held a handful of target marbles, but instead of a larger ring it used a pitch-line as a starting point roughly 10 feet from the pink and the fat was considered the whole area of the playground, vacant lot, backyard, etc.; as long as the surface was suitable for play it was fair. 

      In some parts of the country this game was know by the more genteel name of Pati, or Patterson. New Yorkers called it Yank or Yankee.

 

FEM: A small marble, a fiver; term used in Wisconsin. Probably from the Norwegian fem for five. (CASSIDY.)

 

FEN: interjection. An abbreviation for ‘defend,’ slang, as used in the play of marble games, called to defend the integrity of the game, or to keep a rule in place, preventing an opponent from calling certain liberties to the rule, like Clearance, Rounders, etc. In use, if a player called “Fen Clearance” this would stop a player from removing any debris from their line of aim, or calling “Fen Burying,” would stop a player from stomping your shooter into the dirt. Fen Dubs, “an abbreviation of defend doubles, means that you must put back all but one marble.” (Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book.) Fen was an important and widely used part of marbles playing langue in the United States during the 19^th century. Although Bread’s book is still in print and still one of the best works on playing marbles, the term is otherwise rarely seen in the historic record of the 20^th century.   

 

FEN-PUNCHINGS: interjection: “is used as a warning not to place the marble hand any nearer to the object aimed at, than a designated line or spot.” (PATTEN)

 

FIEDLER, ARNOLD: proper name. A marble-worker of note; a German glassworker who immigrated to Clarksburg, WV in the late 1910’s, who with his sons worked at The Akro Agate Company. In 1927 moved to Cambridge, Ohio to work at The Christensen Agate Company as their glass-master, a position sometimes referred to in the historic record as a chemist. The brilliant colors and sophisticated color combinations used by Fiedler in making the later company’s marbles are today some of the most desirable marbles among collectors. 

 

FIGURE MARBLE(S) (Figured Glass Marbles): noun. A manufactures’ term for a type of glass marble made in Lauscha, Germany until 1936; these are clear glass marbles that have a small white figure inside (glass can also be transparent greens, blues, ambers, etc. but in these colors they are very rare.) The figure is usually an animal, like a rabbit, dog, cat, cow, horse, bear, etc. but can also be human, or a religious icon. These charming marbles are normally large, intended for babies to roll around and are very collectable. The figure inside the glass marble is made of porcelain. These marbles are referred to by collectors as ‘sulphieds,’ because during the early days of the hobby some author mistakenly believed the figure inside was made of sulfur. The name figure marble is the one that appears in the historical record being used by the manufacturers. American retailers, sales catalogs, etc. (See photo)

     Also, some modern glass artists are making these marbles today. (See photo)

     Also, a modern glass marble made by Jabo, Inc. with a dark, bold and contrasting design on its surface that resembles some object, animal, or Oriental calligraphy, or Arabic letters. (See photo) 

 

FIN-FLICK: interjection. A call claiming the right to move one’s marble behind the opponent’s marble; term used in Wisconsin. Fin is a variant of fen; flick is evidently the standard word, but the precise sense is not clear. (CASSIDY.)

 

FINS: interjection. “This term is used as a stalling device which if called out before anyone else calls “no fins” allows the player to suspend all rules until he has planned his next shot.” (RUNYAN)

 

FISH: noun. A marbles game where a fish-shaped ring is drawn. The object being the same as in all other ring games to knock the most marbles out of the ring.

 

FIRSTS: interjection. A call made by a player claiming the right go first in a game.

 

FIRST IN THE RING: interjection. A call announcing “that a boy had arrived at the marble playing site, and with himself shooting first, was willing to play with anyone at all.” A term used in West Virginia. (CASSIDY)

 

FIVER: noun. A small marble; from the cost: five for one cent. (CASSIDY)

 

FLAKE: noun. A collectors’ term referring to a small amount of damage seen on the surface of a glass marble; a small shallow chip where some amount of glass was removed by impact; can be cause by a lack of proper care, or reflecting its prior use at play in marble games; relates to the condition of a marble and ultimately affects the financial value of the marble.

 

FLAME MARBLE: noun. A name given to a type of glass marble made-up by collectors to identify a specific type of glass marble made primarily by The Christensen Agate Company, but also others companies; the marbles’ colors and design look like the flames painted on the sides of old hot rod cars.

 

FLICK: verb. A players’ term; the motion of one’s thumb used to propel a marble from their hand; or middle finger when using the Arabian two-handed flick, shooting style.

 

FLINT (flintie): Player’s slang often seen in the historic record to describe any stone or natural agate marble; rarely in use at present. Also, ‘flinties’ a named reddish brown glass marble manufactured by The Akro Agate Company. Also, marbles made of “flint,” a very hard rock, and used primarily by adults in a game called Rolley Hole. These hand-made flint marbles are only made in an area near the boarder of Tennessee and Kentucky and are the hardest marbles known in the world. Also, from Cassidy, “They cost 10¢ to 50¢ in New York,” likely describing the term used for a more common stone marble than one actually made out of a flint stone.

 

FLINT GLASS: noun. A glassworkers’ term describing a type of clear glass made by using soda lime rather than lead; a much less expensive manufacturing process is required for flint glass than leaded glass. Leaded glass is softer than flint glass and better for cutting. Flint glass is safer, cheaper to make, is harder enabling it to be easily pressed, made thinner and it cools faster than leaded glass. The formula for flint glass was invented by Thomas Leighton who was the uncle of James H. Leighton, inventor of the first American glass marble. All American glass marbles are made of flint glass.

 

FLIP: noun. A 19^th century marble game played with a finger top and marbles. Likely, similar to or the same as the game called Teetotum.

 

FLUORESCENT: noun. A collectors’ term for a type of marble that fluoresces under a black-light. These marbles are made from radioactive pigments like uranium, but their toxic radio-active properties are rendered harmless by being encased in glass. (See photo)

 

FOLLERINGS: noun. A marble game; same as Chase, Chase-up, Followings or Follow-ups. Described by Daniel C. Beard in Outdoor Handy Book (For rules see, Games: Follerings.)

 

FOLLOW THE LEADER: noun. 1. The same as [the game] pee-wee, as played in Ohio and Wisconsin. 2. Similar to [the game] pee-wee, but with many calls and counter calls such as "knuckles down" and "roundsomes" as heard in Ohio. (CASSIDY) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

FOLLOW-UP(S): noun. A marble game for two (often played on the way between home and school): one player throws his marble ahead on the ground; if his opponent can hit it with a marble of equal value, he wins it; the term as used in New York. This could also be played with boulders but played with commies in Iowa. (CASSIDY) Also see Chase-up.

 

FOBS: noun. Four marbles; from 1856 (HARDER)

 

FOR FAIR: noun. As used in the play of marble games states that all marbles put into play will be returned to their original owners at the end of the game. The opposite of playing For Keeps, where each marble shot out of the ring becomes the personal possession of the player knocking them out. Playing “For Fair” is a gentle game; assuring that feeling won’t be hurt if marbles are lost.

 

FORFEITURE OF POINTS: noun. A rule used in American marbles tournament play. “Whenever there is a forfeiture of points one marble per point must be returned to the ring.  Whenever marbles are returned to the ring it is placed in the center spot of the ring.  If this spot already has a marble in it then the referee must place the marble as close to the center as possible.  If there is a forfeiture of points and the offending player does not have any points scored then that player must forfeit his or her next turn.”

 

FOR FUN: noun. As used in the play of marble games, it is the same as playing For Fair.

 

FOR GOOD: noun. As used in the play of marble games, the same as playing in Earnest or For Keeps

 

FOR KEEPS: noun. As used in the play of marble games, states that every marble shot out of the ring, becomes the personal possession of the shooter. It is this rule that caused the games of marbles to become so popular with youngsters in the United States. Playing For Keeps, was deemed by some adults to be a form of gambling and in some cases the games of marbles were outlawed at some schoolhouses and by some parents with self-proclaimed high moral standards fearing their students or children would be draw into disrepute. The term is also commonly used in American English speech where “playing for keeps” means one is serious.

 

FORK OVER: verb. A players’ term; when playing a game For Keeps, as described in the game of Fat; if a player hits an opponents shooter, or snapper, that boy who’s shooter was hit must give “all the marbles he may have won in that game to the player hitting him,” in other sections [localities] it was the custom to return these marbles to the ring.” (Steele.)

 

FORTIFICATIONS: noun. A marbles game; an interesting and relatively easy ring game, but with complicated set of directions to follow - see Games, Fortifications (Play Ground 1866)

 

FOUL, FOUL SHOT(S): interjection. A British players’ term noting an infraction of the rules in a game of marbles.

 

FOURBLES: noun. plural. Four marbles; from 1890. (HARDER)

 

FOX AND GEESE: noun. A board game that uses marbles; on the same board used to play solitaire, on the reverse side sometimes is set up for Fox and Geese. The object of this two-man game is to use the center marble to capture 11 of 17 geese (marbles of a different color) by jumping over them into an empty hole; or the geese effectively blocking the fox from taking a move. Also see German Tactics.

 

FRACTURE: noun. A collectors’ term referring to a type of damage seen on a glass marble; a plain or line seen in the interior of a marble showing some fault; possibly a fault in the glass’ linier coefficient; an impact or stress has caused a fracture; can be a minor flaw when judging a marble’s condition, but normally is considered serious damage, dramatically reducing the monetary value to collectors. Some glass marbles, like those called furnace marbles, made by The Champion Agate Company, can be filled with tiny fractures, resulting from a failure of the glass’ linier coefficient; however because these are such extraordinarily beautiful and rare marbles, this manufacturing fault is completely overlooked by collectors; if these furnace marbles were played with they would likely disintegrate upon impact.

 

FRAZEY POTTERY: proper name. A pottery in Zanesville, Ohio that left a record that mentions the sale of marbles in the mid-1800s. It is not clear if these marbles were actually made at the Frazey Pottery or if they were German imports. (Information discovered by historian and author of books on ceramic marbles, Jeff Carsadden)

 

FRIED MARBLES: noun. The name for a glass marble that’s been altered; a process of heating glass marbles in a frying pan on the kitchen stove, then dropping the hot marbles into cold water; produces a crackled effect in the glass. Also see Crackled.

 

FUB: interjection. A players term, called when a marble to slip from the hand while in the act of shooting, a call made to nullify the error. Seen in the historic record but not used today. See Slips. Also variations, fumble and fumbler. Fen Fubs, a call requiring the act to remain as a shot.  Also, to move the hand forward unfairly, but not used today - See Hunching.

 

FUDGE (Fudging): verb. A player’s term for un-fair play or cheating, variation of forms fulch, fulck, fulk, fulsh, vulch, fullock, fullek, fullick; can relate to any infraction of the rules, but most commonly called out to identify a player who’s hunching.

 

FUDGER: noun. One who fudges and also a general term for an undesirable. (ZUGER.)

 

FUDGING: verb. A despicable act in which one fudges over the line of the ring because of lack of knuckle. (ZUGER.)

 

FUDGINGS: interjection. A call to get one's opponent's permission, in standing-up marble games, to get down on one's knees and use a thumb shot. A term used in Louisiana. (CASSIDY)

 

FUNNY: noun. A marble game; term probably originates from the game of cricket. (HARDER.) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

FUNS, FUNNIES: noun. A player’s term, same as Fair or playing For Fair, a marble game where at the end of the game all the marbles are returned to their original owners; opposite of For Keeps.

 

FURNACE: noun. An important piece of equipment for glassworkers; a glass furnace can be so small only an item the size of a postage stamp would fit inside, or as large as the largest trucks’ trailer (sometimes called a gob-feeder.) A glass furnace needs to maintain a temperature of 2000 degrees for 24 hours in order to melt sand and all the other ingredients of a glass formula into glass. A typical glass furnace in a studio glass shop holds one crucible. (See photo)

 

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GAME: noun. A term used at marble tournaments to describe one in a series of multiple games to make a match.

 

GAME BALL / GAME MARBLE: noun. An opaque glass marble of any single solid color, sometimes called puries , used in board games like Chinese Checkers. Some children also use them for playing the games of marbles. These marbles, in size 5/8,” are used as official tournament marbles in the USA.

 

GATHER: noun. A glassworkers’ term used to describe a small amount of molten glass, also called a Gob, taken from a furnace’s crucible on the end of a Punty, to manufacture a an item, in this case a hand-gathered glass marble(See photo)

 

GATHERING-BOY: noun. A glassworkers’ term for person who’s job it is to gather molten glass with a punty from a furnace. The gather-boy then hands the punty to a glass-master and times his duties so that it’s received in a timely fashion, with the molten glass at it’s peak malleable condition.  

 

GENERAL GRANT BOARD, GENERAL GRANT GAME: noun. A board game using marbles, also known as Solitaire; the name is supposedly based upon a story told of General U.S. Grant, who during the Siege of Vicksburg remained in his tent playing this solitaire game, a game of strategy.

 

GERMAN SWIRL MARBLE(S): noun. A general name given to a large number of hand-made marbles from Canes; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between 1860 and 1936. These marbles are subdivided by the type of core inside the marble, i.e.; latticino, solid, divided, naked core, coreless, etc.; also subdivisions banded transparents, banded opaque, Indians; also Joseph Coat; also some are classified as onyx or slags; also micas, or glimmers. (See photo)

 

GERMAN TACTICS: noun. A board game that uses marbles, played on the same board as solitaire. It is essentially a military game where one player uses two marbles representing officers and the other player using 24 marbles of a different color as solders. 

 

GET ONE’S INITIALS ON IT: verb. phase. (probably from the games of cricket and baseball). To strike the target without knocking it out of the boundary line of the ring. (HARDER)  Also, when a player hits the target marble firmly and squarely sending it out of the ring.

 

GET YOUR INITIALS ON IT: verb. phase. Expression used when one nearly gets a marble out; used as a good luck omen and supposed to help the one with his initials on it to secure the marble eventually. (ZUGER.)

 

GIBBS, HENRY & JAMES: proper name. As it relates to the early manufacture of marbles in the USA; “Mr. Henry Gibbs of the Sixth Ward was for a time traveling salesman for him [Jabez Vodery.] In 1850 Mr. James Gibbs father of Henry Gibbs manufactured the same kind of marbles [ceramic] at Alton, Ill. Mr. G. with the help of his son carried on the business at Alton for a number of years.” (Akron Daily Beacon, August 3, 1888 - 4:4;) these are hand-made ceramic marbles and were not mass-produced. This family later founded The Gibbs Manufacturing Company of Canton, Ohio; a large and important manufacture of toys; mechanical and of tin.

 

GIVE-AWAY: noun. A marble game played Wisconsin. (CASSIDY) The object, rules and strategies are unknown today.

 

GLANCING SHOT: verb. phrase. A shot not head on, that hits the target tangentially, then bounces off. (FERRETTI)

 

GLASS: noun. A material that is now almost exclusively used to manufacture marbles; see Flint Glass.

 

GLASSIES (Glassey): noun. A common term for a glass marble used in the United States, in the historic record and still used today.

 

GLIMMER(S): noun. A hand-made transparent glass marble made in Lauscha, Germany until 1936; they can be hand-made from cane or ‘hand-gathered. The transparent glass, commonly clear but also found in a variety of colors, holds small flakes of mica inside the marble that sparkle, or glimmer in the light; the more mica in the marble the greater the value to collectors. The term Glimmers was used by the Germans and Americans throughout the historic record. Also the term Snowflake is sometimes seen in American retail magazines from the 1900s to 1920s referring to these same marbles. Collectors invented and use the term Micas to identify these marbles. (See photo)

 

GLORIA MOSAIC: proper name. noun. A game or amusement using brightly painted clay marbles, where the object is to place different colored marbles on a board with holes to make a design or pattern.  Its origins are German but the box in which it comes is printed with English words. Likely a post WWII product.

 

GLOBLLA: noun. A players’ term for a large marble, see Boulder.

 

GO, GOES: noun. A term announcing it is a player’s turn to shoot his marble.

 

GO DOWN MOSES: verb phrase. An African-American players’ term from Hilltop USA (a neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio) having the same meaning as “grabs” in a game of “Keeps.” As related; a player would begin humming a monotone note alerting the other players to the pending action. The same player would then call out the term Go Down Moses, at which point all the players dove into the ring in an attempt to grab as many marbles as possible.

 

GOB: noun. A marble sized portion of molten glass delivered either by the hand-gather process or by an automatic molten glass dispenser, called a “gob feeder” to a marble-forming machine, which makes the glass into a spherical shape. As Described in the US Patent Classification Glass; “A discrete portion of molten glass (a) delivered by a feeder or (b) gathered on a punty or blow pipe. Also called a charge.

 

GOB-FEED MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term used to identify a marble made by a Gob-Feeder; a marble made by a totally automated process; a modern marble.

 

GOB-FEEDER: noun. A glassworkers’ term describing a type of large, glass furnace used in modern marble factories that totally automates the manufacture of glass marbles. The process was developed and patented by The Hartford Empire Company and first put into production in the later part of the 1920s. The Christensen Agate Company, headquartered in Akron, Ohio, was the first marble company to use a gob-feeder. (See photo)

 

 

GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD: proper name. A trophy awarded at the National Marbles Tournament, created by tournament officials in the late 1960s, was usually awarded to the smallest contestant. Previous to this award, all contestants were expected to be well behaved, show good manners and good sportsmanship at all times. The award was created to help re-enforce this principle and as a public relations act to down-play the appearance of boys with tattoos, those who smoked tobacco, cursed openly, etc. while in Wildwood, NJ and away from the influence of their families.

 

GOLDSTONE: noun. A glassworkers term defining a type of glass that sparkles and has the appearance of a gold-like color.

GOLDSTONE MARBLE: noun. A collectors’ term for type of marble. See Lutz

 

GOONGER (guna): noun. An especially big marble; term used in Michigan. Probably echoic. (CASSIDY.)

 

GOOSEBERRY MARBLE: A collectors’ term for a specific type of hand-made glass toy marble made in Germany from a cane, manufactured before 1936, generally amber in color, resembling the Clambroth style with thin white strands, evenly spaced, running pole to pole.

 

GRAB BAITS AND RUN: verb phrase. A contemptible act in which one grabs all the marbles and runs, when the bell ending recess rings. (ZUGER.)

 

GRABS: interjection. A players’ term applied during the game of Keeps; called upon learning the game must end, as when the school bell rings or mother calls her children to dinner, and upon the call players attempt to grab all the marbles left in the ring.

 

GRAY-MARE: interjection. The first player to shout this when the school bell rang could pocket all the marbles he got his hands on, as used in Kentucky. Also -verb. To steal marbles; a term used in Kentucky. (CASSIDY)

 

GREENWARE: noun. A potter’s or ceramicist’s term referring to a molded clay product that is dry, but unfired; a dry but fragile state that ceramic marbles are in when they are placed into a kiln for firing.

 

GREINER, ELIAS: proper name. (1793-1895) First to manufacture glass marbles for commercial purposes. Lived in the village of Lauscha, Germany, with his son Septimius and made his first glass marble in 1853.  (See photo)

 

GREINER, SEPTIMIUS: proper name. (1880-1877) Son of Elias Greiner (also see) in partnership with his father manufactured the first glass marbles. Later took over his father’s marble factory and in turn later passed the factory on to his son. (See photo)

 

GRINDER: interjection. A call made allowing the players grab as many marbles from the ring as possible. Commonly called when the games must end, or by a “tough” with intentions to “swipe the marbles of the more timid lads.” (BEARD)

 

GROPPER ONYX MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A New York City based distributor of glass toy marbles manufactured by The Christensen Agate Company and The Peltier Glass Company; doing business during the 1920s and early 1930s. Boxes of marbles from these companies can be found with this other company’s name printed on the box top.

 

GUESS GAME, GUESSING GAME: noun. A game in which a player guesses how many marbles an opponent is holding; [if the player guesses wrong,] he has to give the opponent the difference between the guess and the number of marbles held [if he guesses correctly he wins all the marbles held in the hand] the game as played in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY)

 

GUINEA: noun. A very decorative, colorful, highly desirable and collectable toy marble manufactured by The Christensen Agate Company in the late 1920s. (See photo)

 

GRUNCHING: interjection. A regional term used in Reading, PA to describe the infraction of the rules caused by moving one’s hand forward while shooting. See Hunching.

 

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HALF: noun. One half of a marble, kept usually for sentimental reasons, or for boot in trading. (HARDER)

 

HALF-BOULDER: noun A marble a little larger than ordinary, but not so large as a boulder. (SACKETT.) See Shooter Marble

 

HALF MOON: noun. A player’s term describing a crest shape injury on a natural agate marble causes by its impact with another marble. 

 

HAMBONE: noun. The distance from elbow to fingertip; a term used in Kentucky. Also - interjection. A call which permitted a player to advance his shooter this distance; a term used in Kentucky. (CASSIDY)

 

HAND-GATHERED (Hand-Gathered Marble): adjective. A glassmakers’ term referring to an object made of glass, such as a marble, to describe a method of obtaining molten glass; the marble as being hand-made or machine-made. In this process a gather-boy places the end of a punty into a furnace crucible and extracts an amount of molten glass on the end of the punty. That gather is then molded into shape, either directly on the end of the punty in the hand-made method, or a gob is cut off the gather into the forming-wheels of a marble machine. Also spelled as handgathered in a collectors’ identification and price guide. (See

 

HAND-GATHERED, MACHINE-MADE MARBLE(S): noun. adjective.The first machine-made glass marbles were turned out by Martin F. Christensen in 1902, immediately prior to his application for a US Patent on the first glass marble-machine. All the marbles manufactured by The M.F. Christensen & Son Company (1905 to 1917) are in this class. The Christensen Agate Company used this process to manufacture toy marbles from 1925 to 1928, at which time they began using automatic gob feeders. Also, all the marbles manufactured at The Akro Agate Company and The Peltier Glass Company before the introduction of automatic glass feeding component to their manufacturing process around 1930. Diagnostic traits of these marbles, usually in the onyx style are, colored design features which resemble number ‘nines, ‘sixes,’ tails which wrap around the marble in various directions, commas, ‘S’s’ and occasionally shear-marks. You can tell a hand-gathered machine-made marble from hand-gathered hand-made marble, because the design features will twist about the marble in random patterns, i.e. on a constantly changing axis. A hand-made, hand-gathered marble will show design features that turn around the marble on a single axis. The majority of hand-gathered machine-made marbles were manufactured for industrial purposes.

HAND-MADE (Hand-made Glass Marble): noun. adjective. In the field of marbles this term usually refers to a ‘hand-made’ glass marble; the diagnostic marks and feature to look for, if from cane, two cut-off marks, one at each pole; uf hand-gathered, a pontil at one pole. Also see Contemporary Art Glass Marbles.

HAND-MADE & HAND-GATHERED (Hand-made & Hand-Gathered Glass Marble): noun. adjective. The first glass marbles manufactured for the world toy market are in this category. In 1850, Elias Greiner of Lauscha, German received permission from the Emperor’s ministers to manufacture this new class of glass goods. Herr Greiner made these marbles with ‘marbelshears,’ a tool previously invented by his Step-brother to make artificial animal eyes and glass buttons. The typical diagnostic feature being marbles of the onyx style, referred to as “artificial agates and precious balls,” colored “marbled, agate, amber, lapis lazuli, topaz, etc.,” and having a regular ground or finely facetted pontil. Other diagnostic design features resemble number ‘nines, ‘sixes,’ tails which wrap around the marble as if turned on a single axis. (Seen spelled as handgathered in a collectors’ identification and price guide.)

 

The first glass marbles manufactured in the United States for the toy market are in this category as well. In 1890, James Harvey Leighton manufactured glass marbles at The S. C. Dyke & Company, receiving a US patent for the hand-tool and process in 1891. Leighton’s process turned out glass marbles at a rate three times faster than the German “marbelshears” and where manufactured in the United States until 1908. Leighton’s marbles, also in the onyx style, referred to as “immies” or “imitation agates” in the historic record. These marbles are similar in design to those mentioned above as made by Elias Greiner of Lauscha, German; having a diagnostic pontil referred to by collectors as melted or pin-point pontils.

This class of toy marbles also includes ‘End of Day,’ ‘Clouds’ and Sulphides that were manufactured in Germany until the around WWII, and some contemporary art spheres created today could also fall into this classification.

HAND-MADE MARBLES FROM CANES: noun. adjective. These marbles are easily identified by two cut-off marks, one at each pole.

The first record of toy marbles manufactured from canes comes from an application submitted by Elias Greiner of Lauscha Germany to the Emperor’s ministers in 1855, seeking permission for their manufacture. These marbles are known to collectors as German Swirls, Joseph Swirls, Onionskins, Lutz, and others, were believed manufactured until the 1930’s.

Also falling into this class are those marbles collectors call Indians, Banded Transparents, Banded Opaques and the likes. These were first manufactured in the United States at The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1892 and continued for a about a year. American retail catalogs show these same marbles as “imported” also, and archeological evidence from Lauscha, Germany shows these were indeed manufactured there too. It is not entirely clear who was copying who in this case. Maybe better trade catalogs will come to light that better show exactly what styles were made when and by who they were made.

This class also includes a majority of the contemporary art spheres created today from prefabricated glass canes.

There is a second method of making cane marbles that employs a bench mounted press that looks like a big pair of pliers. This method is also treated under hand gathered pressed glass marbles because the marbles are formed by squeezing or pressing. There are only a few toy marbles made with this technique and they look nothing like regular cane marbles that collectors are familiar with. Some examples of these are the odd marbles identified as Czechoslovakian by collectors. The majority of the type made by this process are made of transparent monochromatic glass and are utilized as bottle stoppers in "Codd" bottles. It is known that Germany produced many of the bottle stopper marbles made by this method.

 

HANDERS: noun. A marble game, also called Handlers, Tipshares. (See Games, Tipshears or Handers) (Play Ground, 1866)

 

HAND’S LENGTH (finger's length, two finger's length, etc.): interjection. A call that allows the shooter to move his marble or taw away from the defensive marble in order to allow greater freedom of movement. (HARDER)

 

HAND’S LENGTH: interjection. The cry entitles one to move his shooter a hand’s length nearer to the marbles before shooting. (ZUGER.)

 

HAND IN GULLY: noun. phrase. A marble game in which a smaller ring is encompassed by a larger ring. (HARDER) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

HARTFORD EMPIRE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A glass engineering, patent holding and developing company formed to obtain and exploit patents for automatic glass-making machinery. Founded in 1909 by The Corning Glass Works, was originally called The Empire Machine Company; in 1916 merged its intellectual property with that of The Hartford-Fairmont Company and in 1924 made a similar arrangement with The Owens-Illinois Glass Company. In 1925 Karl E. Peiler assigned his break-through patent, the first practical gob-feeder, to Hartford, which resulted in their obtaining an iron clad trust (or monopoly) over the worldwide glass industry, enabling them to control and regulate the worldwide manufacture of glass goods through license of their automatic glass-making technology. Glass companies had little choice when it came to the agreements and contracts they signed with Hartford; they either took the license and accepted the imposed restrictions on the types and quantities of goods made, as specified in the contract, or attempted to keep their doors open using the old fashion, hand-gather methods and  face the prospects of their competitors using Hartford’s automated technologies. In 1938 a US Congressional Commission called the Temporary National Economic Committee investigated anti-trust allegations concerning Hartford, which lead to one of the largest and longest running anti-trust suits in US history. Known as Hartford Empire Co. v. U.S., this case is often discussed today in light of a similar anti-trust suit brought against the Microsoft Corporation in the 1990s by the US Department of Justice under the Clinton administration.

 

HATPIN(S): noun. A popular item worn by women’s in the 19^th century used to help keep a woman’s hat on her head; consists of a long, five to six inch iron or steel pin, with a decorative figure, or in this case a hand-mad glass marble at the top. Many beautiful marbles manufactured by J.H. Leighton were used in hatpins. A number of these where made at The Navarre Glass Marble & Specialty Company, of Navarre, Ohio.

 

HAVE OTHERS (-clears, -peaks, etc.): verb. phrase. To have permission to extend the rules for certain advantages. See also Overs. (HARDER.)

 

HEATON AGATE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A glass toy marble company manufacturing in Cairo, West Virginia, beginning in the late 1930s and continuing to the early 1970s; made West Virginia swirls, Cats-Eyes, board game marbles and industrial marbles; a predecessor to the Jabo, Inc. of Reno, Ohio. (MARBLE ALAN.)

 

HEATON, WILLIAM: proper name. Founder of The Heaton Agate Company in 1939, located in Cairo, West Virginia; sold the company in 1979 to The C.E. Bogard & Sons Company.

 

HEINZELMAN, HARRY: A marble-worker of note. An employee of J.H. Leighton at his Navarre Glass Marble and Specialty Company until that company’s demise in 1901;.hired in 1903 by M.F. Christensen to work at his Akron, Ohio marbleworks, The M.F. Christensen & Son Company, where he became its glass-master and its highest paid laborer.

 

HEGGIES: noun. A marble sitting near the edge of the ring; an easy shot. Same as Eggies. (FERRETTI) See Snooger

 

HEISTING: verb. As used in the play of marble games, an advanced and skillful method of shooting a marble where a player holds their shooting hand on top of their other hand. This allows the shooter to obtain a height advantage giving them greater accuracy at a distant target. This technique is not allowed in the Game of Ringer and American marbles tournament play where one knuckle of the shooting hand must remain firmly upon the ground at all times while shooting. It is a technique often used in the game of Rolley Hole and by advanced players.

 

HELPING THE PLAYERS: noun. phrase. A rule used in American marbles tournament play. “No player may receive help during the game. Coaches are asked to meet with their players before and/or after each game to offer advice. Coaching a player while a game is in progress is not permitted.  People should remain silent during the game except for words of encouragement. The penalty for breaking this rule is: first offense – warning, second offense - expulsion of the person giving advice from the playing area.”

 

HIGH-DROPPERS: interjection. A call used to claim the advantage of dropping one’s marble on his opponent’s. Sometimes called eye-droppers. (SACKETT)

 

HILL, HORCE C.: An employee at The M.F. Christensen & Son Company; the son of a neighbor and good friend of Mr. M.F. Christensen. Hill was the Company’s bookkeeper from 1908 to 1913, also a stockholder of the corporation from 1910 to 1913. Around 1910 Hill stole drawings for a revolutionary glass marble-forming machine (now called a Marble Auger) which was designed to work with an automatic god-feeder (not yet perfected, but anticipated as being on the near horizon of technology; M.F. Christensen was perfecting this new invention at his marbleworks. Hill applied for a patent on M.F. Christensen’s new machine in 1911, which after being rejected and re-applied for was eventually granted in 1915 USPNo. 1,164,718. Hill also stole a complete list of the company’s customers and suppliers, embezzled a couple of thousand dollars and stole untold thousands of marbles which he used to help start The Akro Agate Company, in 1911 and was one of its principle stock holders. Arrested in 1915, tried, convicted and sentenced to prison; died of Chronic Brights disease in 1916. His fellow employees at The M.F. Christensen & Son Company called him Bucky Binder, after his buckteeth and being a bookkeeper. In 1929, the federal courts voided Hill’s patent and recognized M.F. Christensen as its inventor.

 

HISTING: interjection. As used in the play of marble games to call attention to an infraction of the rules; when a player lifts their knuckle off the ground while shooting; found in the Rules of Ringer where one knuckle of the shooting hand must remain firmly upon the ground at all times while shooting; “histing” carries the penalty of a lost turn. Variations; hists, h'ist, heist, histe, hyst, hyse, hysen, h'ish, heist, heights, heyst, hoist. Before a game starts a player might call out call, “fen hists,” meaning no histing.

 

HIT: verb. A player’s term denoting a shooter marble came in contact with a target marble; can be a light tap called a kiss, or with enough force to knock the marble from a ring.

 

HITS: noun. A marble game in which marbles must be hit out of a ring; a game that’s played in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY) The rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

HOLE: noun. As used in marble games played on a dirt surface. The hole can be a target pot as in the game of Pottsies where each player puts their ante; the hole being dug into the surface of the ring, usually with the heel of one’s shoe. A smaller hole, as used in the game Rolley Hole is made by placing a shooter marble on the surface of the playing field and stomping on it with the heel of one’s boot, so that when the shooter is removed they leave a clean hole the size of the shooter; a very small target. 

 

HOLES: noun. A marble game played in Akron, Ohio; five small, shallow cans (like tuna fish cans) are buried in the dirt up to the edge of the can’s top at four corners describing a square and the fifth can is buried in the center of the square. The object is to shoot a marble into each can in sequence around the square and with the center hole being the finishing point. The first to shoot into the center wins.

 

HOLE IN: verb. phrase. To get [a marble] into a hole; a term used in Massachusetts. (CASSIDY)

 

HOLLY-GOLLY: noun. A marble game played with hickory nuts, not with marbles in Tennessee. A variation of the game’s name is Hul Gul. (HARDER) The object, rules and strategies for this game are unknown.

 

HOLY BANG: noun. A marble game. (HARDER) See Games, Holy Bang

 

HOODLES: noun. The name for an unknown type of marble or marbles, likely a clay marble; name seen in the historic record of the 19^th century.

 

HORSE HAIR OXBLOOD: noun. A collectors’ term describing a long thin line of oxblood glass running through the body of the marble.

 

HUNCHING (Hunch): verb. A term used in the play of marble games, similar to histing when a player lifts their knuckle off the ground while shooting, but in this case the player also moves their hand forward to propel the marble, instead of relying upon the force of their thumb. It’s a common mistake among new players who’ve yet to fully learn the art of holding and shooting a marble. Hunching is an infraction of the rules in most games in the USA, especially noted in the Rules of Ringer carries the penalty of a lost turn and any marbles knocked out by the offending player are returned to the ring center. Also, Playing a ‘hunch,’ the term in modern usage derives from the games of marbles when a player perceives they can obtain some advantage over their opponents by hunching. Unlike its modern usage there playing a hunch has a positive connotation, in a game of marbles playing a hunch is against the rules. Also called Fubbing, Fudging, Grunching, Fudging, Skinch, Smooch, Smooching, Snudge, Snudging, Take Up.

 

HUNDREDS: noun. The name of a marble game, often seen in the historic record, but the object, rules and strategies used are unknown at this time.

 

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IDAR-OBERSTEIN: proper name. A city in Germany where fine stone agates, especially the bulleye agate were mined, milled and turned into toy marbles.

 

IMMIE: noun. An imitation china marble; term used in Arkansas, Illinois and Pennsylvania. (CASSIDY.) Also, a player’s slag for a glass marble made to look like a natural agate marble. The term appears in the historic record as an abbreviation of an imitation agate.

 

IMMIES UP: noun. A marble game. (CASSIDY) The object, rules and strategies used are unknown at this time.

 

IMITATION AGATE MARBLE(S): noun. A widely used term for a marble made of clay, or glass that was attempting to imitate a natural agate marble. Dyke’s American Agate Marbles were glazed stoneware and it’s a stretch of the imagination to believe these might be made of stone. Some glass toy marble did a better job of imitating a natural stone agate, with layers, or bands, of different colors, some have multiple colors. The first glass marbles made by Elias Greiner of Lauscha, Germany in 1851 attempted to mimic natural agates. To a certain degree, almost all glass marbles made in the United States before 1930 attempted to imitate natural agates or gemstones. Also called immes.

 

IMITATION ONYX MARBLE(S): noun. A glass toy marble manufactured to appear as if it were a natural stone agate, a diagnostic feature being a swirling of two different colors, one being white. The onyx was mainstay, or bread-and-butter marble, manufactured by the toy marble companies from the 1850s until the early 1930s. Also called immies.

 

IMPERIAL JADE MARBLE: noun. A beautiful, slightly translucent, light green marble, with a waxy luster finish; on first inspection you’d think the marble was opaque; a Mag-light shined into the marble will show a golden sparkle in the cloudy interior; manufactured by The M. F. Christensen & Son Company from 1905 to 1917; although of a single and uniform color, upon close inspection one can see the slight impression of the hand-gathered process; an extremely rare and highly desired marble by collectors. The Oriental Jade marble, while similar, is often purported to be this far more beautiful marble.

 

INCHINGS: noun. 1. Fudging  [hunching] 2. The act of rolling the offensive marble or taw up close to a defensive marble [laying-in or sneaking]. 3. Call to allow the shooter to move his marble back so that he can maneuver. Counter call, fen inchings, vence ye inchin's, no inchin. (HARDER)

 

INCREASE POUND: noun. A marble game. See Games, Increase Pound (Play Ground, 1866)

 

INDIA: noun. A marble of clear glass with an object in the center, usually a figure of an elephant, sometimes a Victorian lady, a turbaned Indian, etc.; term used in Michogan. (CASSIDY.) See Figure Marbles.

 

INDIAN(S): noun. A collectors’ term, the name given to a specific type of hand-made, glass marbles made from canes; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between the late 1890s and 1936. These types were also made in Akron, Oho at The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company in 1892 and 1893 by the Creighton Bros.  These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a glass cane. Normally these are considered a sub-class of Banded Opaque Marbles; have an opaque base, usually black in color, but sometimes the glass is a very drank transparent blue that it appears to be an opaque black. They have thin stripes of colored glass upon their surface, running from pole to pole and the stripes are irregularly spaced and appear as if brush on the marble’s surface. Some of these marbles are out-of-round. (See photo)

 

INDUSTRIAL MARBLES: noun. Any inexpensive ceramic or glass marble, lacking any consideration for its appearance; when glass, usually clear; when ceramic they can be of almost any material; common clay, stoneware, porcelain, etc.; never glazed, painted or decorated in any way. The vast majority of marbles made since the beginning of the 20^th century are for industrial purposes. The first industrial ceramic marbles were made by The Standard Toy Marble Company of Akron, Ohio (1893-10922) and used as filtration marbles in water purification plants. The first American industrial glass marbles were used as furniture casters beginning in the 1890’s, these were large Bullet Mold, glass marbles made by J.H. Leighton at one of his eight glass marble factories in the Akron area. The M.F. Christensen & Son Company, of Akron, Ohio (1903-1917,) made most of its glass marbles for industrial purposes; lithography grinding balls, pump value balls, etc. opening up a whole new market for glass marbles. Once used on road-side reflectors and in signs to make them more visible at night. At present glass marbles are used in huge numbers as inert bodies for chemical vats in the petro-chemical industries, where their inert character and ability to make sterilize are highly prized; also in making fiberglass; also found inside some spray paint cans; also made in huger numbers of the floral industry, etc. Without the demand for industrial marbles the manufacture of toy marbles in the United States as a sideline would have ceased at the beginning of WWII.

 

IN EARNEST: phrase. Same as For Keeps

 

INNING: noun. A players’ term; one inning represents one turn by two or more players in a game.

 

INNINGS RULE: noun. A rule used in American marbles tournament play. In preliminary play, the referee can limit a game to seven innings. At the end of seven innings, if neither player has knocked out seven marbles, the game is called to an end and the player with the most points, marbles knocked out, wins. If, at the end of seven innings the score is tied, the game will continue until one player knocks another marble from the ring. At the National Marbles Tournament, their rules call for the players to lag if they are tied after seven innings and the winner of the lag determines the winner of the game. Also see Speed-Up Rules.

 

IN THE CIRCLE: noun. A marble game in which marbles are placed inside a circle and have to be knocked out of it; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

IOWA FLINT GLASS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, THE: proper name. A very early glass factory west of the Mississippi River; founded in 1880 by J.H. Leighton; collectors claim this company manufactured hand-made marbles and claim to have found marbles that appear identical to German swirl marbles. In 1882, Leighton closed the factory, left Iowa with this future wife Alda and eventually settled in Akron, Ohio where he founded numerous glass marble factories.

 

IRONIES: noun. A marble made of metal; usually a ball bearing, but can be made of any metal material. Most often used as a shooter marble. These marbles are prohibited in American marble tournaments. Also, called Steelies,

 

ISRAEL, CLINTON F.: proper name. A marble-worker of note; employed by The Akro Agate Company until 1932 when fired and hired by The Master Marble Company; later formed The Master Glass Company (1942-1973,) upon the closing of the former, purchasing the equipment and moved the marbleworks to Bridgeport, WV. Israel was interviewed in the 1960s by the famous mibologist, M.G. Wright, who found him to be an unreliable source of information on the history of the American marble industry due to his numerous claims for deeds performed by others.

 

 

IVORY: noun. A marble. (HARDER.) The name of a white, opaque marble. (See photo)

 

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JABO-VITRO COMPANY, THE (Jabo, Inc.): proper name. Founded in 1987 upon mergers in the industry and opened a new marbleworks in Reno, Ohio. Dave McCullough is the Superintendent; the only person still manufacturing traditional American glass marbles, where, “like snowflakes, no two marbles are alike.” http://www.jabovitro.com/jabovitro/index.htm

 

JACK(S): proper name. A term used by players of the game of Bowls, also called Carpet Bowls, referring to the single, smaller, 2 1/16” target bowl used in the game as the object or target.

 

JACKSON MARBLE COMPANY, THE: proper name. A small glass marble company founded by Carol Jackson in Pennsboro, West Virginia; the company operated for a short while after WWII. Their marbles are commonly called West Virginia Swirls. (Marble Alan)

 

JASPER: noun. A type of stone, sometimes used to make toy marbles, the material is bit softer for shooting than some other stone marbles; come in a wide variety of colors and natural occurring designs. Also, a type of stoneware marble with blue or green colored lines running through the body of a white marble; were imported to the United States from Germany. Also, the name of a porcelain marble having different colors swirling though the body of the marble, sometimes called lined crockery. (See photo)

 

JASPER: noun. A ceramic marble; stoneware, called Lined Crockery by collectors; a variegated white-bodied stoneware with lines of blue and green, rarely pink, running through the body of the marble; can be glazed or unglazed; mainly manufactured in Germany from the mid-1850s to the 1930s; however, examples were discovered during an archeological excavation at site of The Standard Toy Marble Company, in Akron, Ohio. 

 

JASPIES: noun. A ceramic marble; same as Jasper; term used in the historic record, found in sales catalogs before 1910, (Carskadden 2.)

 

JENKINS, HOWARD M.: proper name. A glass engineer, turned marble-marker and Superintendent for The Christensen Agate Company; made extensive efforts to invent the machinery to automate the production of glass marbles; USPNos. 1,488,817, 1,596,879, Re.No. 16,007, all titled, “Machine for Forming Spherical Bodies.”

 

JINX: interjection. A heckling call intended to distract another player from their concentration in hopes they will miss their target. 

 

JOHNSON & SHARP MANUFACTURING COMPANY, THE: proper name. A manufacturer of window frames in Ottumwa, Iowa; held numerous patents on machines to made hollow steel balls used to make windows slide with ease; also marketed these hollow steel balls to the toy industry as marbles.

 

JONES, W.F.: proper name. President and majority stockholder in The Christensen Agate Company, a resident of Akron, Ohio; also owned an automobile dealership, a radio station, an amusement park, a bowling alley and was involved in the dog racing rackets during the 1920s in Akron, Ohio.

 

JOSEPH COAT MARBLE(S): noun. A collectors’ term, the name given to a specific type of hand-made, glass marbles made from canes; also called swirls; manufactured in Lauscha, Germany between the late 1890s and 1936. These marbles have two cut-off marks, one at each pole, easily identifying that it was made from a glass cane; its base glass is transparent, has thin stripes of glass in a wide variety of colors that completely surrounds the marble 360 degrees and has  clear glass upon its surface. (See photo)

 

JUG: noun. An agate marble; term used in Kentucky. (HARDER.)

 

 

JUMBO: noun. A players’ term for a large marble, see Boulder.

 

 

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KAOLIN: noun. A ceramic material used to manufacture marbles, similar to porcelain, but fired at a lower temperature; sometimes called chinas, or unglazed chinas, but are not true chinas; also called chalkies, plasters, white alleys.

 

KEEPS, KEEPINGS, KEEPSIES, KEEPIES: noun. A just about any marble game can be played for keeps, meaning the marbles won during the game become the personal property of the player who knocks them out of a ring, or hits them in a game of Chase-Ups, etc. See For Keeps.

 

KEESLE: noun. A taw [a shooter marble] from a schistus stone; a British term used in1830. (HARDER.)

 

KEESTER: noun. A common clay marble with colored rings around it; term used in Indiana and Ohio. (HARDER.) (See photo)

 

KELLY POOL: noun. A marble game using numbered ceramic marbles. These marbles were manufactured by The American Marble & Toy Manufacturing Company, of Akron, Ohio. (See photo)

 

KENT GLASS NOVELTY COMPANY, THE: proper name. One of J. H. Leighton’s many ventures to manufacture glass marbles in the city of Kent, Ohio, nearby Akron. 

 

KEOTA GLASSWORKS, THE: proper name. (1879-1880) One of the earliest attempts to manufacture glass west of the Mississippi River, this glassworks was located in Keota, Iowa; J. H. Leighton was the Superintendent.

 

KICKS: noun. The situation occurring when a taw or shooter strikes some person or animal. --interjection. Call made to nullify the shot or to allow the shot to roll where it will after striking the person or animal. Counter call, vence ye kicks, or no kicks. (HARDER)  Also, A call used to claim the following advantage: when one’s marble hits an object, one may put the outside of his foot against the marble and bring the other foot up sharply against the first so as to make the marble roll. (SACKETT). Also - interjection. 2. In the game of chase, a call permitting the player who makes it to drive away his opponent's shooter which he has hit: he places one foot next to the shooter and touching it, then swings the other foot sidewise against his first foot, imparting through it a kick (whence the name) which drives the shooter away (very much as in croquet) (CASSIDY)

 

KILL, KILLING, KILLED: A player’s term describing the consequences, in certain games, for a poison shooter being knocked from the ring. The object in a game that includes the poison shooter rules varies from simply awarding a point to the player knocking out a poison shooter, to the owner of the poison shooter being forced to turn over all the marbles they’d won so far in that game; to the owner being eliminated from the game. The purpose of increasing harsh penalties is to repress a player’s want to lay-in thereby gaining an advantage.

 

KIMMIE: noun. A players’ term for a common clay marble, usually made of earthenware.

 

KINEELIA: noun. "A large shooter (20¢) of polished and machined stone"; term used in Indiana. (CASSIDY.) See cornelia, cornelian.

 

KING: noun. A shooter marble; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

KING DUCK: noun. A player’s term used in the game of Ducks in a Hole; the first player to successfully traverse the three holes becomes King Duck and can target the other players’ taws. (BEARD)

 

KINGS: interjection. Abbreviation of king's excuse ; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.)

 

KING’S EXCUSE (king's ex, king's souse, king's cruise, king's crew): interjection. (orig. unknown). The words uttered if an accident happens, such as dropping the marble before shot position is taken, in order to check the opponent's play. (HARDER.)

 

KINICK: noun. "A five-cent shooter marble" as used in Indiana. Like canick, this is a variant of knick with epenthetic vowel intruding. The initial k was probably reintroduced by speakers of Dutch or German background, by one of whom this was reported. (CASSIDY.)

 

KINICK AND KINEELIA: noun. A marble game in which the two marbles named were used’ term used in Indiana CASSIDY)

 

KISS, KISSIE, KISSES: verb. A players’ term describing the following actions: 1. When two marbles touch. 2. When a shooter marble lightly hits a target marble, as in Riding a Snooger. 3. To determine who shoots first, the player who kisses a target marble placed in the ring center goes first, second closest goes second, etc.

 

KNEE-DROPS: interjection. A call claiming the right to drop one's marble from one's knee, in the game of chase; term used in Wisconsin. (CASSIDY.) See Eye-Drops.

 

KNEE PADS: noun. An often-used piece of equipment at The National Marbles Tournament to soften the effects of kneeling on a ring made of hard concrete.

 

KNOCK A MAN OUT: verb. phrase. (probably from boxing). To strike the marble so that it rolls beyond the boundary of the ring. (HARDER)

 

KNOCK OUT: noun. A marble game. See Games. (Play Ground 1866)

 

KNOCKER: noun. A common players’ term, usually describes a large marble, see Boulder.

 

KNOCKOUT: noun. A marble game in which marbles are thrown against a wall to bounce back and hit others placed on the ground. (CASSIDY)

 

KNUCK: verb. (from knuckle, English dialog 1840.) To roll or shoot a marble in a specific manner. (1829). Also - noun. 1. A marble used as shooter or taw.  2. A marble that is used in a game of knuckling, or in knuckling down.  3. A game of marbles. Also -noun. plural. knucks. A game in which the winner is given the privilege of shooting at his opponent's knuckles. (HARDER) See bird eggs.

 

KNUCKS: noun. plural. A game in which the players try to shoot their marbles into four small holes in the ground, always shooting with their knuckles on the ground. The winning player is allowed the privilege of shooting at the loser's knuckles held on the ground. (COMBS.) See bird eggs.

 

KNUCKLE: verb. To place the knuckles on the ground in the act of shooting a marble or taw. (HARDER)

 

KNUCKLE: verb. The power to shoot a marble. (ZUGER.)

 

KNUCKLE: noun. The name of a marble game; likely a generic term used to describe just about any game where the players shoot with their Knuckles Down.

 

KNUCKLE DABSTER: noun. A piece of equipment for playing marble games, a soft piece of material or animal skin placed on the cold, rough ground to cushion a player’s knuckles. From (Beard, The Outdoor Handy Book.) “Every boy who plays marbles should posses a knuckle dabster; these can be made from bits of soft woolen cloth, felt, or the skin of small animals. Mole skin makes the softest and prettiest of knuckle dabsters, but any piece of fur will answer. Some boys wear them fastened to their hand, but the most expert players seem to prefer to throw them down at the spot from which they are about to shoot and then knuckle down on the soft fur or woolen cloth. A knuckle dabster prevents one’s knuckles from becoming sore and raw, and adds greatly to the comfort of the player.” As the marbles playing season stretches from February to May, children played as soon as the snow melted. The sight of children playing marbles on a warm winter day was often sighted as a sign that spring was just around the corner. At this time of year the ground was often frozen, or cold and damp, so a knuckle dabster came in handy. Old-timers suggested this kept their hands from getting champed. This is primarily a late 19^th century term. It seems to disappear from the historic record in the mid-1920s around the start of the National Marbles Championship.

 

KNUCKLE DOWN: verb. A penalty when one’s shooter is stuck within the ring, which forces the player to twist and shoot somewhat downwards, thus making a good shot nearly impossible. (ZUGER.) If a player’s shooter comes to rest in the ring, close to and surrounded by a group of target marbles, which the player may not touch or move at all, in order to get off a shot the player is forced to contort their hand to fit between the marbles so their knuckle touches only the ground, “thus making a good shot nearly impossible.” 

 

KNUCKLE DOWN, KNUCKS, KNUCKS DOWN, KNUCKS DOWN TIGHT: verb. A rule used in most traditional American marble games; knuckle down is the basic position for a player’s hand when shooting a marble. In the Rules of Ringer “one knuckle of the shooting hand must remain firmly upon the ground at all times while shooting.” It is an infraction of the rules to lift your knuckle off the ground (called histing,)or to move your hand forward (called hunching,) which carry the penalty of a losing your turn, the return to the ring of any marbles shot out and the shot not being counted. 2. A call to begin play. 3. A marbles game played in a ring. 4. A commonly used term in the vernacular of American English speech today, meaning get to work.

 

KNUCKLE DOWN AND BIRD EGGS: interjection. A call made when the last hole is made, or when the player comes in last, in a game of bungums. Apparently the phrase means the player is supposed to place his knuckles on the ground and probably close his eyes while the other players shoot at the unprotected knuckles or "bird eggs." See lights up and no bird eggs. (HARDER.) This was a particularly aggressive act of undesirable behavior performed by adolescents and young teenage boys, as it was often the penalty for losing. At times a larger, stronger boy held the loser’s wrist to the ground while the winner took shots at the losing boy’s knuckles – intending to crack his bird eggs. (Playground 1866) Also see knucks. See Games, The Pot Game

 

KNUCKLE DOWN, BONY TIGHT: interjection. A  beginnings of a rhyming chant intending to warn a player to keep the knuckle of his shooting hand on the ground.

 

KNUCKLE IN: verb. To hold the knuckles against an obstruction instead of moving out in order to obtain a more favorable position. (HARDER)

 

KNUCKLER: noun. A player’s favored shooter marble, or taw, used in more serious an important marble games.

 

KNUCKLE UP: noun. A player’s term for a shooting style, the opposite of ‘knuckle down’ where a player’s knuckle must be in contact with the ground at all times while shooting. To call, ‘knuckle up’ allowed a player to stand and shoot from the hip – a shooting style more common to those games played in a large ring, i.e.; fat which uses a 15 foot ring and Rolley Hole. Also, a call made allowing a player to lift his shooting hand off the ground and place it upon the back of their other hand which is in contact with the ground (from Hilltop USA, Columbus, Ohio.)

 

KNUCKLES: noun. A marble game in which all shots must be made with knuckles down; from California. (CASSIDY) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

KNUCKLEY: noun. A marble game played with an eight inch ring: players "place the `dib' on the second joint of the forefinger; pressing the in-bent thumb forces the `dib' out at the required speed to rest in the ring or force the opponent out" (CASSIDY) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.

 

KONNOGS: noun. “is the penalty which the vanquished have to suffer, and consists in the victors shooting at his closed knuckles with his taw. The name is supposed to be derived from the sound produced by striking the marble against the closed hand, and caused by the hollow in the palm of the hand while it is in that position.”  (PATTEN) See Knuckle Down and Bird Eggs.

 

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LAG: verb. Rolling a marble as near as possible to those in a pixie; used to determine the order of play, the closest being first, etc. (ZUGER.)

 

LAG: noun. A marble game that’s played in the same manner as Lag is used to determine the order of play for a game, but in this game the only object is to be closest to the line; a good game for younger children who do not yet have the manual dexterity to Knuckle Down and play more advanced games.

 

LAG: noun. A player’s term describing a how to decide the order of play, or who goes first in the Rules of Ringer;

 

Rule II- Plan of Play.

     Section 1. The lag is the first operation in Ringer. To lag, the players stand toeing the pitch line, or knuckling down upon it, and toss or shoot their shooters to the lag line across the ring. The player whose shooter comes nearest the lag line, on either side, wins the lag.

     Section 2. Players must lag before each game. The player who wins the lag shoots first, and the others follow in order as their shooters were next nearest the lag line. The same shooter that is used in the lag must be used fit the game following the lag.

      Section 3 On all shots, except the lag, a player shall knuckle down so that at least one knuckle is in contact with the ground, and he shall maintain this position until the shooter has left his hand. Knuckling down is permitted, but not required in lagging.

 

LAGGING: verb. As used in the play of marble games, the act of choosing turns, deciding which player goes first. In the layout of the marbles ring in the Rules of Ringer there exists a ten-foot diameter ring and two, ten-foot, strait, parallel lines each intersecting the ring line at one point, the lines being ten-feet apart. The players step up to the pitch-line and in any fashion shoot, roll, bowl, or toss their marble towards the lag-line. The player whose marble comes to rest the closest to the lag-line goes first, the second closest goes second, etc.

 

LAGGER: noun. A type of marble used in the game of Lag. In tournament play a player cannot change or switch shooters after lagging. Also, one who excels at lagging is said to be a good lagger.

 

LAGGY: interjection. A teasing and derogatory name used to describe a player who comes in last in the game of Lag. (HARDER)

 

LAGGY-BAG: noun. A marble game (HARDER) The object, rules and strategies of this game are unknown.