On this episode Captain Ky the Sea Glass Guy takes you on an underwater hunt at one of the best sea glass hunting locations in the world. Watch until the end to see all of the finds up close!

After speaking with many elderly locals we learned that they used to gamble with marbles on the beach and also that young kids would use slingshots to break bottles and shoot at birds, accounting for thousands of lost marbles.

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Why so many marbles??

To understand how marbles end up on the beach, you have to consider that the use of marbles dates back to 3000 B.C. in Roman, Greek, and Egyptian history. Archaeologists speculate that the small clay balls found in the pyramid tombs of Egyptian kings were produced for marble games.
It is thought that the Aztecs also played a form of marbles. Clay marbles have been found in prehistoric pueblo ruins in the southwestern United States, in the classic period’s Valley of Mexico ruins, and in the northern plains.
The British Museum in London displays marbles of clay, stone and flint that date back to ancient Roman and Egyptian civilizations.

In the United States, by the late 1800s, clay marbles were being produced in the US for both play and industry.
Glass marble manufacturing began in the 1890s in Ohio when M.F. Christensen patented the first marble-making machine.
In the early 1920’s marble tournaments were popularized in Wildwood, New Jersey as playing marbles became a hugely competitive hobby. Marbles were inexpensive, and almost every kid was able to amass a collection of them. The 1930’s were considered the “Golden Age of Marbles”. One US marble manufacturer alone was producing over ONE HUNDRED MILLION MARBLES PER YEAR!!

When the cat’s eye marble was invented in Japan around 1945, most of the three dozen or so marble manufacturers in the US went out of business because kids wanted the new style of marble. Only one American marble company still remains today. Founded by Berry Pink and Sellers Peltier in 1949, Marble King in Paden City, West Virginia still produces one million marbles a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

How Do They Get on the Beach?
It’s been said that marbles used as ship ballast is where all these beach marbles come from, and while there’s no documentary evidence for this, it’s not impossible, but also not probable. If there was a type of marble that would have been used as ballast it would most likely have been an inexpensively made, older and mass-produced marble; most likely made of clay, but there’s no real evidence of that.

Another type of industrial marble found regionally is a “railroad marble.” These marbles are larger than a playing marble, are identified by a rough seam line from where their two halves were crudely placed together in the manufacturing process, and they’re found along creeks, rivers and lakes that are connected in some way to railroad lines in the US. These marbles were used in a process developed in the 1930s to manufacture fiberglass.

Codd bottle marbles (marbles placed in bottles to lock in the carbonation) from the late 1800s to early 1900’s are also found on beaches, more so in Europe than the US though, since that’s where they were manufactured. They’re definitely a less common find than playing marbles.

Children slingshotting marbles to hit targets in the water is one reason they are found on beaches, but the majority of the marbles ended up on beaches via trash dump erosion; trash was often dumped near water sources, and guess what? Just like everything else in our homes, children’s toys, including marbles were discarded on the trash. Since children were playing marbles on sidewalks and streets they were often lost into sewers, which then drained into waterways.

Marbles were also used in reflector lights, household objects like broom handles, furniture feet, ballot boxes, jewelry dish and lamp décor, paint cans, and as eyes for stuffed animals and dolls.

So, as you can see, while finding a marble on the beach seems to be a rare occurrence, there are plenty of them out there just waiting to be discovered.

For sea glass hunters, finding a marble is the ultimate thrill, and speaking from experience, the excitement of discovering a marble on the beach or in the water never ceases, no matter how many marbles you’ve previously found.

Happy Hunting Friends