The marbles I have encountered (yes, and tiddly winks as well) have usually been in areas that suggest they have been lost, though sometimes they turn up in trash. Perhaps adults disposing of toys no longer needed. One interesting grouping I saw was in the floor of one of the worker's tenements at the West Point foundry, where they appeared to have fallen through the gaps in a badly maintained floor. The shooter was there, too- a piece of grape shot from the foundry.

Marty Pickands
New York State Museum 

>>> [log in to unmask] 10/31/05 11:27 PM >>>
Oh know, you don't know where your copy is?  Cant remember where I saw
it...if it's the same one.  I may be thinking of one you did for Old
Town...or some place. ?

What I don't grasp...is how do perfectly Good marbles end up in the
trash (we dig up)?  Did parents throw them out so kids wouldn't play
(gamble) with them?  I know...usually we only find a few, not a whole
bag full, but still...I don't throw out anything that still has a use.
But um, I know I'm an exception...

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Ron May [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
>Sent: Monday, October 31, 2005 8:21 PM
>To: [log in to unmask] 
>Subject: Re: marbles and jacks
>
>
>As Carol Serr noted, I authored a manuscript titled "Marbles for the  
>Archaeologist" in 1979 and had every intention of publishing 
>the results. I made  up 
>questionnaires and went around to bars and honky tonks asking 
>people to help  
>me by answering the questions. All the old barflies got tears 
>in their eyes  
>telling their tales of marble shooting, some as early as 
>before World War I.  
>Some of those folks got really defensive and I soon learned 
>that the same 
>pieces  of glass, clay, and stone were assigned different 
>names in various 
>locations  across America. More importantly, marble types 
>passed out of favor among  
>children groups, which means that archaeologists cannot assume 
>all marbles had  
>the same value in all time periods. As glass marble machines 
>pumped out  
>mass-produced marbles, kids continued the practice of naming 
>the new glass  colors 
>and applying values. Early ones that looked like aggies 
>(agate) were  called 
>immies (imitation) and were highly valued in the 1920s, but 
>had lower  value 
>when colored immies came into being in the mid 1930s. Clay 
>marbles were  
>relegated to the bottom of the value system by the 1940s. 
>Marble makers came and  
>went, as did the mix of colors. Foreign marbles are another 
>part of the mix.  
>Kids really do not care where the marbles are made and have 
>zero loyalty for  
>American companies. Cheap scrap glass marbles from Japan, 
>Taiwan, Indonesia, and 
> Mexico changed the composition of marbles by the 1960s and later. The 
>important  thing to know is that marble values changed over 
>time. And, there is a 
>social  history of marble players that is slightly different 
>from one region to 
>another.  In spite of attempts by fascist school regimes and 
>strict parents, 
>kids are  still playing marbles in secret sand lots.
> 
>Ron May
>Legacy 106, Inc.
>"Now, if I can just find that dang paper Carol Serr  mentioned."
>