'He's Lost His Marbles!'

is a phrase I do not hear very often,

but apart from Marbles what does it mean? well to 'lose one's marbles' is to lose one's mind, is one explanation, an early citation of this figurative usage is found in an August 1886 copy of the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 'He has roamed the block all morning like a boy who had lost his marbles,' during the late 19th century, 'losing one's marbles' began to be used to mean 'getting frustrated or angry', this reference from New Zealand was printed in The Tuapeka Times, in August 1889, 'for I tell you that no boy ever lost his marbles more irrevocably than you and I will lose our self-respect if we remain to take part in a wordy discussion that ends in a broil', (a quarrel),


but back to marbles, in my youth Dad would buy a bag of marbles like the ones above, at certain times of the year all the kids would take them to school to play marbles, typically a large marble or Jack would be the marble to hit, the first to hit it won all of the marbles that were on the play area that had missed, of course today if a parent bought their kids a pack of marbles they (the parents) would be hunted down like a rabid animal by the Health & Safety brigade in case one of the kids choked on one! but one thing has happened to marbles since my school days, they have started to become works of art in their own right,

take this one from Lundberg Studios, called Starry Night, as the description says, 'the marble appears opaque, but holding it to a strong light reveals it is actually transparent midnight blue, a striking yellow crescent moon shares the sky with dozens of five pointed stars', large 3 1/4" (85mm), being hand made each one will be slightly different, yours for £199.99,

or if you are a little more adventurous in your collecting how about this one? Barrier Reef Petite Sphere, is from the same studio, their special technique called " California Style Crystal Encasement" it is a process of creating special canes to make the fish and fauna in this 65mm (2 1/2") marble, the art of making marbles has come a long way since as a kid we would throw them across a concrete playground to win a few ones at break times, I mean this one is £800.00! but if you are interested in collecting rather than losing your marbles have a look here at the House of Marbles, they sell from many different studios and artist, now what was I looking for before I lost my marbles?