Well.....it's been a long time since I lost all my marbles. But when I did loose them it seemed like I always lost them to this neighborhood bully named Jimmmy. Now I was a fairly good marble shooter but Jimmy was the best. He would clean me and my friends out on any given Saturday morning just down the road next to French Creek.
Now one must understand....this may not seem like any big deal today, but back in those days when you saved up to go to the Five and Dime to buy their best "shooters" in was a monumental event. It was even more monumental when you lost them "playing for keeps" to a guy that would walk away laughing as his pants pockets bulged with my favorite aggies.
I never forgot those memorable days and as years "passed" I would go to antique shows and look for marbles. Never did play with them any more, mind you, but I bought them just so that I could have them and with Jimmy long gone know he couldn't get them. Plus that, I started to truly appreciate marbles, especially their amazing colors and designs. Inexpensive cats eyes were prevalent as well as marbles called toothpaste, streaks of white red and blue, and believe it or not marbles called Viagra, blue with strains of liquid. But what really got my attention when I once ran into a marble I had never before seen. It was called an Oxblood and the price tag on this CIRCA 1880-1910 beauty was eighteen hundred (1800) dollars.
Now this gets me to the point where I lost my marbles. For some unknown reason I got this strange feeling I wanted to play marbles. The sandy soil on Daufuskie Island, Hilton Head and the LowCountry is a great place to make a circle, throw a bunch of marbles in the center, and with knuckles bent and aimed try to hit them out. We used to call it ringer. Sounds like a lot of fun. So, I did what most husbands would do when they are looking for something and can't find it, I asked my Wife...."Honey have you seen my marbles"? Geeze Louise...is the only acceptable description of what came next...but it had something to do with how the dickens would she know where my marbles are but they probably are stuck away someone where in an attic box next to the brass candlesticks my Aunt Nellie bought us for our wedding thirty six (36) years ago last month..........
That being said I was bound and determined to play marbles. E-Bay came to rescue and like magic I once again I felt like a child at play. Now I haven't found anyone to play with yet but I'm looking for a game. And if you are as good as Jimmy was, thats OK, because as evidenced by the included pic on my blog, I personally have wire wrapped one as part of my Low Country Joe Jewelry Collection, and it hangs around my neck, so you can never have them all. So bring your bag of aggies on, lets find a sandy place under a big old Live Oak Tree and play marbles like a child "once more".
See Ya on the High Tide
LowCountry Joe
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