Marble (toy)
Types of marbles
Types of marbles
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[thumb\|A clay marble, found in a field in the East Midlands](/wiki/File:Clay_marble.png "Clay marble.png")
[thumb\|An orange and white toothpaste marble](/wiki/File:Marble_toy_2009.JPG "Marble toy 2009.JPG")
[thumb\|Glass marbles from Indonesia](/wiki/File:Marbles_from_Indonesia.jpg "Marbles from Indonesia.jpg")
[thumb\|A green glass marble in India](/wiki/File:Marble_%28toy%29.jpg "Marble (toy).jpg")
There are various types of marbles, and names vary from locality to locality.
* Aggie – made of agate (*aggie* is short for *agate*) or glass resembling agate, with various patterns like in the alley
* Alley or real – made of marble or alabaster (*alley* is short for *alabaster*), streaked with wavy or other patterns with exotic names like corkscrew, spiral, snake, ribbon, onyx, swirl, bumblebee, and butterfly
	+ Ade – strands of opaque white and color, making lemon\-ade, lime\-ade, orange\-ade, etc.
	+ Cat's eye or catseye – central eye\-shaped colored inserts or cores (injected inside the marble)
		- Beachball – three colors and six vanes
		- Devil's eye – red with yellow eye
* Red devils – same color scheme as a devil's eye but swirly
	+ Clambroth – equally spaced opaque lines on a milk\-white opaque base. Rare clams can have blue or black base glass. Medium\-high value for antique marbles; rare base color valued much higher.
	+ Lutz – antique, handmade German swirl, containing bands of fine copper flakes that glitter like gold. Erroneously thought to have been invented by noted glassmaker [Nicholas Lutz](/wiki/Nicholas_Lutz "Nicholas Lutz"). Medium\-high value for antique marbles, depending on specific sub\-type of Lutz design.
	+ Oilie or oily – opaque with a rainbow, iridescent finish
	+ Onionskin – antique, handmade German swirl, with many closely packed surface streaks. Medium price range for antique marbles.
	+ Opaque – a popular marble that comes in many colors
	+ Oxblood – a streaky patch resembling blood
	+ Pearls – opaque with single color with mother of pearl finish
	+ Toothpaste – also known as *plainsies* in Canada. Wavy streaks usually with red, blue, black, white, orange.
	+ Turtle – wavy streaks containing green and yellow
* Bumblebee – modern, machine\-made marble; mostly yellow with two black strips on each side
* China – glazed porcelain, with various patterns similar to an alley marble. Geometric patterns have low value; flowers or other identifiable objects can command high prices.
	+ Plaster – a form of china that is unglazed
* Commie or common – made of clay; natural color or monochrome coloration. Made in huge quantities during nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
	+ Bennington – clay fired in a kiln with [salt glaze](/wiki/Salt_glaze_pottery "Salt glaze pottery")—usually brown, often blue. Other colorations fairly scarce. Fairly low value.
	+ Crock – made from crockery ([earthenware](/wiki/Earthenware "Earthenware")) clay
* Croton alley or jasper – glazed and unglazed china marbled with blue
* Crystal or clearie or purie – any clear colored glass – including "opals," "glimmers," "bloods," "rubies," etc. These can have any number of descriptive names such as "deep blue sea", "blue moon", "green ghost", "brass bottle", "bloody Mary".
	+ Princess – a tinted crystal
	+ Galaxy – modern, machine\-made marble; lots of dots inserted to look like a sky of stars
* Indian – antique, handmade German marble; dark and opaque, usually black, with overlaid groups of color bands; usually white, and one or more other colors. Can also have many colors like blue, green and scarlet. Medium price range for antique marbles.
* Mica – antique, handmade German marble; glassy to translucent with streaks or patches of mica, ranging from clear to misty. Value depends on glass color.
* Steely – made of steel; a steely was traditionally made from a flat piece of steel folded into a sphere and showed a cross where the corners all come together, but other versions of a steely are solid steel ball bearings.
* Sulphide – antique, handmade German marble; large ( or more) clear glass sphere with a small statuette or figure inside. Most common are domesticated animals such as dogs, cats, cows, etc.; then wild animals; human figures are scarce; inanimate objects such as a train or pocket watch are very rare and command high prices. The interior figures are made of white clay or kaolin, and appear a silvery color due to light refraction. A sulphide with a colored\-glass sphere, or with a painted figure inside, is also very rare and brings a high price. Like other types of antique marbles, sulphides have been reproduced and faked in large quantities.
* Swirly – a common marble made out of glass with one swirly color
* Shooter – any marble but in a bigger size
* Tiger – clear with orange\-yellow stripes
* Baby – white with colors visible on the outside
* Tom bowler – large glass marble at least twice as big as a normal marble

### Art marbles

Art marbles are high\-quality collectible marbles arising out of the art glass movement. They are sometimes referred to as contemporary glass marbles to differentiate them from collectible antique marbles, and are spherical works of art glass.

Collectible contemporary marbles are made mostly in the United States by individual artists such as [Josh Simpson](/wiki/Josh_Simpson_%28glass_artist%29 "Josh Simpson (glass artist)").

Art marbles are usually around  in diameter (a size also known as a "toe breaker"), but can vary, depending on the artist and the print.


What are Opaque marbles?