You never know what you can find in a backyard! Jean McRoberts was doing yard work last June at her house on Maywood Street and found a damaged marble that appeared to be very old. It was barely peeking out of the soil. It had chips, scratches, and was banded with shades of blue and white. Two weeks later, she dug up another marble while planting vegetables. This one was shiny with swirls of brown and cream. The previous homeowners said they had never found any marbles on the lot.
According to a local marble expert, the blue marble is a “patch” marble, possibly made by Vitro Agate, a division of JABO, which recently stopped making marbles. The brown marble is a swirl marble. Both are machine made some time over the past 70 years or more.
The kids who came to the Como Neighborhood History table at the Blizzard Breakfast were very excited to see the marbles. Many of the adults were equally interested in the artifacts! You never know what you might find in your backyard or what stories you may uncover when you dig!