We left Wellington and headed north trying to drive out of the severe storm forecast area. It didn't work and so we found a nice park with an actual storm shelter, near York, Nebraska. Settling in for a few days, or until it warms up a bit, we did a search of things to do and found The Marble Museum.
The Marble Museum, reported to be the largest marble collection in the world, was started with the personal collection of Lee J. Butterfield. Opened in 2000 the museum is free and displays over one million dollars worth of marbles.
Having no idea what to expect, we entered the museum and saw containers of marbles from the floor to the ceiling. On the upper shelf were fifteen hundred one quart mason jars, all filled with marbles. Custom shelves were filled with labeled examples of the multitude of different size marbles made from just about every glass, rock, and pottery material available. The floor even had display of the cheaper more common marbles for sale.
One case held giant German hand made glass marbles called swirls, (there is actually an episode of these being made on the show, How Its Made). Another case held marbles made by combining minerals with molten glass and we admired the beautiful carnelian, mica, and agate marbles.
Asking if Lee had any marbles made with uranium, he pulled out a case filled with beautiful green and yellow marbles. He turned on his handheld uv light and showed us their beautiful fluorescence.
The carnotite uranium actually doesn't glow but another mineral in the marble, when excited by short wave light, gives off the green and yellow glow. The marbles were only made in the 1920's and 1930's and production stopped when the marble makers started to die from radiation sickness, (I still have my Grandpa Hubers watch from the same era and its numerals glow from radium paint). Of course we had to purchase one!
Lee's son Chuck, also addicted to marble collecting, showed us stunning marbles called the vortex. He also showed us a display of large marbles made entirely from minerals and we identified many of them, which of course led to us buying several for our collection.
Running out of money, or at least exhibiting a little restraint. we thanked Lee and Chuck for sharing their passion and love for marbles/ If you are ever in York, Nebraska we highly recommend you stop for a day and visit the Marble Museum. Clear skies
ps the violent storms missed us but the temperatures have dropped and we may delay our trip north for a few more days
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