Ancient Web: Joe Street Built a Marble ID Library That Outlived Him
Joe Street's 2008-era Joemarbles reference survives as a memorial and remains organized by marble photos, makers, identification help, articles, and collector resources.
Part of the Ancient Web Collection.
If you find a glass marble in a drawer, the natural question is whether it has a name, a maker, or simply an interesting swirl. Joe Street built a website for people trying to find out.
The site describes itself as an identification resource for the beginning mibologist, a nickname for people who collect marbles. It carries a 2008 copyright notice and offers a dense selection of photographs, manufacturer histories, collecting articles, photography advice, show information, games, and links.
A note at the top says Street died in 2020. Others in the marble-collecting community have kept the website alive in his memory and for the benefit of future collectors. Its survival is therefore not just accidental inertia; it is explicit preservation.
The pictures are the reference system
The Marble Pictures section leads to galleries organized for visual comparison. A separate manufacturer index uses logo-like image links and maker-specific pages. The goal is to let a reader compare a found object to examples, not merely read a list of brand names.
Street's welcome message makes a second point that explains the culture behind the site. Internet photographs help, but collectors can learn things by handling actual marbles at shows and talking with experienced people. He praises marble clubs and especially the newsletter of the West Virginia Marble Collectors Club.
In other words, the personal website was part of a network of human expertise rather than a substitute for it.
The resource has the welcoming irregularity of hobby Web pages. Some sections are overwhelmingly pictorial; others are essays or link collections. Street invites corrections and thanks people who contributed knowledge directly and indirectly.
The site does not claim that every anonymous marble can be identified with certainty. Its introduction even quotes a fellow collector's reminder that sometimes an object is just a pretty marble.
Explore the original identification galleries and manufacturer directory.
Part of the Ancient Web Collection.
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