Editor’s note: The below is a newspaper article from 1963 regarding fried marbles (scan further below).
A craze item that may hit hoop-like proportions—and last longer—is a boon to toy dealers like Mr. Craig
Searching for a sales sizzler?
Like to cash in on what may well be another craze like the Davy Crockett coonskin cap? The Hula Hoop? Yo-Yo’s?
“Try fried marbles,” is the advice offered by Woody Craig, owner and manager of Playthings, Inc., 3841 Hixson Pike, Chattanooga, Tenn.
“And you don’t eat ’em… you sell them,” he grins happily.
Woody Craig is but one of numerous retailers, in the Southeast and elsewhere, who are cashing in on the new fad.
Mr. Craig reports stocking $800 in fried marble supplies and selling out in three days. He’s been selling $40-60 daily in supplies during weekdays, and Saturdays find a healthy $175-250 filling his cash registers.
A fried marble is any pastel (or clear) marble, says Mr. Craig, that is fried in a frying pan. Then the marble is dropped into ice water.
The extreme—and quick—temperature change creates an explosion inside the marble. Weird, abstract effects—such as those found in surrealistic jewelry—is the result.
The catalyst complete, marbles are mounted and worn as jewelry. Typical: bracelets, cuff links, necklaces, earrings, children’s jewelry, tie-bars, and key chains.
“The variety of uses are limited only by the customer’s imagination,” says Woody Craig. “One woman came back, showing us a bejeweled bookmarker she has made with the marbles.”
Last month almost every businessman in Chattanooga and southeastern Tennessee was sporting a “fried marble” tie-bar or cuff links.
“Fried Marble” parties were being held by youth groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and church organizations.
Several department stores and jewelry shops feature completed bracelets and other jewelry at $5 up.
“It’s been the hula hoop all over again,” explained Mr. Craig. “Everybody is getting into them now: drug stores, jewelry stores, hardware stores—and even a garden center—are handling fried marble supplies. The man who starts them first in his town will make a lot of money.”
Mr. Craig displays his marble supplies up front, near the door. An outdoor sign reading “Fried Marbles” has been his only advertising. “It’s all we’ve needed,” he reports.
The sign has drawn any number of curious motorists inquiring about the unusual term.
“Lately, I’ve had customers from Birmingham… northern Alabama… middle Georgia,” Mr. Craig explained. “They hear about fried marbles, drive up and buy supplies and start the fad in their town.”
Playthings, Inc., displays marbles and supplies openly. Packaging in poly bags was tried at first but Mr. Craig discovered customers preferred to select “one of this and one of that and a couple of these.”
His current marble prices are: 5¢ each for 9/16 and ⅝-inchers; and big 1½-inchers are 10¢.
The most popular marble is the ⅞-incher “as it fits best in jewelry mounts”; Mr. Craig sells these for 1½¢ each.
Related Merchandise
It’s also imperative to stock jewelry mountings and supplies with the marbles. Mr. Craig sells bracelets for 40¢; necklaces for 35¢ up, depending on size; and small bell caps for 38¢ a package, containing a dozen. Jump rings and marble cages run 20¢ upward, depending on size.
He inventories a variety of chains and necklaces but finds the 18-inch silver-type small link chain sells best. Little link bracelets are also best, running slightly ahead of hammered style models.
Even at these seemingly low prices, Woody Craig enjoys a whopping 150 per cent markup over his wholesale cost.
Despite the low unit markup, a customer’s purchase will run above the $1 mark in most instances. “Our usual order is for about 60¢ worth of marbles,” he says. “Then you add about $1.50 in settings and there’s another 49¢ for some Epoxy glue. It all adds up. I’ve sold as much as $50 in a single hour out of this little display.”
Chattanooga wholesalers reported a scarcity of Epoxy glue; Woody Craig called the Bond Adhesive Company in Jersey City, N.J., and ordered several cases shipped direct from the factory.
“All the sales manager could say was ‘What’s going on down there,’” Mr. Craig chuckled. “It cost $6 toll charges to tell him what a fried marble was and how glue fitted in.”
When Woody Craig originally stocked fried marble supplies, it was with the intention of creating store traffic. “I didn’t realize the demand for them,” he said.
“If I were a toy retailer in a community where this hadn’t started, I’d inventory about $300 in supplies,” advised the Tennessee retailer. “Then I’d run an ad saying I had fried marbles. Or run a teaser ad for a week with ‘Fried Marbles are Coming.’ The name alone is enough to create plenty of store traffic.”
Suppliers and wholesalers in the Chattanooga area are making missionary trips into other regions to introduce the fad. “My wholesaler sent a salesman into south Georgia,” Mr. Craig reported. “Before he got to where he was going, he’d sold all the supplies his truck would hold.”
Congenial Woody Craig summed up:
“Fried Marbles will sell faster than hotcakes this year.”
