Lee's Legendary Marbles and Collectables is a museum in York, Nebraska.^[1] The museum specializes in displaying, storing and sometimes selling parts of a toy marble collection Lee Batterton amassed over 70 years.^[2] In 2023, it was officially recognized as the World's Largest Collection of Marbles.^[3]

History[edit]

The museum was founded in 2001 by Lee Batterton who began collecting marbles in 1954^[3] the United States and later while living abroad in Germany.^[4] He was raised in Oklahoma where his collection began but moved to Germany for his work as a grain elevator repairman.^[4] There he continued to collect marbles as Germany was the first country to create a way of mass-producing marbles.^[5] As Germany was the first country to mass-produce them, the marbles in the country are sought after by marble collectors.^[6] Marble production in America began in Akron, Ohio in 1884, and became mass-produced in the same place in 1900^[7] with the help of Samuel Dyke.^[8] Collecting marbles continued to rise in popularity throughout America after the turn of the 20th century.^[9] An Article written in 1936 about other marble collectors in America mention the popularity among children of collecting marbles.^[10]

Lee was born on April 18, 1933, and died on March 8, 2024, in York, Nebraska.^[11] He created the museum on recommendation of a fellow marble-collecting friend in 2001.^[12]

The Collection[edit]

Lee's varied collection of marbles has been recognized as the World's Largest Collection of Marbles by the World Record Academy, consisting of over 700,000 marbles.^[3] Many of the marbles housed in the museum are kept in display cases,^[4] but Lee claims that when he began collecting marbles he would store them in jars.^[13] Many of the less valuable marbles are still kept in large glass jars at the museum today.^[14]

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