Hopscotch is a very old game: a diagram was found on the floor of the Roman forum. Its current form, with hell and heaven (or sky and earth), does not seem to date back beyond the 17th century. The player progresses on one foot, pushing a stone or a puck from genesis to paradise. The diagram generally imitates the plan of a cathedral or a spiral.
To play hopscotch, in some regions of France, using wooden paddles 7 to 8 cm in diameter, each child had their initial engraved on their paddle. But children could also pour lead or even tin into the bottom of an iron box.
The most beautiful pucks were made in Belgium, in the central region (La Louvière, Morlanwelz,…). These were glass blowers, who, with remnants of glass paste of all kinds of colors, made pucks that were sold for between 50 centimes and 1 Belgian franc. As a result, these pucks were also called " bousillés ", " paradis " or " glettes ".
These intimate treasures are now presented in museum collections in Vierzon, Dordives and Sars-Poteries (source: https://www.cerfav.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/idverreinfos85.pdf).
These pucks have become very rare, as most of them ended their lives broken into a thousand pieces! One of the measures used was 6.5 cm in diameter (source: https://eric-itschert.blogspot.com/). The puck was kept, like a treasure, by its owner, especially if it stood out from the others by its shape or color. For the rules of the game, see: https://memoiredeneupre.be/0154-la-marelle/
Here are 9 antique glass pucks. Handmade with varied patterns: 1 opaline white, 1 blue, 1 black, 2 green, 1 salmon pink and 3 colorless.
They date from the early 20th century and are in excellent condition (note: 1 small chip on the side of the opaline glass puck, see photo)..
These are beautiful collector's items!
Dimensions: diameter from 5 cm to 7.5 cm, thickness +/- 1 cm, total weight 1094 g.
Free delivery for Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Careful shipping.