Glass marbles used to create WW2's 'bouncing bomb' sell for £15k

Two glass marbles used by an aviation engineer to invent World War Two's famous 'bouncing bomb' have sold for more than £15,000 at auction.

Sir Barnes Wallis' marbles sold for £15,200 to a private collector in the UK when they went under the hammer at Auctioneum, in Bristol, on Monday 16 September.

Mr Wallis used the marbles while working on plans for a bomb that could skip across water, experimenting with bouncing them across an old tin bath in his back garden.

He thought the 'bouncing bomb' could be used to attack moored battleships, but research soon focused on using it against German dams and it played a major role in The Dambusters Raid in May 1943.

Andy Stowe, Associate director auctioneer and valuer at Auctioneum Ltd, said: "We're really lucky to see so many special items, but when you get something that special it gives you goosebumps."

He added: "The effect that these marbles had on the war effort, on morale for the British people, it's amazing. They are so significant.

"For all intensive purposes these are just two marbles, two 1930s childhood glass marbles, but their contribution to our combined history is immesurable."

The marbles were auctioned alongside a pair of Sir Barnes Wallis' binoculars, which he used to watch his bomb being tested in Reculver, Kent.

Mr Stowe said the items had a "staggering" amount of interest from people all over the world, including in America and Australia.

"They're a piece of world history, so I understand the worldwide interest," Mr Stowe said.

"Many of the RAF pilots that flew in the Dambuster Raids weren't British in origin, so it had worldwide appeal. And then after the Dambusters film was made in 1955, there was even bigger appeal from people across the world," he explained.

However, Mr Stowe said he was "secretly pleased" the marbles are staying in the country.

"These are such an important part of our British history and they deserve to be seen. They deserve to be used for education because they are just so significant and so important."

The Dambusters Raid was a plan to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley, the industrial heartland of Germany.

The mission, codenamed Operation 'Chastise', was one of the most dangerous air operations of the war, with 53 men killed and three captured.

The surving aircrew of 617 Sqaudron were lauded as heroes, and the raid ultimately gave a significant morale boost to the people of Britain.