A set of children’s marbles used in the invention of Britain’s famous bouncing bomb has gone on sale for £30,000.
The historic toys belong to the daughter of legendary engineer Sir Barnes Wallis, who has now put them up for auction.
Wallis was the genius behind the bomb that destroyed key German dams during World War Two in the daring Dam Busters raid.
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Other artefacts – including aerial photographs from the raid – are also going under the hammer and could fetch thousands.
Sir Barnes’ daughter Elisabeth Gaunt, 93, recalled the moment her precious marbles were borrowed by her father during early experiments in the family garden.
Wallis – who died in 1979 – famously tested the idea for the bouncing bomb using the marbles in a water-filled tub at White Hill House in Effingham, Surrey, as reported by WhatsTheJam.
Elisabeth said: “I remember the Easter bank holiday weekend when daddy came home with a strange device and placed it in front of a metal wash tub that he had filled with water in the garden.
“He then asked if he could borrow my marbles for an experiment.
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“I was fiercely protective of my marbles but reluctantly agreed, I was very worried in case any of my precious marbles were lost, sadly some of them did get chipped.
“He was just so inventive.
“I hope the people who have these pieces understand he was not a war-like man – he was tender, spiritual and sensitive beyond all belief.”
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Elisabeth’s late sister Mary Stopes-Roe also remembered the experiments.
She said: “We had this wonderful experiment at our family home, where my father set up the washtub and got a catapult made by his department.
“He altered the angle of the slant at which the ball was delivered and the distance from the water, and then he bounced my sister’s marbles which she has never forgotten – the fact that they were her marbles.”
The inventor later tested his bombs at RAF Manston near Ramsgate, Kent, before they were used in Operation Chastise in May 1943, destroying German dams in the Ruhr Valley.
The dramatic wartime mission was later immortalised in the 1955 film The Dam Busters.
Wallis continued his groundbreaking work after the war, including helping to design supersonic aircraft.
Auction expert Leo Denham said: “Barnes Wallis is one of Britain’s greatest engineers.
“It’s hard to say what some of these things will sell for as they are so unique.
“The marbles are an incredible piece of history.
“That such a simple collection of a child’s marbles was foundational in an experiment leading to the Dam Buster raid is remarkable.
“It is an outstanding auction that spans an incredible career from its foundations in airships to aircraft and munitions and finally development of supersonic flight.”
Other items in the sale include Wallis’s tweed jacket, glasses, original draughtsman’s desk, period office furniture, the marble catapult used in the 1955 Dam Busters film, and his personal library packed with books filled with handwritten notes and formulae.
Paintings, models and a wide range of personal items gathered over a lifetime of innovation will also go under the hammer.
The auction will take place at Denhams in Horsham, West Sussex, on 25 March.
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