wow asked In US we have an expression when we win -- we walk away with "all the marbles."
Any connection? ...comments?

Nope. As a "colonial", I simply couldn't resist the opening that presented itself. Mother Britannia always knows best, that's why she didn't give those spivvy Greeks their marbles back, because, as greasy furriners, they can't be trusted to take proper care of them. That still seems to be the official line, though couched in a slightly more diplomatic turn of phrase. In the bad old days of Empire, what Britain, or Britons, wanted, she, or they, simply took. It was just last year that some highly prized mokomokai were returned to New Zealand. I was amused and horrified to learn at least some of the mokomokai were apparently made to order for cerain early settlers. I'm not sure how successful that business venture would be today! LIU