One week ago, at almost the exact same time last Saturday, something incredible happened to me. Earlier this year, I had worked hard to grow and sell plants in order to put a fund together in the hope that one special float would come my way. While I did know of the Dumbbell floats, having one never entered my mind. Suddenly, after doing my normal fun stuff online, I chanced to look at my favorite auction site, and found myself staring at Dumbbell float being offered for sale. Incredulous, I wanted to press the computers key to make the purchase immediately, but had to make certain of the auction. Not knowing if someone else would not be so hesitant, I swallowed that pill, and opened the auction. Quickly scanning the photos, the description, the guarantee and finally, the sellers feedback number, I hit the key. Surely, Id missed, but no, instead of the message, sorry, the item is no longer available, (I had that happen to me on an incredible sunturned Torpedo), the window to making the purchase was before my eyes. As the week proceeded, there was controversy, a few emails from collector friends, and me waiting, thinking, wondering and hoping. It was a killer, especially with the darn holiday on Monday negating the seller bringing the float to the post office. What a seller! History-seller has almost 24,000 feedbacks, and has been in the business of buying and selling antiques for over 20 years. This fine man triple boxed the float, and sent it priority mail. I did ask him for historical information, but unfortunately, he had none. This float and a few others were pieces he had picked up for his wifes nautical decorating theme. Changes in that theme had been the reason for his selling a couple of great floats hed kept. At this time, I am searching for more information about these floats. For those who wondered about the cracks, yes, there are three hairlines. They are separated in the top ball, close to the seal. Only one seems to originate by the seal. There is an obvious scrape near the seal indicating at one time the float suffered a concussion, perhaps with a rock, or piece of heavy gear? In any case, the float is made from very thick glass, and the literally, hairline cracks in the float are suspended within the glass, and pose absolutely no harm to the floats integrity. This is one bruiser of a float! Walt Pich writes that he doubts they are of Japanese origin. I cannot tell. The color is the normally seen aqua blue/green, and there are lots of bubbles in the glass. The bubbles are an indication of inadequate furnace temperatures - too cool to allow the gases to escape the glass mix. This is often seen on floats from smaller operations. At this time, no one has come forward with the age, uses, etc., of these floats. It seems that there are less than 15 known to be in collections, pointing to a small number having survived, and maybe having been produced. From what Ive seen, the Chinese made their floats in large quantities. Even the Pumpkin is known to have been produced in the hundreds. This beaut has a mold line extending from the base, up both sides, ending at the base of the second knob or ball on top. This is an indication that the floats upper half was inserted back into the furnace in order to bring it up to temperature for seal application. When this is done, very often, the mold line disappears in the remelting of the surface. I hope that all of you who see this float not only enjoy the photos, but that the float inspires you. Im totally amazed, and look forward to other collectors coming to visit, see and hold this one in their hands.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 17:36:35 +0000