TGIFF! Earlier today, on the glass fishing floats, want, sell or trade site, a good buddy, David Neff got me good. It concerned a float that has been looked for for many years, but still no photo of either the Whale or the Lighthouse marked float has been shown. David wrote that he doubts either float exists. That is a position one can take, but experience as well as the tale of seeing both of those floats, told by someone I trust, continues to keep me looking for either or both floats. Never before seen embossed, colored and shaped floats continue to appear. Ive been fortunate to have stumbled onto a few of them myself, and recently float lightening, struck this collector again. In the past, no one had ever told me about, photographed or shown this particular Heye Glass Works float. No one that I know of knew of its existence, but low and behold, I received an opportunity from a good friend to purchase this rarity. To me, it qualifies into a new category that Ive recently been thinking about - historically important floats. Yes, one can say with veracity, that all floats are historically important, but to me, some stand apart and in front of others. An example of this thought would be the Large Norwegian Eggs, the oldest JUMBO ROLLERS, the Bullets, Teardrops, etc. These floats are old, theyre very hard to find, they are at the beginning of various types of glass float usage and they occupy some of the highest places within the passion of ardent float collectors. Of course, there are many others to be added to this list. Im hoping Ive been able to give you an idea of where Im going with my thinking? During the WWII years, large bottle making companies such as Northwestern Glass Works, Owens/Illinois/Alameda, FGC and now, Heye were making machine-made floats with the raised neck seals. I have enjoyed collecting Heye Glass Works floats. To have the first of this historical type of float is a rare stroke of luck. Im very happy to share this great find with you, and to show you the other European machine-made examples that I know of. Keep the faith. We never know what we will see next in this wonderful world of glass float collecting. P.S. On the base of the Heye, the number - 6 is there too.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 18:05:27 +0000