How Does It Make You Feel?

During the last year I became acquainted with a great glass float collecting Pal named Richard. If the reader has read the 2nd. post about the SN floats, "New Scotland," you will find Richard first mentioned there.
His collection of European glass floats is one of the world's best. In the collection is the incredible seal and portion of the float's body shown above. This float was found while Richard was on vacation, and is old-most likely made between WWI and WWII. I believe that this float is either Portugese, French or Spanish-made.

As the reader can see, the float was once without color or was clear glass, but over time, the manganese added to cancel the effects of the iron oxide in the sand used for the glass mixture, coupled with the chemical reaction to the sun's ultrviolet rays, has turned the glass violet.

Can't you just imagine the mixture of elation at first seeing this float's seal and body piece sticking out of the sand, and the chagrin at finding that the rest of the float was missing? Yet, in the end, Richard and all of us know that he has found one of the rarest floats in the world, whole or not! This float is as important to Euro collectors, as the first photos of the Whale and the Lighthouse cachets will be.

Unlike the missing photos of the above floats, Richard's photos are the real deal, and seen by all of us for the first time.

Thank you Richard for generously sharing your float with everyone. This mark is spectacular, and is a holy grail for all who collect floats.