Touched By History

Today, is one of those days when I am having a very hard time pulling myself away from the computer, and thoughts of glass floats.

A valuable piece of historical float information has been placed into one of the latest float puzzles that I've been working on. A number of emails have been written, and then it happened...

Sitting across from a display case putting my socks on, I got up and walked over to the case to open the door and look in at the floats. My eyes gravitated to the beautiful American Pat Pending Teardrop, then to a green float in the front right corner.

Having forgotten which float rested there, I picked it up to see its mark. Ahh, the recently-traded-for Laurvig. After admiring its unique shade of green, and the embossing, placed it back in its spot, and looking up, I saw the tag: #46, staring at me. Charles Abernethy's S-marked beauty.

I picked that float up, and turning it to the light coming through the north window, began to gaze at it. Feeling a strong emotion, I realized that Charles had once held the float in his hands just as I was, and found myself saying, "Did you hold this float in your hands the way I'm holding it, Charles?"

Wishing that I heard him say, "Yes," I had to be content with the realization itself. The float had been held and admired by a succession of collectors, by the glassblower and the apprentice, perhaps the net maker, definitely the capnet maker, the fishermen, the person who found and sold it, then Charles.

I cannot help myself, and have to put the experience in today's post to share with you.

Have you had a similar experience? Have you ever looked down, and there at your feet was an Indian arrowhead-then realized that the last person to touch the stone may have been the long-ago Indian who made it, hunted with it, and lived through it's use?

How often do you hold a float in your hands and are filled with wonder-the wonder of the float's experience-it's life? Now, that float rests in your hands, and the history continues...