It started with Roger and Torvald Strannes in early July, and is still going on as I write. Together, we accomplished one of the best experiences in float collecting-we made a trade that ended with both of us having new floats to marvel at, and a shared happiness. That trade was the start of a tremendous shot to the system via a 2-month-and-counting stretch of many prime floats.
As all of the collectors know, Ebay and other auction sites have over the last month, replaced late spring and early summer's dull lull of good float auctions, with an incredible burst of rare and beautiful glass floats. A mini-myriad of hard-to-find, some rare, and a couple of ultra-rare glass floats from European and Norwegian makers have suddenly appeared. We all saw two floats that were absolutely amazing: the third find of this year's discovery-an amethyst-colored Ship's Wheel and the first Cameleyre Freres Arcachon that I have seen anywhere. That particular float has inspired me to add one to the collection since I first saw the drawing of the mark in Stu & Alan's book. I've searched and searched, and finally one appeared. There is a chance that another will come, and hopefully, come to me. I'm certain that all of you are thinking and hoping for the identical wish to come true! Very nice auctions continue to appear. Charge cards have to be paid off. Wallets are a lot thinner, but you've got to go for it when the opportunities are there, and the excitement level is high. Back to July.
As the trades were crossing the Atlantic to reach their new homes in Norway and the United States, good friends from Germany finished a Norwegian vacation. During the hunt for museum quality bottles, my collector friend looks for floats too. As soon as the family returned home, he sent me an email, and promised another email with floatos. Oh Boy!
Two days later, I began opening email attachments showing an array of wonderful floats. A trio of floats left Germany on August 17th. They just arrived. The 21st. of September to be exact.
A pal responded positively to my offer to buy his gorgeous Cobalt Albrechtson's. He also offered other incredible floats that were for sale. Could not help myself, and purchased them too. They have crossed the Atlantic, and are currently in Customs awaiting clearance. Can't wait! The green glass Bjorkshults. was shown in the last post.
While all of this was going on, my first VB was purchased from France. Woody auctioned off two spectacular Asian floats, one of them, a bright skyblue colored Pumpkin. An ultra-rare beauty that sold for $2000.00 plus bucks. Two more VB's-a green and a nice light yellow/amber, a couple of Fortex's, an amber/green Grooved 5-incher, Starfish floats, the incredible Ship's Wheel (which sold for a bit more than $1,000.00) and others appeared on the auctions.
PerEinar offered an incredible array of rare Norwegian floats, including a large Teardrop or Sea Dog buoy float. The rare 2-float Kavelhund (both floats in the wooden enclosure are marked, one rich aqua F1 and one light green P.C.F) came to the collection, and two wonderful Eggs, one of them a fat-looking Knobbed Egg without the net. Great! I get to see the glass. The second is a green egg in an exceptional capnet with a snood tied into the end. That pair are in transit, crossing the Atlantic as I write.
After the first three great trades and buys, as Per Einar's incredible and rare Norwegian float auctions were being bid on, and counting down to the closing, another trade was in the works. The trade was culminated by each of us winning separate auctions, and trading those wins.
During the auctions, we had decided that good feelings meant more than winning. We would not bid on the same floats. Instead, we decided to each bid on a different float, and if we both won, to give eachother the float we had won. I'm sure that a day will come when we both desire to bid on the same float, but for now, we are giving eachother gifts.
Not only did we do the auction trade, we also traded some floats from our personal collections. I sent him a beautiful and large dark green or blackglass Czech. He sent me my first Laurvig, not to be confused with the dotted L's.
During the last month, have you been wondering, "when is the Seahermit going to write a new post?" I have been writing-everyday. I've been writing emails.
Every morning, during the day and evening, emails have been received. 2-4 hours per waking day, have been spent reading and writing emails. In the past, once in a while and normally on a weekend, a couple of hours were spent reading and answering emails. Lately, that has been a daily occurance. What great fun!
I have been immersed in floats, and have finally surfaced to breath. Taking another deep breath, I'm headed back into the depths of float wonder.
I sincerely wish all of you collectors success. Trade whenever you can. However one acquires a treasured glass float is a bit of heaven. And if the mood strikes you, kindly email me with attached floatos, and stories to share.
Click on the photos in order to see the beauty of the floats and their marks.
The little Grooved Egg has one full dot of glass on the side of the float's body, and a partial dot on the opposite side. Those dots were molten glass filling the vent holes of the mold. Often, dots are mistaken as being maker's marks. There are floats purposely seal-marked with one or more dots, not counting the dotted F's, etc. and those dots are more meaningful.
I've begun to wonder if the GW floats were French-made? Have always thought that they were made in Germany. Could GW stand for German Works? The engraver was a true artist. After looking closely at the float's glass and GW seal mark, and feeling the heft of the glass, I'm beginning to wonder. There is more to the "French Connection" than meets the eye. I'm certain of it, and would bet a bundle that as time goes by, we're all going to learn more.
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