Glass fishing float
A glass fishing float provides buoyancy for fishing nets and seines. It may have a knotted cord-net covering. The term specifies the material, not a particular glassworks.
Use and Norwegian production
Norwegian makers included Åsnes, Moss and Larvik. Bergen's city encyclopaedia records float production at Flesland until 1956.
What should be documented?
Record diameter, shape, colour, visible seams or finishing points and every mark. Photograph marks from several angles to avoid misreading letters. Do not identify a factory from colour or an indistinct symbol alone. Examine the cord net and glass separately; being sold together does not establish that they are the same age.
Fishing gear or later decoration?
Glass floats have also acquired new uses. Glasshytta Vikten, for example, records Åsvar Tangrand's use of floats in artistic doors and windows in the late 1960s. Such reuse belongs to an object's later history and does not necessarily establish where its glass was made.
Describe cracks, chips, glued additions and newer netting without treating wear as a secure date. A documented manufacturer and known use history are more informative than an unsupported claim of rarity.
Sources
SNL: Kavl; Bergen byleksikon: Flesland; Glasshytta Vikten: Historien.
