Post #360352 by Basement Kahuna on Sun, Feb 10, 2008 9:27 AM

E-bay is also a good source for decorative repros; the real ones are there as well but pretty competed for. Keep an eye on the sizes when you bid as well. The real foats are quite interesting. Most of them are Japanese crab and tuna floats. I've collected them for years, as the "stories" these floats tell are amazing and the variety is addictive. Some of the ones washing up as we speak have been floating at sea for 60 years or more; they get stuck in swirling currents until a storm in the right place at the right time washes them out. In the real deal you see about twenty to thirty baseball-sized floats for every one large one. They come in a wide variety of shapes. There is also an excellent book by Walt Pich entitled "Glass Ball, A Comprehensive Guide for Oriental Glass Floats found on Pacific Beaches" that describes the wild variety of shapes and Kanji markings. They are a great part of beachcombing from way back making them an obvious fit when the Vic Bergerons and Donn Beach's of the world were creating the Polynesian Pop style back in the 30's.