Topic: American, British and European Glass Fishing Floats

[Bernard C]

... am I right in concluding that Miller's is completely wrong about the fish ...

No, for various reasons.    Miller's was not wrong, because the attributions were written by the image suppliers.    Nor was the image supplier, FD, wrong, because this was written pre-Timberlake, and then virtually all authorities would have attributed these fish to Murano.

When assessing the quality of a publication, care should always be taken to consider it in the light of the state of knowledge at the time of compilation.   In the case of this book, the date of compilation of the captions covers several years, as many of these images and captions were recycled from other Miller's guides.

Having said that, the quality of attributions is reasonably good but quite variable, as you would expect.   On pages 82 and 83, there are two extremes.    P82, top right you have a superb 5-star caption by JHa, whose material, both then and now, is consistently comprehensive and faultless.    On the opposite page you see a ludicrous contradiction, where the attribution of a trinket set appears to change when it has lost its candlesticks!    I imagine that BKK was rather annoyed by this, as, quite obviously, this is an example of careless recycling by Miller's of two images originally published some years apart.   Their team should have spotted this, consulted and corrected it.

As knowledge has improved, so a number of unattributed items are now attributable.    There are several fine pieces by Walsh and at least one by Kempton in this category.

I hope you find this book as valuable as I have.    As with almost all books, one good purchase will easily cost-justify it.

Bernard C.  

[Anne]

Today I saw and was able to photograph what I think is a green glass fishing float, which has on one end MADE IN ENGLAND in raised letters, and on the other the initials F G C.

Does anyone have suggestions as to who F G C would have been please?

[seahermit]

Today I saw and was able to photograph what I think is a green glass fishing float, which has on one end MADE IN ENGLAND in raised letters, and on the other the initials F G C.

Does anyone have suggestions as to who F G C would have been please?

Hello Anne,
I wanted to thank those of you who have responded to my initial post about glass fishing floats, and also to respond to your latest post.  I just received an email telling me that you had posted, and am happy to know that there is some interest to date.
Yes, that is a glass fishing float.  I have a few variations of the FGC Made in England floats.  I believe that FGC are the initials for the Foster Glass Company.  I have tried to find the facts to support my guess, going as far as the research dept. of a library that holds the Foster Glass Company records.  Unfortunately, nothing about fishing float production was located. 
Among the variations of this marking is one that was machine made with a raised neck seal.  The Northwestern Glass Co. of Seattle, Washington, Cincotta Brothers floats, and Owens/Illinois of Oakland California, also produced machine-made floats with the raised neck seals.  I am thinking that only larger bottle producers with the capital to afford the machines necessary to produce in quantity, would have made these raised neck floats.  Foster Glass Company was that type of company.
The marking on the raised neck floats occurs on the side of the float.  The mark reads: "Pat. Pending", below that the number 1 or 2, and below the number,  "FGC."
Another variation is without the raised neck seal.  In its place is a "seal button," like the float in your post.  The seal button is a gather of glass which was placed over the hole left from a blowpipe than flattened to seal the float.
Again, on the side of the float, the same words, numbers and letters occur.
A third variation only has the letters, "FGC," embossed onto the seal.
The fourth version, which I think came at the end of the company's float production, is like your posted float.  The embossing, "Made in England," is on the top of the float, with the letters, "FGC," on the seal. 
I have another float that I believe was made by the same English company.  It too has the raised neck seal, and is embossed solely with an anchor on the side of the float.

[Frank]

Fleming, 1938, reports that floats and Witch balls were being made by Scottish East Coast glass works and that would date to around 1700. He describes that the mariners would decorate a pair, take on on the trip and the other hung in a window of the house. Adding that decorated ones are really found as the paint easily came off. However, as a source he is not always reliable.

[Anne]

Seahermit, thank you for such a detailed reply, what a very interesting area this is. Can you tell me more about Foster Glass Company please, like where they were in England, as this is a totally new name for me.

I should also have added dimensions to the post above, this one is approx 6" in diameter.

[Frank]

Benjamin Foster Glass Works, Stockwell 19th Century perhaps

[seahermit]

Seahermit, thank you for such a detailed reply, what a very interesting area this is. Can you tell me more about Foster Glass Company please, like where they were in England, as this is a totally new name for me.

I should also have added dimensions to the post above, this one is approx 6" in diameter.

Hi Anne,  At this time, I cannot find my original research on the company, and I made a mistake in the company's name.  The name was Forsters Glass Co. Ltd.  I believe that it was located in St. Helens, Lancashire, and my research went through the St. Helens Library.  If you know of this company, perhaps we can add something meaningful to this thread. 

[Lustrousstone]

Here is a bit of info

[Frank]

1931
Forster's Glass Co., Ltd., Atlas Bottle Works, St. Helens
London office:
Forster's Glass Co., Ltd., 57, Victoria Street, S.W.1

1935
A gratifying review of the past year's operations of Forster's Glass Co. was given by Sir Sydney H. H. Henn at the annual meeting of the company. The profit for the year was £41,205 and £17,000 added to the reserve account, which now stands at £60,000. Sales did not quite reach the record total of last year, but by means of increased efficiency in the works it was possible to somewhat improve the profits. etcetera

[seahermit]

I've posted two photos of different FGC floats on my blog over here.  One photo shows the raised neck seal, the other shows the normal type of float seal with side of glass marking.