Norway Floats: European Glass Fishing Floats Blog

From home to home, and heart to heart, from one place to another

The warmth and joy of Christmas, brings us closer to each other.

*Merry Christmas*

From the large halibut adventure it is mostly the amount of fish and the tough life of Løkken and Blokhus which are preserved in memory. Thomas Olesen, Løkken, retold in 1920 one of the anecdotes: ’Det store flyndrefiskeri var på sit højeste. (‘The big Halibut fishing was at its top.)

Drawing from Løkken 1866

      Ole, an old fishermen went out with a fishing dory. They dragged in by force and stood and talked about that there was probably a lot of fish in the trawl. Some of the fishermen thought it was the strong current that made the trawl so heavy to pull into the boat. “Let me” said Ole, he was big and strong, and he grabbed the line, and pulled to show the young boys that he still had the grip.

He drew well enough and had hardly taken the line before he stepped one foot through the boat’s rotten bottom. Quickly he pulled out the leg, but then the water came in splashing up into a thick beam filling the boat. Horrified fishermen stopped rowing, while Ole quickly threw his coat and drove it into the hole, the vest went along, but it didn’t help much. The water was flowing through and the boat filled half full of water. Bewildered the fishermen’s eyes searched for land, but they were far outside the third reef.

There were some faces that grew white with fear, and one of the youngsters started to row anxiously. Suddenly Ole let himself fall into the bottom of the boat on his broad back. He seized the boat’s thwarts to support himself, pushing himself well seated in the hole. Then he cried out like a man yelling who knows what’s coming: “Come on, lads! Now you row Got Dandruff, so the blood pops out of your nails!” Ole had to cry  it only once. It was not much blood coming out from under their nails, but more sweat ran out from the sou’wester. From fear and work, salty water filled their eyes. When they approached the sandbar, the waves closed over the boat’s edge. They all jumped out and waded ashore. Before the sandbar, they were up to necks in water, but they made it safely.

When they walked onto the beach and collected themselves a little, they came to Ole, one after another thanking him, because he had made it for them. Ole shrugged it off as there was nothing to thank for.

When they kept coming up with their ‘thank you’, Ole thought it was a little too solemn, he struck out with his hand and said burly: “Yes we were close and we can thank God that it went, as it went, but I say now, that was strange, it could seal that good to put one hole against another. ”

The type of dory that was used by Ole and hes crew.

The story is taken from the book ’Vejen til Nordsjøen’ by A. Hjorth Rasmussen.

Very often we can read in the history books about tragedies happening at sea and about those who lost their fathers and sons in the waters.

We found this story different from other stories, and like that there was room for humor after a dramatic incident. That is why we decided to share the story with our blogs readers.

Year 2007 was the year we started to collect glass floats, and the first floats we brought home were an SB and a PCF that we found in a second hand store in Vesterålen.

Since then we have had a lot of fun searching for and finding floats from Kristiansand in the south to Vesterålen in the north and Bergen in the west and Helsinki and Tallin in the east. We had many exciting trips.

Here comes a series of photos from many of our trips, and the first series of photos is from Lofoten and Vesterålen, August 2007.

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Bergen 2007. This was first pure float trip we had,  an spontanious trip and one that we will remember very well till the rest of our lives.  We were on the way home from work one Friday, when we just decided to go to Bergen. We had never been to Bergen in our lifes before, and we knew about some floats there, waiting for us in Fana just outside Bergen.

We decided to take the shortest road over the highest mountains – Hardangervidda. This was in December and not very wise… We got stuck in the snow once and had to dig the car out. When we got to the mountain passing, we had to drive behind the snow removal truck, it was quite windy and the blowing snow made it very hard to see the road, we were driving quite close to the truck looking at the yellow lights from the lamps of the truck, but even the blinking lights got harder to see from all the snow blowing from the mountain plateau. We used 12 hours to get to Bergen and were very glad to come down from the mountain. It was an extreme drive, and it made us choose another route home.

In Fana, Bergen we found our first Willhelmshutte float together with a bunch of Flesland floats, and we can still remember that huge overwhelming feeling.

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Then after Bergen, we went down to Kristiansand at the end of January or beginning of February 2008. On the way we visited the towns Arendal and Lillesand. Amongst the many floats we found there was a very special marker buoy with a black flag on it. It is now in Todd’s collection in Washington.

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Sweden april 2008

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Trøndelag august 2008 waiting for the ferry. On this trip we visited many places and collected a lot of nice floats. The photo is taken while waiting for the ferry on the way to Åfjord. From Åfjord we drove to North-Trøndelag and the places called Levanger and Ekne to purchase fishing floats.

The beginning of november 2008 we paid a visit to Tallin, Estonia. We were at several antique stores in the Old Town of Tallin, and found one store selling maritime antiques. The store had a few glass fishing floats, and we purchased the float on the photo below. The seller told us that it was a russian float. There was also a huge russian glass float in the store, this float was too big to carry around and we did not bring our car on this trip.

Tønsberg summer 2009. The city where Vallø glasswork was located. No Vallø float found there, but we did bring home some floats from this trip as well.

Smøgen summer 2009, Torvald Stranne’s hometown.

You can visit seahermit’s blog for more photos and a story from this trip. http://seahermit.blogspot.com/2009/08/torvald-stranne-research-from-roger-and_14.html

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Hitra and Hitra museum august 2009

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Stockholm april 2010. On this trip we found our Willhelmshutte with neck. Stockholm is really a great and exiting place to visit, with the Old Town’s narrow streets and its many antique stores.

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Beginning of July 2010 we spent a week in Øksnes visiting family, and of course browsing for floats.

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At the end of July we paid a visit to Helsinki, Finland. One CN float was brought home from Finland. While driving back home through Sweden we found several nice swedish glass floats like Albrechtsons, Bjørkshult and Torvald Stranne.

This is what we found in Stockholm, november 2010. A beautiful 3″ dark red/brown Torvald Stranne of thick heavy glass.

The last photos were taken before Christmas 2010 in Gudvangen on the way to Bergen where we were invited to eat locally made christmas dish called ‘Smalahove’. It is a Norwegian traditional dish, usually eaten around and before Christmas time, made from sheep‘s head. The skin and fleece of the head is torched, the brain removed, and the head is salted, sometimes smoked, and dried. The head is boiled for about 3 hours and served with mashed rutabaga and potatoes. We were also served Heimadrikk (homebrew) to the dish, that can be compared to Mead, honey based alcohol. We also used the opportunity to pick up some floats in Ågotnes outside Bergen before we drove the long way home.

Winter-Trawler by Thomas C Adkins

A Fisherman’s Christmas 

by Michelle Leach

‘It was the night before the big fishing trip and all through the camp
the liquor had been stout and the fisherman were passed out. 

The waders were sitting by the back screen door,
ready for an early start sometime around four. 

The men were all snuggled in sleeping bags and sofa beds
with visions of trophy trout and reds dancing in their heads. 

When out on the dock there arose a loud noise,
shakin’ the cabin and waking the boys. 

Pillows and blankets flew about the room,
Eight mad fisherman to the door did zoom. 

They slung open the door and looked out to the bay,
the moonlight above led the way. 

Down to the pier they couldn’t believe their eyes.
Santa in a “Flats Cat” said “Hey, what’s up guys!” 

In bright red waders and a gleam in his eyes,
he started handing out the supplies. 

Curados, Calcuttas and a couple of Lews,
the fisherman weren’t really sure what to do. 

They each took a new reel and put it on a new rod,
jumped on the boat and gave Santa a nod. 

Out on the water they found a perfect spot
and started fishing without a second thought. 

Trophy reds and trout they caught on their line,
they stopped at their limit and let out a sigh. 

What a great trip this had been. They secured all their gear
and were ready for breakfast. “Is there a Denny’s around here?” 

Santa smiled and said, “Gentleman I’ve enjoyed your company but now I must go,
got a few “honey-dos” lined up for today, ya’ know.” 

“Keep the boat and all the new toys…
I’ll see ya’ back at the pier next year and we’ll get ‘em again boys.” 

He sprang to a shiny red boat that came out of no- where.
Pulled not by reindeer, but. eight redfish and without a care. 

He whistled and shouted and called them by name:
Now Shimano, now Lews, now Daiwa and Quantum! 

On Bekley, on Mustad, on Plano and Stren across the bay
we heard him proclaim, Good fishing to all and to all a good day. 

As he flew out of sight
the fisherman woke and said, “What a night!” 

They gathered themselves and blamed their headaches on the alcohol.
Each popped a few Tylenol and never mentioned their fishin’ trip at all. 

You see none of them were really sure if anyone would believe they fished all night with that guy in red.
They’d probably just tell them the liquor went to their head. 

But as they loaded their gear they glanced at the pier,
and there sat that new boat with a cooler full of filets and a six-pack of beer. 

A little red note proved their case. Inscribed to his buddies, Santa did write,
“Merry Christmas to all to all GET SOME SLEEP TONIGHT.” 

Lofotfiske

Today we were on a guided tour, where the Berger Glassworks used to stand for 153 years ago. Now there are only some ruins covered with moss left on the spot.

The local historical club shared a lot of valuable information on the life of the Berger Glassworks and the sawmill that used to be there.

In 1852 Tostrup & Mathiesen, a company from Oslo purchased a farm called ‘Berger gård’. It was located on the southernmost shore of the Hurdal lake in the Eidsvoll municipality. In 1857 they started a glasswork. Glassblowers were invited from Sweden and Germany. The main product was beer bottles.

Better economy of the nation raised the amount of the beer consumed and thus increased the demand for beer bottles.

The company built a large steam operated saw mill near the glassworks. The saw mill provided a lot of bark and sawdust for the melting ovens. They used timber as well for the glass production.

The Hurdal Glassworks located on the northern shore of the Hurdal lake, produced mostly window glass and glassware for the royal family. Berger did not become Hurdal’s competitor because they manufactured a variety of container glass.

The Berger Glassworks used color pigment stones from the hills of Hurdal and sand from the lake shores.

There is no information available on whether the glassworks manufactured glass fishing floats and what particular marking they used for their products. In the middle of the 19th century glass fishing floats manufactury was very popular, we therefore believe that Berger might have made glass fishing floats as well.

Today’s remains of the glassworks are razed to the ground. One can see parts of the melting ovens on the property with melted glass on. There are only pieces and bricks left under the moss, amongst which we found thick nuggets of the olive-green glass.

Big thank you to John Egeland and Råholt historielag for arranging ang guiding this tour.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

The founder of the glassworks was Lars Gustaf Bratt (1731-1791), who established the glassworks in the autumn of 1763 under the name ‘Annaberg glassworks’ in Sweden.

In the year 1774 the business was moved from Annaberg to Massvik and ‘Liljedahl’ became the new name for the glassworks. It operated in Messvik for 10 years.

On October 26, 1781 the business moved once again to a place called Buda where it remained until October 13, 1917 and was its turn being Sweden’s largest bottle manufacturer.

 In 1873 the Liljedahl glassworks was bought by Christiania Bryggeri (Christiania Brewery) located in what is known today as the city of Oslo. Liljedahl became a Norwegian owned glassworks. Years later the glassworks got an important position on the Norwegian marked. At its most the glasswork produced 45,5 million bottles per year and 15,5 million were sold on the Norwegian marked.

In 1890s Liljedahl was Sweden’s biggest glassworks and their production had a very decent reputation. 150 glassblowers worked there during this period.

Despite the large amount of products the life of the glasswork’s was about to change. The first reason to worry was the expiry of the active ‘Mellomriksloven’     (a treaty governing free trade between the two countries and often called the ‘Union Trade Act’) between Norway and Sweden by June 13, 1897.

The leadership foresaw early what this event could mean for the future of the glassworks and understood that it would be better if the initiative to establish a new glassworks in Norway was taken.

In May 13, 1897 based on the company’s voting results the decision to invest a sum of 100 000 kroner into a new Norwegian glasswork were taken.

At the end of 1898 the Moss glassworks began operating with the planned production of 5 million bottles a year. A big part of the manufacture moved from Liljedahl to Moss.

The Liljedahl glassworks focused on the domestic marked, as well as tried to sell in England and Scotland. Unfortunately the competition was hard.

The year of 1900 turned out to be critical for Liljedahl. The demand decreased, the competition was increasing. The company struggled.

The employees` salaries had to be lowered by 15% due to the economical situation of the glasswork with no protests.

In the year 1903 the economical situation got even worse, not only for Liljedahl, but for all the Swedish glassworks. It was the beginning of the end for Liljedahl. The last bottle was blown at the glasswork on October 13, 1917.

Sources:

’Det Gamla Glasbruket på Liljedahl’ by Simon Øverstrøm, Åke Lyrholm and Manne Ståhl.

’Varmlandska Glasbruk I’ by Åke Nisbeth.

’Den Norske Flaske Industri’ by S.C. Hammer.

One of the finest and most special collections of glass fishing floats belongs to Bruce Gidoll, an American collector. Bruce collects glass floats of different colors, shapes and sizes from Europe, America and Asia. There are also a number of floats with great barnacles attached to them in his collection as well. Enjoy the photos of his beautifully organized glass float collection! The amazing sailboat case was made by Richard Carlson that is also a collector of glass fishing floats.

Click on the pics to enlange them.

Here come more photos from the Fåglavik Glassworks. A big thanks to Ingemar Nilsson for letting us use the photos from his great webpage about the Fåglavik glassworks. Ingemar was one of the last glassblowers that worked at Fåglavik until the glassworks closed down in 1980. His webpage is filled with history, photos of the workers, buildings and glassware from the beginning of the glasswork’s life till the end.  Ingemar did a very good job on this page together with web designer Hans Ivarsson.

Enjoy a visit to Ingemar Nilsson’s webpage: http://www.faglaviksglas.se/

The gnome, goblin or ‘nisse’ as they are being called in Norway is an important character in Norwegian sagas, mythology and folklore, as well as a folklore character in other European countries. There are many different types of gnomes (nisser) in Norway; the most common ones are the ‘barn nisse’. But there is also another type to be mentioned; it is the ‘mountain-nisse’, ‘church-nisse’, ‘ship-nisse’ and ‘forest nisse’. The ones pictured are the coastal nisse (kystnisse). The majority of the Norwegians associate the nisser with little creatures wearing red hats, who live in barns, sheds and boathouses.

The nisse could be a good helper to a family, for example, feed the animals or do other necessary things throughout the year. If he was treated nicely and given porridge at Christmas, he wouldn’t bring about trouble. He could also be naughty and unpredictable by causing accidents if he was not treated well.

The ones pictured below are the ‘costal nisser’ from the north of Norway, and are recreated after the images of nisser from north Norwegian folklore.

We would like to wish all of you much joy this Holiday Season. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

P.S. Don’t forget to treat the gnomes well, just in case.