Norway Floats: European Glass Fishing Floats Blog

Anders Magnus Andersson from Fillipstad, Sweden owned a company together with his companion Anders Ørnberg, retailing glass and porcelain starting 1859. The company was called ‘Ørnberg & Andersson AB’  and was located in Gothenburg. The business went well thanks to Anderson’s goals and energetic leadership and in 1867 he bought off his companion and became the sole owner of the business.

 

In 1874 Andersson bought land in Fåglavik, Västergötland, Sweden, and established his own glassworks, bringing his dream to life.

In 1882 there was a new employee at Fåglavik - Emil Nyman. Soon after he achieved the ‘master’ title in blowing glass. It is during his presence the glass factory was awarded a silver medal  for glass floats for fishing nets at the International Fisheries Exhibition in Edinburgh 1882. The glassworks stops its work in the year 1980.

 

There is no document or any other source that we found, stating any trademark of the glassworks’s fishing floats.

 

Below is the copy of the awarding diploma. Anders Ørnberg’s name is being mentioned in there since Andersson never changed the name of his company - ‘Ørnberg & Andersson AB’, although being the sole owner of the Fåglavik Glassworks.

Workers outside the Fåglavik Glassworks. 1958.

Click on the pics to enlange them.

For further information and photos from Fåglavik visit http://faglaviksglas.se

 

 

Here is an old picture (unfortunately there is no date of when it was taken available) from the fishing port in Shikotan, Russia.
As far as we know, Russians are still using and manufacturing glass fishing floats in the East of Russia, although glass floats are considered by fishermen as ‘unpractical’ and ‘fragile’, so they mostly use plastic and aluminium floats now.

Here is an old photo showing porbeagle fishing in the Norwegian sea. A handline with a big hook and a strong rope or a wire were used. Glass floats were fastened to the line. When the shark was on the hook, the floats were thrown into the sea to slow down the shark in its attempt to get away/get loose. This method was used until 1928.

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