What is this?

What was it used for?

Who would have used it?

This is a fishnet float, made of hand-blown glass in the middle part of the 20th century.

It was used for ocean fishing using nets. Air is sealed inside the float, so that when it is attached to fishing nets, it keeps parts of them from sinking.

It was used by fishermen from the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. In the past several decades, glass floats have been replaced with those made of plastic.

For more information, visit:

• This artifact in the Karshner Digital Collections
• Artifact Worksheets you can use in your classroom or for homeschool
• Glass fishing floats, a history