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Finders Keepers
Once upon a time, beachcombers could find treasures from the East when wandering the beaches in Oregon — blown glass floats used by Japanese fishermen. Used to suspend nets, these floats ranged from 2″ to 2′ in size, and were a coup to find after their 10-30 year journey across the Pacific. Today’s floats are made of plastic, not nearly as interesting.
Fast forward to 1999, when Lincoln City, Oregon decided to plant hand-blown glass floats on 7 1/2 miles of city beaches to celebrate the millennium. Floats can be found at high tide from mid-October to Memorial Day, and as many floats as there are years will be placed — more than 2,000 floats placed in about seven months. The list of artists participating is less than twenty.
If you find a float, it’s yours to keep! Call the Visitor’s Center, and they’ll send you a certificate of authenticity, and information about the artist who made yours.
Read more about Finders Keepers on the Lincoln City website.
5 responses to “Finders Keepers”
I have a windowsill full of the japanese floats…I’d love to find a Lincoln city one! I’ve only found one japanese one in Hawaii, I bought all the others. Apparently, they’re easy to find out on the outer west coast of Alaska…not somewhere I’m prone to beach combing!
Hey, all I’ve found is tumbled broken glass – on Lake Superior! COOL on actually finding one yourself, and congrats on getting it home safely, too. No, the outer west coast of Alaska doesn’t sound the easiest place to go beachcombing. I would love to find a Lincoln City one too. Hard to do in the middle of the continent, though. 🙂
Wow! I would love to find one of these!
It would be really cool. I wonder how long it would take to find one, esp if you didn’t know the beaches. If you were there for a couple of days, would you have a decent shot at finding one? I need to look at a map and see what else is nearby….
The most important thing you need to find a float is a sandy beach and then an ocean current…neither of which is found in the middle of the continent or in this part of AK. darn.