Keith Glein
This undocumented mark is comprised of three concentric circles that form a 'bullseye' for lack of a better term.
It appears to be an older float due to its crude manufacturing technique. The float is out-of-round, has lots of bubbles in the glass, and swirls on the surfaces of the glass.
This float measures 3 inches in diameter and it's light green color.
Found in Japan.
This makers's mark is undocumented. It has four Japanese symbols with a circle in the middle. In one quadrant there is the katakana symbol A ア. In another quadrant is Sa サ. There's also Ha ハ and Ra ラ.
Counter-clockwise it would be 'A Sa Ha Ra' but I have no idea if that was the manufacturer's intent. The largest glass float producer was the Asahara Glass Company but it's worth noting that the Asahara Glass Company did NOT mark their floats. So who produced these floats?
There are other A Sa Ha Ra marked floats out there. Case-in-point, WP #218 has the A Sa Ha Ra characters marked twice on the perimeter of 2 3/4 inch floats. I've also seen examples of A Sa Ha Ra, with each symbol stamped in a different quadrants of the seal button.
What makes this float unique and undocumented is that it has a circle in the middle of the four katakana symbols. I have two of them, so I think this is a verifiable mark.
As with many things in glass float collecting, the origin of these floats remains a mystery to the author at this time.
This float has a Spindle ... well, it's an 'almost spindle'. The thick glass drip almost touches the side of the float but not quite. It's very, very close to touching the side.
The appendage is almost 2 inches long and is between 1/4 - 3/8 inches thick.
The end of the drip appears to be cleanly snipped off but it's hard to imagine how this could have happened. The origin of the type of spindle remains a mystery.
This 4 inch float is also quite heavy for it's size.
Found on Hokkaido Island, Japan.
Nice 7 inch float with WP #3 Kita 北 or 'FF' mark.
This float is a bit unusual for 7 inch floats because the stamp is on a separate ID seal. These 7 inch floats can be found with stamps on the seal button or the ID seal. From my experience, it seems that the floats with ID seals are less common.
There is net pattern frosting over the bottom half of the float.
Lovely Amber Gold float that measures 7 inches in diameter.
7 inch floats are one of my favorite sizes. Biggest enough to stand out but still small enough to display several of them together.
This float has excellent provenance having come from the ex-Richard Carlson collection.
Incredible cobalt Blue Swirls spiral throughout this float.
The float measures about 3 1/2 inches in diameter.
It has the classic 'green eye' that is sometimes seen in floats with blue swirl.
Found on Hokkaido Island, Japan.
Beautifully sun-turned 'LT' float that measures 5 inches in diameter.
This float is completely frosted with some net pattern in the frosting.
It was kind of heartbreaker when the seal was damaged in shipping and the chips were found in the bottom of the box.
Beachcombed on Guana Key, Bahamas.
This Tube Sausage is about 9 inches in length.
It's clear in color with a little flint tint.
This ex-Col. Rich Richardson collection float was found on the west coast of Honshu.
Beautiful Cobalt Blue 'Nebula' Swirl in a 4 inch float.
There's also an amber swirl around the equator.
Millions of bubbles in the glass. This float is heavy for its size, too.
Stamped with mark WP #83 "4" on the seal.
Classic Blue Seal on a 4 inch float.
This float has thousands of bubbles in the glass. There's also distinctive swirling on the surface of the glass.
It's quite heavy for its size.
Found in Northern Japan.