This type of old hand blown glass fishing net float has been used for many purposes other than fishing down the ages…
Immediately bringing the feeling and memory of the sea to mind, they have been used in folk belief and magical practice as well as being loved as decor objects.
Used often as ‘witch balls’ hung in the windows of coastal villages all around the UK, there are also several records of women who practiced sea and water witchcraft using them for scrying or as an aid to focus is attaining altered states of consciousness. The Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford has one that had belonged to a coastal witch who stated she used it for scrying a century ago.
This one has a ‘pontil’ mark from hand-blowing, and also a number 2 impession which is probably a makers mark indicationg size.
It is over 100 years old and has probably spent many years in working use as a net float out at sea.
