Buoy-aint they pretty?
You can find a float on the beach, and you can even blow your own, but Lincoln City’s North Lincoln County Historical Museum is providing one last chance to snag one of the curated floats from the James Watson Glass Fishing Float collection at a fund-raising sale this Friday and Saturday, June 6 and 7.
Watson, who died in 2002, was one of the world’s leading collectors of Japanese glass fishing floats. He found his first float walking on the beach near his home in Hawaii, a marvelous lavender float the size of a basketball. Watson’s life was changed, and he found his calling: to seek out the rarest glass fishing floats he could find and share their beauty and history with the world. He dreamed of one day having his vast collection displayed in a museum, and began working with the historical museum in the ’90s, helping create some of the float exhibits now on display, and giving presentations on the history and use of glass floats and strategies for collecting them.
In 2023, the James L. Watson Glass Fishing Float Foundation donated the remaining pieces from Watson’s personal collection to the museum. At the time of donation, it was agreed that a portion of the glass floats would be made available for sale, as a fund-raiser for the museum, helping with building maintenance and operating costs to ensure that the collection would have a permanent home.
After several years of careful review, selection and appraisal, the last large portion of these floats is available for purchase.
"We are proud to be able to provide a permanent home for these one-of-a-kind, beautiful pieces of history," said Executive Director Christopher Melton. "We are ever so grateful to the Watson Foundation for their donation. The future is very uncertain for small nonprofit museums like ours, and these funds will help ensure that our museum stays open for years to come."
There will be a wide variety of floats for sale, ranging in price from $5 to $4,000. This is the final fund-raising event, though additional floats might be made available for purchase through the gift shop at a later date.
Before the sale begins, the viewing room will be open to the public. To make the event as equitable as possible and give everyone a chance to find their float, there will be a lottery drawing outside of the viewing room to select the order in which people will be let back into the room to select and purchase one float.
The North Lincoln County Historical Museum is located at 4907 SW Hwy. 101 in Lincoln City and is open Wednesday through Saturday from 11 am to 4 pm. For more information, go to nlchm.org or call 541-996-6614.
Event Schedule
Friday, June 6
11 am to 1 pm – Meet-and-greet with appraisers and float experts and view the floats for sale.
1 to 4 pm - Lottery drawing and sale begins.
Saturday, June 7
11 am to 2 pm - Lottery drawing and entry.
2 to 4 pm - Lottery ends, limit is lifted, and any remaining floats will be available to all.