This is a fish net float. More than likely it's from Japan or one of many other Pacific islands where the indigenous people made their living fishing.
My previous husband and his family spent ten years living on Kwajalein Island, an island in the Marshall Islands. The Marshall Islands are an atoll in the Pacific. My father-in-law, a graduate of the Naval Academy, worked for RCA (out of Moorestown, NJ) after he left the service. He was assigned to a post on Kwaj and worked on missile systems while there. My former in-laws had a collection of fish net floats that they collected while living on Kwaj. I always found these floats to be quite fascinating. Imagine the stories a float could tell if it was able to talk. Over the years I looked for floats and purchased them when I found them in their original condition (with the original roping in place).
My previous husband and I divorced over twenty years ago. Both of his parents passed away about six years ago. My daughter brought some floats back to me after spending some time at the home of her grandparents when her Dad and his siblings were divvying up the belongings of their parents. Those floats are small.
This one (and another to follow) were purchased by me. I've had them packed away in boxes in the basement so it's time for them to move to a new location. I'm not sure there will be a strong market for them in south central PA but there are more transplanted New Jerseyans out this way now so we'll see.
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