ANAHOLA — Kauians lucky enough to find rare glass fishing balls on Kaua’i
beaches need to know about ocean currents and have the time to spend hours
beachcombing.
A Kaua’i man apparently found an easier way.
Curt Baxter,
19, was charged by Kaua’i police May 10 with the theft of glass balls from a
home in Anahola.
Glass balls also were reported stolen from another home in
Anahola on that day and from three other homes in Anahola on May 13. No
suspects have been arrested in these thefts.
On Thursday, following the
waiver of a preliminary hearing for Baxter, District Court Judge Clifford Nakea
bound the case over to Circuit Court for trial on June 6.
The balls are
collector items because they are no longer made for commercial fishing in great
quantities, having been replaced by plastic balls.
Les Jones, owner of
Treasures to Trash, a consignment store in Kapa’a, said Baxter sold him 11
glass balls on May 10.
While at the store, a friend told Jones that he had
seen some of the glass balls at a friend’s home in Anahola earlier.
The
owner of the balls was summoned to the Kapa’a shop and identified them as his
property, Jones said.
Baxter was arrested the same day and the balls were
seized as evidence by police.
Jones said Baxter’s family made financial
compensation.
The balls range in value from $10 to $500 and more,
depending on their size, shape and color. Glass balls that command a higher
price were used for smuggling opium in China.
Most glass balls are round,
but some come in cylindrical shapes with groves.
Most of the balls come in
green or a blue-green shade. More rare and expensive balls come in the purple
or red.
The balls range in size from that of a golf ball to that of a
basketball, and larger.
They are used to hold up nets, but occasionally
break free from worn nets and are carried eastward by ocean currents to
Hawai’i, Alaska and the Pacific Northwest.
The balls wash up on beaches
in East Kaua’i and on the North Shore.
“They aren’t easy to find,” a
collector said. “That is one reason they are so special.”
