Wednesday, February 6, 2008

What to look when buying genuine beach sea glass.

Characteristics of Beach Sea Glass
What to look for when buying genuine beach glass. A good close up picture will tell you everything you need to know.
Beach glass or sea glass may show one or all of this characteristics.Bigger pieces of beach glass may contain all of these characteristics while small pieces may only have one or two.
1.Small pits on the surface where sand and water has eroded away the glass.
2.A white look that we collecters call frost.
3.Small C's on the surface where it's been hit by rocks. This may be so small that you need to really look for them or big that you can see them from a foot away.
Beach glass is , simply put , glass that is found on a beach that has been worn by the waves and sand to form rounded pieces of jewels.Beach glass can be worn down many ways. Glass coming from a beach that has a heavy tide or surf and bigger rocks may show a lot of C's and frost. If picked up on a beach with a gentle surf and just sand the glass may look smoother , it just takes more time to wear down. I also find different kinds of glass wears different for example Vaseline glass I find wears smoother where glass from pop bottles are more rough and heavier frosty.
Where does beach glass come from? It all comes from human hands that discarded glass in or near a water source. Years ago communities burned their garbage on the banking , took it out to sea on boats to get rid of it and people just tossing bottles away never thinking that it would return to the beach. Yesterday's garbage is today's treasure.
The colors of beach glass.White ,brown and green is the most common to be found.Orange , a true yellow , red , purple , black and marbles are the rarest to find.Blues , dark greens and patteren pieces are in the middle.Some pieces are once in a life time find because it could just be that one fancy vase that got thrown way and one piece of it got pushed back up on shore.
Artificially tumbled glass usually is smooth to the touch , looks more chalky than frosty . It will be missing the pits and C's . Some will be rough and in chunks.
If you are not sure , ask the seller for more pictures if possible. Where was the glass found? Now , don't expect a map to the source but they should give you some general information.
My glass is found along the South Shore of Shelburne County , Nova Scotia , Canada in the Altantic Ocean.

2 comments:

High Desert Diva said...

I'm always excited when I find some on my beach walks

Lori said...

Yes , my heart still stops when I see a rare color of beach glass laying there in the sand and rock.