For beach walkers, there is no better moment than stumbling upon a rare piece of weather-worn, wave-battered glass. These bits of sea or beach glass awaken the imagination as they represent moments in human history when a hand held a bottle or a ship gave up a porthole. Beach glass is found primarily along coastlines and the shores of major lakes.
Beach glass is formed from tableware, glass used on ships, bottles and household items that have been discarded into the water. It was common in the past to simply dump trash into the water, especially along shipping lanes and shorelines. As the glass item reaches the shore, the pounding waves and rocky shoreline break the item into smaller bits and wear away the cut edges over time. Smoothed by decades of undersea erosion, beach glass is often round or triangular and has a frosted appearance.
Beach glass comes from two different types of glass: production glass and designer glass. Production glass is made in large quantities for common products, such as clear bottles, windows, dinnerware, lamps, vases and knickknacks. Utilitarian glass such as that in stoplights is a form of production glass. Less-common forms of production glass include Carnival glass and Depression Ware; while mass produced, this glassware was made for a limited time.
Designer glass was made specifically for pieces of art or jewelry and is more rare than production glass. Blown glass, stained glass and handmade glass pieces such as Tiffany shades fall into this category. Beach glass pieces from designer glass are highly prized.
Natural tumbling of a piece of glass is an uneven process that occurs where the shore is rocky. Often a portion of the glass is stuck between two rocks, exposing only one edge to erosion. Triangular shapes result from this type of tumbling. In areas where the beach is sandy, beach glass is often more rounded due to the even tumbling along the sand.
Hydration is a lengthy process in which the soda and lime contents in the original glass are leached out by exposure to salt water, leaving pitting on the surface of the glass. Hydrated beach glass has a frosty appearance. The pits sparkle in the sun because of the tiny crystals that are formed when the lime and soda combine with other elements on the surface.
The most common colors of beach glass are white, brown and emerald green. These pieces originate from ordinary bottles, beer bottles and household jars. Harder to find colors include sea foam and olive green, aqua, cobalt blue and amber. These pieces were once medicine bottles, soda bottles and cosmetic jars. Rare colors include amethyst, gray, black, teal, lime green, cornflower blue, pink, lavender and turquoise. The origin of these colors was perfume bottles, knickknacks and candy dishes. Yellow, red and orange are extremely rare and made from ship lanterns, fine china, milk pitchers and streetlamps.
- beach glass image by jimcox40 from Fotolia.com