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Nancy LaMotte's eyes are a clear blue-green, the color of antique Coca-Cola bottles, but brighter. She scans the sand at her feet: gritty knots of seaweed, smashed oyster shells, driftwood – wait! There, by that barnacled log! She bends to pluck a perfect turquoise lozenge of sea glass; while she's reaching for it, she also spots an arrowhead. "Oh, look," she coos. Though her smile is modest, the double whammy is a bit much for me, since the only treasure I've spotted so far on this Chesapeake Bay beach is a grimy scrap of plastic.
For what it's worth, LaMotte and her husband, Richard, are among America's sea glass hunting elite; she makes sea glass jewelry in their Chestertown, Md. home, he—vice president of an environmental analysis firm by day—is the author of a seminal sea glass book, and together they run Sea Glass Publishing, which prints a whole product line for beachcombers, from pocket journals to posters. Chances are that neither of them would stoop for a single one of the brown and white shards you found this summer and then forgot about in a fishy-smelling jar in your garage (The LaMottes keep their collection in the garage, too, but in a custom-made cabinet of color-sorted cafeteria trays). No, they hold out for purple, teal, black and—rarest of sea glass shades—orange.
Being a sea glass expert is a serious enterprise. The LaMottes can recite Depression-era tableware patterns, glass-making recipes, and the saltwater pH levels needed to give sea glass its frosted look. And they don't go hunting on any old swimming beach—collectors of their caliber kayak, snorkel, rappel down cliff faces and hike lava floes to reach premium beaches, which they pinpoint by consulting prevailing wind patterns and even the cycles of the moon, to hit the tides exactly right. They also study maritime history to determine which shipping routes and resorts were popular in the late-1800s, when much desirable glass was made. The private beach that Nancy and I searched for an hour, for instance, is south of a bayside amusement park where patrons likely dropped glass into the water from the 1870s to the 1960s.
Yet even with these resources—and remarkably keen eyesight—at their disposal, the LaMottes and their colleagues have noticed an unsettling trend in recent years: "Sea glass is getting harder to find," Richard told me earlier that day in his kitchen, fingering his favorite foggy jewels like a pirate deep in his plunder. Collectors across the country have noticed supplies dwindling along many of the traditionally bountiful coastlines: Northern California, parts of Hawaii, the southern shores of the Great Lakes and the East Coast north of Cape Hatteras. Increasingly, serious collectors are leaving this country to canvass glassier shores.
"People are traveling to Spain and England," says Mary Beth Beuke, president of the North American Sea Glass Association, a coalition of sea glass collectors and artisans. At the group's annual festival, to be held this year on Columbus Day weekend in Lewes, Del., Beuke will be delivering a lecture entitled "To the Ends of the Earth," describing the lengths modern enthusiasts must go to improve their collections. She is in the process of planning her own trip to Greece.
Running out of "mermaids' tears" seems impossible, and a little sad, like running out of seashells. But one man's collectible is another man's trash, in this case quite literally. Sea glass is essentially pretty litter, broken bottles and jars abandoned on the beach or heaved overboard years or decades or even centuries ago, then smoothed by the ocean's movements. The Caribbean is a great place to find shards from case gin and Dutch onion bottles, for instance – they're rubbish from old rumrunners. Several storied sea glass hunting grounds, like Glass Beach in Fort Bragg, Calif., are actually former town dumps.
But attitudes toward oceanfront property, and litter in general, have changed dramatically since the Glass Beach dump closed down in 1967. Americans' newfound reluctance to hurl junk into the sea has limited the supply of fresh glass, and with the advent of mass-market plastic, glass is a much less popular packaging material than it used to be. There have been sweeping efforts to clean up existing beach garbage, even the collectible kind, and restoration projects meant to save eroding coastlines frequently involve importing tons of sand that is typically glass-free. (Though occasionally, it must be said, this works in collectors' favor: A recent beach renewal in Lewes unearthed scads of valuable black bottle pieces from the Severn, a cargo ship wrecked in the 1770s. Guess what sea-glass festival attendees will be doing between lectures?)
Finally, some prime beaches are simply picked over. Extreme sea glass hunting is admittedly a niche hobby (the LaMottes tell of a woman who patrols a particularly fruitful stretch of sand 365 days a year) but pocketing a few choice pieces here and there is a standard summer pursuit for many Americans. Collectors guard their beach locations ever more jealously against the stiffening competition. As glass gets scarcer, prices rise—treasures like the Shard of the Year, chosen at the annual festival, can be worth hundreds of dollars—and with the growing sea glass jewelry trade there's also a market for faux sea glass, pieces that have been mechanically tumbled or chemically treated. These fakes are anathema to diehard beachcombers like Beuke and the LaMottes and other top-level collectors, who formed their association a few years ago in part to "educate" consumers about the virtues of the real thing.
The LaMottes, for their part, try not to let the controversy take the fun out of hunting. There are other types of seaside prizes for the taking–they are particularly proud of the fossilized bison teeth they found not far from where I went looking , not very successfully, with Nancy. Amateurs like me can take heart in the fact that this year's premier hunting days are still ahead of us (Nov. 13th and Dec. 12th, according to the Perigean spring tides) but it's probably true that "the best collectors will always find pieces," as Nancy likes to say. She and Richard have already searched Bermuda and Scotland and will continue to cast a wide net—there are beaches in Italy, and particularly in Venice, home of the Murano glass factories, that they can't wait to explore.
But they won't forsake their native shores. In their garage, alongside their favorites, the LaMottes have buckets full of sea glass pieces that are not quite smooth or rounded enough to be worthy of display, but which could be quite lovely after a few more years in the water.
They're thinking about going down to the beach and throwing them back.
How interesting about the colored glass. Have you ever heard if it is good searching on the Gulf Coast?
Posted by Joyce Norton on October 8,2008 | 07:32AM
I grew up near Monterey, California collecting seashells, but when my husband and I took our children back last spring, for a visit, I was intrigue by the small pieces of seaglass that I found and collected a few small bottles of them and they are currently on display in my kitchen windowsill. I had no idea this was actually something worthy of a national group or a Smithsonian article. Very interesting!
Posted by Amy Lott on October 8,2008 | 07:51AM
i read a few copies of smithsonian magazines about 20 years ago and i like them very much. on an era of internet, i hope that i can read them in an electronic version. thank you for your attention Ciao! James
Posted by james on October 10,2008 | 07:36AM
Check out http://SeaGlassAssociation.org !
Posted by John Cell on October 12,2008 | 04:07AM
Thats amazing - I have a jar on my bathroom windowsill with shells and would you believe it, sea glass! I collected them when I was living in Sydney from the beach nearby. They are not as nice as yours though!
Posted by Kirsty on October 16,2008 | 02:09AM
I have a small collection of sea glass from Lake Erie that was collected in the 1950's. I have one piece the size of a hard ball on my dining room table; it is the teal color. As a child I knew the quart bottle it came from; it would have been the large base in a reusuable bottle. I have had many-many people comment on it and it was always a prize.
Posted by marie harmon on October 16,2008 | 02:16PM
Oh, no! Endangered sea glass. :) I have a few pieces I found on the shores of Nova Scotia many years ago. They are lovely.
Posted by Gwen on October 16,2008 | 02:36PM
When I visited Israel in 1989 Roman glass shards from the Mediterranean were being made into jewelry by artists. The glass is quite beautiful with layers of pastel colors.
Posted by Roseann on October 16,2008 | 03:29PM
In my 75 years, I have collected seaglass all over the world and one of the best places was a secluded little beach, reached only by sea, on Cape Sounion in Greece. I well know what it is to be bitten by the seaglass collecting bug!
Posted by Noelle Fabre on October 16,2008 | 03:50PM
I'm 69 years old. grew up in New London Ct. where I collected beach glass as a teen making trays that I gave to friends and relatives who all thought I was crazy.
Posted by janet fried on October 16,2008 | 07:02PM
I have a pretty little oval pin, a castaway from Murano. It was bought years ago in an Adriatic town in Yugoslavia, possibly Split. And I remember seeing a collection of lovely Murano beads, again accidental globs, I was told, in a silver shop in West Yellowstone, at one entrance to the park. So, people around the world must be picking up these luminous treasures.
Posted by Nancy Hanst on October 16,2008 | 10:39PM
When I moved away from a 34 year marriage, the one thing I forgot and missed the most was my lifetime collection of beach glass. They had been collected on the beaches of Oregon over at least 44 years. It's been about 28 years and I still remember them with great fondness. There is something about beach glass.............
Posted by Elaine Knapp on October 16,2008 | 11:45PM
I discovered sea glass on a trip to Maine in 1988, in a dusty antique and junque shop in Lubec. There was a large case full of the most beautiful little jewels of frosted glass - 10 pieces for $1.00. I picked out a couple of bucks worth and gave a few pieces as gifts, but the rest are still mine to enjoy. The man who owned the shop was a seasoned prospector, I'm sure. He told me there was glass all along the shore, but the pieces I later found were nowhere near the quality of the ones I bought from him.
Posted by Beth Stafford on October 17,2008 | 06:41PM
I'm 65 yr's old and have collected since my Grandfather got me started collecting "Alley Glass" to make a Kalaidoscope with...I was 10 yr.s old then, and I've been "Looking Down" ever since...My favorite beach was at St.Andrews, Scotland. I shipped home 50lbs of shards, lots of it old patterened china, that had been used as ballast during the old shipping days. I have also found my way to Glass Beach in Kaui, but the shards are small there. I have done better on Maui at several dumpsites. I currantly live on Puget sound, where there is lots of good historical waterfront, so I can get my "fix" when I need it! I have tons of china, glass, and crockery..I create things,mosaics,frames,whimsey..out of my collections of found objects...
Posted by Linda Young on October 19,2008 | 08:41AM
How my heart still aches -- I grew up on the north shore of Long Island (NY), where beach glass was always plentiful. We're facing the same problem as the LaMotte's have near dear old Washington College. The last significant piece of blue glass I found was in the late 1980's. It was big and true blue and perfectly frosted. A generous impulse led me to give it to my now-ex mother-in-law. And she has jars and jars of blue glass! May God forgive me for my selfishness, but I can't help regretting that decision. Thanks for the great story.
Posted by Michele McTernan on October 20,2008 | 11:58AM
My wife and I go to the British Virgin Islands every February and beach glass hunting is how I start every morning. We have a large collection but it does seem to get more scarce each year.
Posted by John Lucas on October 23,2008 | 01:18PM
I have been collecting sea-glass on the beach by my grandmother's river-side house by the St. Clair River, which runs between Michigan and Canada. The glass never gets oval-shaped, it usually retains its curved shape. I guess it's not old enough, or something.This was a very informative article!
Posted by Claire Madajski on October 25,2008 | 05:30PM
I finally had the pleasure to meet the LaMotte's and Mary Beth Beuke at the NASGA's festival in Lewes. I admire them all and think the work they do is very interesting. I consider myself a professional sea glass collector as well and finding the association to which I am a member has been a great connecting point for me. Collecting sea glass for me is not only, healthy it's almost medicinal.... I am fortunate to spend my summers sailing in Greece traveling the islands collecting sea glass...who knew! Let's keep sea glass on the map!!
Posted by Christeena Hockin-Minopetros on October 27,2008 | 10:53PM
Sunset Beach in Cape May, NJ is slim pickings but always a joy when I find a piece...and I have never come home empty handed...I found, in the spring, a perfect bottle top in a frosted aqua...happy hunting everyone and I hope to get to a festival that I just found out occur every year!!!Can't wait for the next one cause I plan on being there.
Posted by Michele on November 1,2008 | 06:39PM
My fondest memories as a child were the Summers I spent in York, Maine along the shoreline with my grandparents who had a prime camp site up there. Every morning I would walk the beaches with my sister and collect shells, sea glass and build sandcastles to decorate with all the pieces we found. If I knew then, what I know now- SHEEESH.....
Posted by Debra on November 4,2008 | 03:24AM
For years in the fifties and sixties our family spent 2 weeks each year in a cottage on Lake Erie's south shore. My Mother collected much beach glass. As a child I spent many hours playing with it. Lots of color back then before plastic. Lake glass doesn't know the water is fresh I guess. Don't underestimate the wave action of the American Great Lakes. Until the mid forties and fifties the lakes were used to dump many cities trash. That glass is still making a showing. The next time you visit the Great Lakes look down, you won't be disappointed.
Posted by Merritt on November 10,2008 | 06:32PM
I have seen sea glass before in red, white, and green at one of my camps at Catalina Island off the coast of California. It was really cool!
Posted by Alexandra on November 10,2008 | 07:45PM
I just started collecting sea glass. November 16, 2008 I found a honey-hole at Outer Banks, North Carolina. In two hours I had found 18 pieces. But, as I was at the waters edge and was looking down I saw something in the water shining I hurridly ran and scooped it up. A great shard of cobalt blue. It is beautiful. I am so hooked right now that's all I am thinking about. If you are a sea glass collector you understand if not people look at me like that's nice in a southern accent.
Posted by Ruth Harrell on November 17,2008 | 05:54PM
How I enjoyed these comments. I have a small collection of various colors, with, since I am not a serious collector or purist, the brown and green delighting me as well as the lovely blue and aquamarine. Mine were collected in the mid 1990's on the Southern shore of Lake Ontario near Rochester, NY. I keep them in a decorative glass jar filled with scented water that reminds me of glorious summer morning walks on the beach.
Posted by Pat Cammarata on November 19,2008 | 08:48AM
We found bags of beautiful green, blue, and brown glass washed up at a ruin of an old fort in Curacao. My daughter's fish tank is full of it - I had no idea it was so rare. It is beautiful.
Posted by Wendy Puglisi on November 24,2008 | 01:26PM
As a kid, my summer days were spent collecting sea glass (we used to call it weathered glass). Whatever happened to all those beautiful shards? Anyway....I am back collecting and love it!! I am not picky. My pieces don't have to be perfectly frosted. Each and every one is beautiful in its own right with its history AND mystery. I've also turned on a close friend to collecting. We enjoy our new found hobby together!
Posted by Anne Dackis on November 30,2008 | 05:14PM