Sea Glass: The Search on the Shore

Part of the sea glass hunting elite, Nancy and Richard LaMotte are finding the treasures they covet harder to come by

  • By Abigail Tucker
  • Smithsonian.com, October 07, 2008, Subscribe
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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.


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.

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Comments (78)

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE scoping out for glass at the beach - it's a bit of a religion if you will! I've made so many pieces of jewelry from them over the years it's a pleasure to see others wear a piece of the sea on them. I've collected many colors: purple, blue, green of course white/brown but that's about it and that's good enough for me! It's therapy that I enjoy. Thanks!

Posted by Hempen Hill BBQ on April 17,2012 | 12:00 PM

Growing up in Eastern NC and vacationing along our coast, I have always been a sea glass enthusiastist. Besides finds along our NC coast, I have also retrieved sea glass on visits to Hawaii and Italy. I view the process of searching for sea glass as treasure hunting. My treaure hunting passion extends to searching for artifacts like arrowheads, old coins and bottles. Enjoyed reading the above accounts from kindred spirits. Happy treasure hunting :)

Wanted to also share the link to my blog "Close to the Land" which features a photo of one of my prized arrowheads ...

http://closetotheland.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/my-native-heart

Posted by Carolina Carol on April 14,2012 | 08:43 AM

I live in New Jersey right now, but was born and raise in Puerto Rico, I was over there this summer and found a lot of sea glass very beautiful pieces, I love sea glass hunting, love it!!! Thank you for sharing this, I really enjoyed!!

Posted by Nidya on August 10,2011 | 12:00 AM

oh my goodness i am glad to know it is adictive. i am a glassaholic. yes obssession is mild. i have 100's of pounds of good stuff i mean balls of blue the size of golf balls. i have found so many bigs hunks old of pink, orange, yellow, teal , purple and tons of white green and brown. i am up and checking beach sometimes with a flashlight its so competative any more. no such thing as a private beach. lake erie gllass is the best way nicer than ocean glass i have both but hands down the colors are much nicer and very old from lake erie. glas rocks love it love it great website thanks to the lomottes

Posted by dorahemphill on July 26,2011 | 08:31 PM

Just back from a vacation in Barbados. Not only did I find a few nice jewelry quality pieces, four are 'black' glass from really old bottles.

I went sailing with a friend and he let me seed the ocean about a mile off the beach with a bucket of glass shards.

Hope some collector will find the smooth pieces 50 years from now when they wash up on the shore.

Bajanna

Posted by Bajanna on July 20,2011 | 05:52 PM

I found a piece of "Vaseline" uranium glass today. I love looking for sea glass and making it into fine silver jewelry. My name is Shannon Down By The Sea if anyone is interested.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shannon-Down-By-The-Sea-Mermaid-Tears-Sea-Glass-Jewelry/104117746317261

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ShannonDownByTheSea

Posted by SHANNON RUSSELL on July 12,2011 | 08:37 PM

Just returned from Nova Scotia with my daughter and we found approx 2000 pieces of sea glass, on one particular day we found 962 pieces in about an hour. I live in NC and cant wait to get to the shore to search. It is very addicting!! Love it!!!

Posted by Trish on July 12,2011 | 12:42 PM

My grandson found a piece of ses glass on Long Beach Island.

It is clear white with the letters W M D clearly visible.

Can you identify the bottle or maker?

Posted by phyllisbuziak on June 30,2011 | 09:18 PM

Perhaps one of the reasons that sea glass is becoming rare, or harder to find, could be that people have 'bucketsful' of sea glass that should have been left to tumble naturally in the waves and sand for a few more years. Many photos I've seen of sea glass, still shows jagged edges or big chips. If only it had been put back instead of removed from the beach, then ...

Posted by Virginia on May 7,2011 | 11:29 PM

Hi everyone.My daughter has a 1976 sea glass coke bottle.It is clear but very beautiful.Does it have any value? There are no chips whatsoever.Email me donp62@comcast.net.Thank you.

Posted by don prairie on January 20,2011 | 07:36 AM

I have a free form sea glass tree on three panels 42"x22" each. Ply wood has been cut so that the tree is viewed from both sides, allowing ligt to flow through. I do not know the artist nor the value of this beautiful work of art. Would appreciate any input.

Posted by Miki Straughan on November 4,2010 | 12:21 AM

It is so exciting to read stories from your sea glass collectors. I started picking up the glass about 10 years ago, but didn't realize exactly what I had. I marveled at the soft edges, crooks and crannies of broken bottle pieces. Somehow, even at that time, it became my secret treasure. I had displayed it among my lovely shells in various placed throughout my home throughout the years, sometimes just stopping by to hold a piece or two. Today, I am sea glass crazy. A long as I find a piece here and there along our NC coasts, I won't leave the seashore till darkness forces me in. You get it in your blood and no matter where you are, you become a radar for beautiful glass. I'd love to venture to some more secluded areas. Wanna share your secret places with me? That's okay, I'd probably be reluctant to do so as well. Gotta love those after storm effects when the ocean gets all churned and angry. God bless you ocean..bring it on...your beach nuts are waiting. Thanks to those of you who make this site possible. Love Ya for it..Norma in NC

Posted by Norma Murphy on November 2,2010 | 07:14 AM

Beachcombing on the Silver Coast of France is my favorite pastime. Some days I find a bit. Other days I feel as though I'm walking through the Sahara. Brown glass is an unusual find here as opposed to America. My favorite is the teal glass.
The French don't even have a word for "sea glass".

Going out again in the morning.
Wishing I had an ultralight :)

Lisa
silvercoastseaglass.etsy.com

Posted by Silver Coast Sea Glass on September 21,2010 | 03:15 PM

I can't imagine being at the lake and not hunting for beach glass/stones. I have been doing it since I was little with my Dad who suddenly passed away two years ago today. I still feel he is with when I am there. I live close to Erieau On. and I get excited about what I will find everytime I go. It is nice to see comments from others like myself.

Posted by Dana on September 7,2010 | 05:15 PM

Fabulous finds on the north shore of Lake Erie! Hope to get out there this weekend!

Christina
www.seaglassrocks.com

Posted by Christina on August 27,2010 | 03:46 PM

The ocean at the Jersey Shore (Ocean Beach III to be exact) has been pretty rough this week, lots of swells and rips. Between early morning and early evening low tides, the sea glass has been plentiful. In the last 2 days (some morning and evening runs) I have found almost 200 pieces. My neighbor went out this morning (I didn't and could kick myself) and found 188 pieces which I counted. We have found beautiful blues, light and cobalt, a variety of greens, thick white/clear and of course brown!! I can't wait till tomorrow!!

Posted by Joni Frascati on August 17,2010 | 10:58 PM

I really enjoyed reading all these comments from so many lovely people who love sea glass as much as I do.
I live in Ireland beside a beautiful beach where I have found many wonderful treasures, lots of very old sea glass and sea pottery with interesting patterns. I now make jewellery out of some of it and sell on etsy (Irish Sea Glass).
What I love most is being on the beach ,surrounded by the beauty of nature and searching for sea glass, it calms and inspires me.

Posted by Margaret on August 8,2010 | 05:59 AM

I loved all the comments on collecting sea glass. I just started collecting in April with my 7 year old grandson. The weather was mild so we hiked to an area beach on Lake Erie-well now I'm hooked. We made a small bottle for his mother and one for his Fathers Day gift. I also made a bottle for my sister that was shaped like a small pitcher - it was clear and had sailing ships on the side. I filled it with shades blue, green and clear glass. Hard to part with all that glass but it was her 40th anniversary. I'm interested in learing more about my new hobby! Everytime that I go collecting I bring home some beach junk usually plastic to help clean up the beach and so thankful for the wonderful beach I've been on.

Posted by Ruth Golem on July 30,2010 | 01:31 AM

I'm only thirteen, but have loved collecting sea glass since I was a toddler. I've noticed how scarce sea glass is becoming (and I often find "sea plastic"! I have a lot of old worthless glass in my house, and I'm planning on breaking it and dumping it in the sea, for future generations to enjoy.

Posted by Emily on June 30,2010 | 09:53 AM

What a wonderful and informative article. Thanks ever so much for covering this topic. I live on an island and collecting sea glass is not only a hobby that brings the generations together but it is also a favorite activity of all who visit us.

Posted by debara hafemann on June 15,2010 | 05:27 PM

Just received some sea glass from Japan. So excited!! We live on the beach in SC an only taken one look around but have a feeling this would be hard finding here. In fact this beach has had so much erosion that they haul in sand each year to keep the beach sandy.

Posted by mary on April 30,2010 | 03:44 PM

As a child in the 70's, I played in a little cove we called Glass Beach, where the entire cove was full of brilliant sea glass. It is gone today, but the adventure continues in a new children's book I authored last Fall. Check it out at: www.theislandadventuresofliliandoliver.com detailing island life on Bonaire, adventure, reef conservation, sea glass pieces etc.

Jodi Grubbs, author.

Posted by Jodi Grubbs on March 27,2010 | 11:41 PM

http://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Coast-Sea-Glass/369939402345

Posted by Benjamin on March 21,2010 | 08:51 PM

I suppose we are lucky at the moment in yhe u.k.,not many people are into sea glass.In fact if you mention it here, you get blank looks.sort of"why do you want to collect that rubbish" great i hope it stays that way

Posted by jon david on February 1,2010 | 02:50 PM

Sea glass has been a passion in my life since I was child. I have lived on the East End of Long Island for my entire life and we are so fortunate to be surrounded by the ocean, the sound and the smaller bays. Sea glass is becoming a rare find these days but the thrill is still there. Come see some of the rare piece I have collected over the years by our local shorelines and from other collectors over the years.
Holly L'Hommedieu
www.hlseabeachglassjewelry.com

Posted by Holly L'Hommedieu on January 28,2010 | 09:28 AM

Our ship is calling in Okinawa, Japan in a few days. Could anyone reveal some names of beaches that have sea glass? Much appreciated, Beach Combing Enthusiast

Posted by Nikki on December 10,2009 | 03:15 AM

Several years ago, while collecting minerals on the New England coast, at night by ultraviolet light, I kept finding pieces of sea glass, as well. Most sea glass that glows seems to do so under shortwave/UV(254nm), but other colors glow as bright or brighter under midwave/UV(312nm) and/or longwave/UV(368nm). Not all colors of sea glass fluoresce in equal vividness under all UV wavelengths. Any other midnight ultraviolet sea glass collectors out there?

Posted by David Gunning on December 1,2009 | 03:55 PM

My husband is in the military as well AND we are stationed in Japan as well. Just south of the Yokosuka naval base is a tiny beach area that I've been combing through over the last several days and I have found old glass, new glass, red glass, blue glass (couldn't help it). Green, pink, pottery, china. Whatever. The shores of Japan really do give sea glass like they give shells.

It's amazing here, too bad we're leaving in a few months :(

Posted by Anna on November 21,2009 | 07:58 AM

I've been collecting sea glass for a few years, around the world --from Spain, Hawaii, Romania (Black Sea), Caribbean, California, etc. It is truly a "lucky" find, and so I call my sea glass jewelry, "Lucky Sea Glass". If you have found a gem quality piece and would like a custom made pendant, earring or bracelet, please check out my website at www.luckyseaglass.com I also have jewelry I have made from the sea glass I have beachcombed.

Posted by Jean Forman on October 27,2009 | 08:27 PM

Well just recently after my sister moved into there house my nephew found a bunch of seaglass, the kicker is they live miles from and lake and the only body of water is a river about a half mile to there north, they have apparently found some rare colors. Is there any way that they could show up buried in a back yard at about the 18" level. Its an old house that we're trying to date when it was built, as there have been some additions to the house over the years. They have found some black, some yellowish, blues and a few others. To help matters I can't find a map earlier then 1926 for the town, I know there are some as I have seen them but that was a few years ago when I was investigating something else. The town (Alliston, Ontario Canada) was burnt down on May 8,1891 but it didn't reach the street where the house is located. There was a foundry about 2 blocks to the south of the house and the property is surrounded by trees and lots of them, any help would be welcome. You can contact me at jparcjr@sympatico.ca if you can offer any assistance.
Philippe

Posted by Philippe Cyr on September 29,2009 | 08:29 PM

I have been collecting beach glass since I was a little girl. We have a small collection. My son found over 100 pieces one day after a storm at Christmas on the Long Island Sound. He used them for school (in South western PA) when they were to bring in a collection of 100 things for the 100th day of school. No one had ever seen it before. The teacher and kids were all excited to see it.

Posted by Maria on August 29,2009 | 02:57 PM

My mother gave me a "recipe" years ago for a liquid to highlight the colors of sea glass displayed in glass jars. I remember that it had kerosene or something in it. Does anyone recall the ingredients and proportions?

Posted by Sara on June 29,2009 | 06:21 PM

Hello again sea glass enthusiasts,

Someone earlier in the thread had inquired about the next Sea Glass Festival. It is scheduled and a great team of organizers are working hard at creating the amazing event it's anticipated to be.

Date: Oct. 17 and 18, 2009
Location: Erie Pennsylvania's Bayfront Convention Center
More Info: http://www.SeaGlassAssociation.org

Thanks, MB

Posted by Mary Beth Beuke - West Coast Sea Glass on May 31,2009 | 01:00 AM

My grand kids just introduced me to sea glass. We found quite a bit on the Hudson River near the Tapenzee Bridge. I took some home to Maryland and put them in my back yard birdbath. It has a solar fountain and the sea glass just glitters in the falling water. In the water it doesn't look so frosty. I'm in my seventies and the kids are 4 and 6 which shows we are never too old to learn, and never too young to teach.

Posted by Lous Jones on May 31,2009 | 03:44 PM

Hello Sea Glass Enthusiasts,
It's Mary Beth here. Thanks for reading the Smithsonian article and for your many comments. Yes, it is true. Sea glass is becoming rarer with each passing day. I have the opportunity to work with it on a daily basis and with the wonderful community of collectors who are a part of the world's largest sea glass community; The Sea Glass Association, a non-profit organization that is committed to educating the collector and to shoreline restoration.
-MB http://www.WestCoastSeaGlass.net

Posted by Mary Beth Beuke - West Coast Sea Glass on May 21,2009 | 12:22 AM

We're a military family and have lived overseas for 20 years. We wish we had discovered sea glass sooner, so many shores we have missed over the years. We live in Okinawa Japan and the sea glass is so abundant here it is like finding sea shells, no kidding.

Posted by Bea Muranaka on May 14,2009 | 04:06 AM

I plan on a day trip to Goderich, Ontario. I would like to know if anyone knows where to look for beach glass there? Thanks, Betty

Posted by Betty McDonald on May 6,2009 | 08:32 AM

Sea glass hunting is a multi-generational thing for my family (4, at least). See our blog at http://www.treasureglass.blogspot.com/. The hunting is still pretty good at our beach, though the range of colors is more limited now. Of course, I won't disclose the location! Good hunting to you.

Posted by Jay on May 1,2009 | 11:30 AM

No wonder it's getting scarse - look at how many people are collecting it!

Posted by Barbara on April 29,2009 | 06:19 PM

We are on our way to a Oregon lighthouse/sea glass trip. We know about the Fort Bragg Glass Beach. Any good places on the California and Oregon coastline north of Fort Brag??? We would be so excited to hear from anyone ASAP as we are on our way!!

Posted by Trudi Ahart on April 18,2009 | 07:31 PM

Collecting sea glass has been around a long time, in some families for several generations. However, it was not generally known as a hobby or art form until recent years. However, many artists are using it for jewelry because of its special qualities. Doing a search on Google for sea glass crafts or best sea glass beaches brings up a lot of information now!

Posted by David Schneider on April 17,2009 | 02:04 PM

I became a Sea Glass collector 8 years ago and was hooked from the very first piece! Sparkling aqua on the North Florida beaches in Jacksonville. I have jars, glass bowls, and even a lamp full of the hundreds of pieces I've found over the years. My most special "finds" were on the Pacific West Beaches of Cost Rica. Cobalt Blue, White, Green, Aqua, brown....this website has educated me on how many other people are truly passionate about beachcombing as I am! While every piece is so special, has anyone ever sold any to a jewelry making or other merchant?

Posted by Maryangela Wright on March 13,2009 | 02:06 PM

These comments are so entertaining and interesting (at least to us sea glass addicts)! To think of all of you folks who appreciated sea glass and collected it way before it was the "fad!" I admit I didn't think about it all until my wife finally got me interested. Now I'm addicted, too. We now have a popular website with over 50 pages of information on sea glass, and our visitors would love to hear any little stories or experiences you would like to post there! David and Lin Schneider OdysseySeaGlass.com

Posted by David on March 13,2009 | 12:57 PM

For a site that takes up where the NASGA (North American Sea Glass Association) left off, visit http://www.seaglasslovers.ning.com A member only NON commercial, jewelry and agenda free site dedicated to sea glass collectors around the world. After only 3 months online we are the fastest growing and now largest member community of sea glass collectors in the WOR

Posted by Linda J - By The Sea on March 10,2009 | 08:46 PM

Hi,

All are invited to join a social networking site for sea glass enthusiasts this site is interesting to anyone who loves to beachcomb or loves the sea:

http://seaglassartists.ning.com/

Hope to see you there! Lisl Armstrong

Posted by Lisl Armstrong on February 23,2009 | 02:59 PM

I've been collecting for about 10 years now and am addicted to sea glass. I display mine in corked bottles with the source of the glass marked on the bottom. I'm visiting Oregon soon and would like to know of any recommended places to find it there.

Posted by Jay Stafford on February 17,2009 | 09:40 PM

Are there any good sites for seaglass down the Baja peninsula in Mexico? I'll be in Cabo San Lucas soon and would love to spend some time looking for seaglass. In the past, when I've been there, I've found brown on the Sea of Cortez beach, but I'm wondering about the Pacific side.

Thanks, Linda Smith

Posted by Linda Smith on February 1,2009 | 12:41 PM

I enjoyed reading your comments everyone! Thank you for taking the time to share your enjoyment of sea glass. I started collecting 5 years ago when we moved to Gloucester, Ma. I am spoiled I know - the sea gives me gifts daily. I blog about my sea glass life/and daily thoughts at http://seaglasspainter.blogspot.com/ and I sell on Etsy under Beachcomber Cards....if you are interested. Does anyone know where the next sea glass festival will be? My husband just suprised me and booked flights to Glass Beach, Bermuda for our 30 anniversary... Now that's Love!!!

Posted by Debara Hafemann - The Sea Glass Painter on January 10,2009 | 11:52 PM

This summer I experienced my first search for sea glass on the Almafi Coast of Italy and I'm hooked. Are there any good sites for searching on the North Carolina coast? I'm down to Wilmington a lot and would love to know any areas around there that are good for glass hunting. David

Posted by R. David Sprinkle on January 4,2009 | 09:22 PM

I,m delighted I came across this site. I started collecting sea glass about two years ago and it is addictable. I have collected about seventy pounds, not all flawless,but I find it comparable to treasure hunting. I found some beautiful pieces I wouldn,t part with. A wonderful way to pass some time and get a little exercise.

Posted by Garry Aucoin on January 4,2009 | 05:07 PM

It was with great enthusiasm that I shared a sea glass collection with my grandmother "Mimi" who owned beachfront property in Seabrook NH. We started our collection in the 1960's. Mimi gave me our collection in the early 1990's. I am a member of NASGA and have a business making jewelry with our sea glass collection.

Posted by Danielle Renee' on December 27,2008 | 06:07 PM

So glad to have found this site. I have colelcted since a girl in New London, Ct. Now collect in North Carolina, which used to be much better before all the hurricanes in the last few years. Adriatic Sea in Italy provided many beautiful pieces. I think I will have to use my collecting passion to go back to the carribbean just for glass! Happy hunting. P.S. New London still provides quite a bit on a little trashy beach on the river!

Posted by Christine P. on December 11,2008 | 01:17 PM

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 | 08:14 PM

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 | 04:26 PM

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 | 11:48 AM

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 | 08:54 PM

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 | 10:45 PM

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 | 09:32 PM

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 | 06:24 AM

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 | 09:39 PM

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 | 01:53 AM

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 | 08:30 PM

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 | 04:18 PM

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 | 02:58 PM

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 | 11:41 AM

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 | 09:41 PM

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 | 02:45 AM

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 | 01:39 AM

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 | 10:02 PM

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 | 06:50 PM

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 | 06:29 PM

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 | 05:36 PM

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 | 05:16 PM

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 | 05:09 AM

Check out http://SeaGlassAssociation.org !

Posted by John Cell on October 12,2008 | 07:07 AM

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 | 10:36 AM

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 | 10:51 AM

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 | 10:32 AM



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