Beach Glass - Trash or an Antique Gem?

How many times have you taken a walk on the beach, just along the surf and notice a strange, dull green or brown rock laying amid the shells and seaweed? You probably didn't think much of it and continued on your peaceful stroll enjoying the sounds of the waves and the ocean air. If you picked up that strange rock, you may have noticed it didn't look so dull anymore and actually sparkled brilliantly in the sunlight. Maybe you even tucked the stone away in your pocket. Well, you might have just pocketed a piece of trash and a very old piece, at that!

Beach glass or sea glass as it's commonly called is most often from one of two sources, according to the North American Sea Glass Association. The most common is from trash that has been dumped in the ocean. Not nearly as common are the items lost at sea from ship wrecks and items lost from natural disasters, such as a hurricane or a tsunami. The reason why it's probably old garbage is because ocean dumping is far less common today and more importantly, the use of plastics has cut down on the amount of glass items we use on a daily basis. Thus, the piece of beach glass that you may have found, probably dates back to the 1960s or earlier, since there's very little garbage being dumped in the ocean and not very much of it is glass items.

For a shard of glass to turn into the smooth, frosted finished product, the ocean needs quite a bit of time to do her part. The frosting that you find on a piece of beach glass is from hydration. Hydration is a process where the ocean begins to very slowly remove the soda and lime from a shard of glass. The soda and lime eventually form a crystal-like substance on the surface of the shard. This process often takes several years for completion and during this time, the glass shard is also going through a shaping process. As glass bottle or other household items tumble along the ocean bottom they begin to break of into smaller, yet still sharp pieces or shards. During the years that the ocean needs to go through the chemical removal or "leeching" of soda and lime, the shard will often crack and break and break again as it tumbles along the ocean bottom. Many times, a piece of beach glass washes up on the beach, beautifully rounded, yet there's one section that's not quite the same as the rest of the piece. It may be a little rough and not quite rounded, though it may still have the crystal appearance. Quite often it had changed form from a recent break, yet still had enough time tumbling in the ocean to smooth the rough looking edge and form a crystalline-like finish.

Our reliance on plastics has helped to make beach glass a rare and a very much sought after item. While children search the beaches for large and beautiful shells, many folks have become collectors and/or sellers of beach glass and beach glass jewelry. As the value of beach glass continue to rise, so will collectors of these beautiful ocean gems.

So the next time you're walking along the beach and you spot something sparkling among the shells, you just might want to pause and pick up that beautiful gem... you trash-picker, you!