Sea Glass Auctions on eBay: Closing July 26th

New auctions with sea glass and pottery have just been listed on eBay!

Nice selection to choose from, with 65 lots available. You'll find a mixture of individual collector pieces, as well a jewelry and "bulk" lots for making glass mosaics.

Current auctions end on Sunday, July 26th, starting at 7:00pm US Pacific time/10:00pm Eastern time. All items are listed with a buy-it-now price, for those who'd like to purchase right away. The buy-it-now does go away, once the first bid has been placed.

Shown here: A very large and perfectly frosted piece of deep greenish aquamarine sea glass-- uncommonly deep color, and in super condition. Worthy of any collection, OR would make a beautiful pendant!

Click here to go look at the auctions!

I appreciate your interest!

North Beach Treasures Sea Glass Shop on Etsy

As of the 1st of January this year, I have started a new venture to share some of the sea glass I find with collectors and artists around the world.

Although Etsy is probably best knows as a place to find handmade goods of many different kinds, the site also has an area where people can sell supplies-- in this case, I have started a small online "shop" to offer jewelry quality sea glass from the Pacific Northwest.

This will include both "lots" with multiple pieces in specific colors and sizes, as well as individual pieces for jewelry and art-- or just for a sea glass collection.

I hope you'll take a moment to stop by my new show, to see what's there!

North Beach Treasures Sea Glass on Etsy

Looking at Colors: Clear

Clear (sometimes called "white," although this is a misdescription) is the most common sea glass color.

Most people who have walked on a beach and looked down have probably come across a piece of clear sea glass. Once the glass has been rolled about in surf and salt water for many years, gets a soft almost luminous glow-- hence clear sea glass has sometimes been called "ocean moonstones."

Clear sea glass is often overlooked and dismissed as "boring," on account of its lack of color. This is a bit unfair, as the variety of objects made with clear glass is vast, and there's no telling what might turn up. Over the years I have found Victorian era doorknobs, cabinet and drawer pulls, bottle stoppers, intact handles from small pitchers, many many pieces with writing on them, along with all sorts of other unusual items.

The shown piece-- which is about 1 1/2 inches across-- shows the clear lines from the threads of an old glass electric insulator.

New Seaglass Auctions Ending Saturday, February 16th

Although it is still cold around these parts, there are signs that spring is just around the corner, here in Western Washington. Just this morning, I noticed that the first spring crocuses were starting to bloom.

Spring means more "friendly" tides for sea glass collecting, and I look forward to starting a new season of beach combing. There have been some good large storms this winter, which means the landscape of the beach has been changed considerably, and some of the gravel (and sea glass) that once was several feet below grade has been brought to the surface. There are upsides and downsides to this-- the downside being that the rough surf (unfortunately) tends to put fresh breaks and chips into a lot of the glass.

In the meantime, I have been sorting more glass from the bins in the office-- mostly saved items from last year's beach trips. Yesterday (Saturday) I finished listing about 100 new lots on eBay, including both "bulk lots" chosen for jewelry and mosaics, as well as individual collector pieces and rarities. As always, auction lots are open to bidding, or items can be purchased immediately, using eBay's "buy it now" feature.

The current series of auctions are scheduled to close on the evening of Saturday, February 16th. At the request of a number of people, sales now close at one minute interval, allowing more ready participation for those who enjoy "live" bidding. In addition, I am hoping to add some new lots to store inventory by the beginning if this coming week.

Some highlights from the current group of auctions are shown here. This time there are some particularly nice REDS, as well as pink, turquoise, orange and other scarce colors. I am also offering a couple of very large "bulk" type lots with 100s of pieces.

eBay Sea Glass Auctions closing Monday, February 4th

It has been cold-- even snowy-- in Western Washington, so my beach combing has been limited. I may be quite "dedicated," but 27 degrees and windy is NOT my favorite kind of weather for going to the beach.

Instead, I have spent the last couple of weeks sorting two gallon sized (yes, I said GALLON) pickle jars full of unsorted seaglass from the last couple of years. The result is a new series of sea glass auctions, as well as many new items in the North Beach Treasures eBay store.

This time, I have listed over 110 new lots, including both "groups" chosen for jewelry and mosaics, as well as individual collector pieces and rarities. As always, auction lots are open to bidding, or items can be purchased immediately, using "buy it now." The current series of auctions are scheduled to close on the evening of Monday, February 4th.

Some highlights from the current group of auctions are shown alongside. There is a very nice representation of rare colors in the current set, including several shades of ultra rare ORANGE sea glass. Orange is widely regarded as the single rarest color in sea glass collecting, and many collectors will beachcomb for a lifetime, and never find a single piece.

Sea Glass Auctions: Group 1

My first group of seaglass auctions for 2008 are now listed on eBay!

North Beach Treasures auction listings

I like to group the glass together the way actual brick-and-mortar auctioneers do, so there are multiple "lots" all being offered with approximately the same end time.

The first sale of 2008 has a total of 30 lots, including both some individual better pieces that might be of interest to collectors, as well as some nice "groupings" that are more offered for jewelry makers or crafts people.

The highlight of the sale is the nice piece of bright turquoise, pictured above. Genuine turquoise is one of the rarest of all seaglass colors, and eludes many collectors, even if they have walked the beach for many years. Along with orange, turquoise tends to be the highest priced color in the collector market. A fairly large flawless piece of turquoise seaglass sold for $176.00 on eBay, in early 2007. On the rare occasions when high quality shards of this color are offered, the prices tend to reach $50+ very quickly.

Winter Sea Glass Collecting

First post of 2008. Happy New Year!

If you live in the northern hemisphere, collecting sea glass in the winter can be somewhat of a challenge. Not only are you dealing with a high likelihood of inclement weather, but the days are short and typically the highest tides are during daylight hours, and the low tides occur in the middle of the night.

I went to the beach exactly twice in December, and found very little of interest. Some of the better and more interesting items will end up on eBay, later this month.

Happily, there are some better days (tide-wise) coming up towards the middle of January, and I just hope the weather isn't completely horrible. Spending three hours on the beach with rain being driven into my face at 25mph, while the temperature is about 40 (4C) is really not my idea of a fun time.