Sea Glass and Beach Combing Book Store

As a collector of many things, I have always enjoyed "understanding" my collections. That is, I like to learn about what I am collecting... the "knowing" is almost as important as the "having."

Although sea glass is a pretty "informal" collectible for most people, its growing popularity in recent years means that more and more books have become available to us.

Of course, I love beach combing and nature in a broader sense than just sea glass-- I also collect rocks, shells, pottery, driftwood, and much more. And I am fascinated not only by "where" things come from, but also by the ways they end up becoming part of something "artistic."

I was thrilled when I first got my hands on a copy of Richard LaMotte's book "Pure Sea Glass," shortly after it came out... since then, there have been others. If you don't own a copy of that book, DO consider getting your hands on one!

Anyway, as part of my interest in learning, I have created a small "Beach Comber's Bookstore" attached to this blog. These are just a selection of my own favorite books... and I felt they might be of interest to other sea glass enthusiasts, as well.

I hope you'll take a look! The few cents I might get from referral fees should you choose to buy something simply go towards supporting web hosting for the North Beach Treasures web site.

The myriad shades of green sea glass

After all these years of looking at sea glass, it seems to me that there are more distinct shades of green sea glass than any other color.

"Common" kelly or "Heineken" green

Of course, it may be that I am simply extremely compulsive about sorting my sea glass into piles that seem (at least to my eye) to be the exact same color.

Most of us hear about "green" sea glass, and we immediately think about the common kelly green (sometimes dubbed "Heineken green" because it's the color used for that brewery's bottles), but there is just SO much more to green sea glass.

So far, I have identified about 30-odd distinct shades of green. I am sure there could be many more, but I am trying not to go completely overboard here.

It's not easy to sort a color down to such a detailed level, because (at least for me) you have to learn to distinguish between "distinct colors" and what simply amounts to small variations in the color density of the same color. Most of the time, though, you learn where colors are "distinct" and how there can be "gray-toned olive" and "yellow-toned olive" and the two really look nothing alike.

This deep bluish teal green shade is actually quite rare

I expect that some of my obsession with colors in sea glass is actually "inherited" from one of my other favorite hobbies, stamp collecting. For stamp collectors, being able to recognize slight differences in the color of a stamp (from different printings and ink batches) can mean the difference between owning a 50-cent stamp and a $50 stamp. As I have been a stamp collector since I was a kid-- and many of those years a pretty "serious" collector-- I learned at an early age to pay close attention to colors and nuances. And there is little doubt that some of this is now "rubbing off" when I sort sea glass.

Sometimes I have to stop and ask myself if it is really "important" that I pay so much attention to sorting by color.

I suppose it has become more important because I sell sea glass. If a jeweler I am working with is trying to make a pair of matching earrings... or a bracelet with multiple pieces of glass... it becomes pretty important that the colors he or she uses aren't going to be glaringly different.

That's the "logical" explanation. Bottom line, though, is that I am just having fun doing this sorting!