Sea Glass Photo Albums

I have been considering how to create a kind of online encyclopedia of sea glass, based on the many photographs of sea glass I have accumulated over the years. I've been sharing photos with collectors for a very long time, and have often heard things like "Oh, you should publish those!" or "why don't you create a book?"

Truth is, it would be nice to have an online reference of different sea glass colors and unusual pieces. There have been times when I could have used a reference, myself, when I have found something unusual.

For the moment, Flickr seems like the most useful option, as a lot of people already have accounts, and it would be relatively easy to organize the photos by color. In addition, people can view basic Flickr photo collections without having to have a Yahoo or Flickr membership.

I currently have more than 10,000 photographs of sea glass, most of them close-ups of individual pieces, in almost every color imaginable. These include a lot unusual rarities and unique pieces, including my collection of sea glass marbles.

Of course, this will very much be a "labor of love" and will probably take months-- if not years-- to complete. I just doing what often helps me get a project rolling: making a public commitment to the idea.

A Fresh Start

This past year has not lent itself much to beach combing. The seemingly endless travel, tumultuous personal situation and various other things seemed to largely relegate "fun stuff" to a back seat role.

This is not exactly a "New Year's Resolution," but I am hoping that 2011 will be a calmer year... a year in which my own path forward will be less entangled in "Other People's Issues."

Of course, there are not so many good tides for beach combing, in the winter... but come mid-January, there might be a few late afternoons I can get out there.

Introducing the Sea Glass Book Store!

Just for fun, I have decided to add a small online "book store" to the blog and to the North Beach Treasures web site. You can find it by clicking on the "Sea Glass Bookstore" link, above, or by following the link at the end of this post.

Although the popularity of sea glass-- both as something to collect, as well as a medium for jewelry making and crafts-- has greatly increased over the past decade, it still remains very much a "specialty" item. As such, not many books have been published about the subject, and 8 years after its publication, Richard LaMotte's "Pure Sea Glass" remains the standard against which all other books about sea glass are judged. If you don't own a copy already, I highly suggest you click on the link and buy it, now!

The Sea Glass Bookstore is actually about more than just sea glass-- it's a collection of my favorite books (and related!) about beach combing and coastal nature, which has been such an integral part of my life, for the past 40+ years. I've also included a few art books, and art instruction books.

I'm not really doing this to "make money" (although I'd certainly not complain if you decided to buy a book, or two!), but more as a way to share some of my favorite books and make it possible for people to get "instant gratification," rather than just read about a book and then wonder "I wonder how I get my hands on one of those?"

For the moment, there's only about 25-30 titles listed, but I think they are worthwhile ones. I will add more, as I find them.

Visit The Beach Comber's Bookstore!

Keeping a Sea Glass Blog

I have recently been considering the whole issue of writing a blog about sea glass.

I have been a blogger for better than ten years, and have developed several blogs with followings of hundreds-- if not thousands-- of readers. I have also have a couple of "specialty" blogs-- one about collecting stamps, and one about the Enneagram-- so writing about a "specialized topic" is not new to me.

But why keep a blog about sea glass?

As a life-long writer, I am always considering the purpose of my words.

In part, this blog exists simply because I enjoy writing, and I enjoy beach combing... and it's fun to keep track of what happens on the beach, so I can go back and look at "highlights and lowlights," at a later date. So that's a reason I keep the blog-- for me. Of course, I also enjoy taking pictures of sea glass, and posting them online...

For others?

I have to ask myself the question "Why write this as a public blog, and not just as a private journal?" The answer I come up with is much the same as the answer I came up with, for my stamp collecting blog: To share with other collectors... which, ultimately, is a way of saying "To connect with other beach combers and sea glass collectors, and to be part of a community of people with similar interests."

Of course, with that established, the next question becomes "So what should I write about? What will other people find sufficiently interesting to come read this blog?" Again, I consider the same process as I considered with my stamp collecting blog: I ask myself what I would find interesting, as a reader, when I look around the web to see "what others are doing?"

• I enjoy "tall fish tales;" that is, stories about people's amazing/interesting finds.
• I enjoy reading about "really rare" stuff I may never get to see, myself, in person.
• I enjoy reading about "the finest and the best" that's out there.
• I enjoy (or at least find it useful) to be able to read "community news:" Are there any shows? Has someone won an award? Any new discoveries? New dealers/businesses? New books I should buy?
• Specific to sea glass-- which is so often used in an artistic manner-- I enjoy reading about (and seeing) people's creativity.
• Last but not least... since I am in the "business" of periodically selling sea glass, the blog-- at least in a small way-- serves as a way to make announcements about new items I have for sale.

At this point, you might be wondering why I am writing these words.

As a writer, I find that I must periodically take stock of what I am doing, and assess whether the words I am putting out there serve a purpose-- or are helpful/useful-- or are merely self-indulgent drivel. No matter what your field might be-- a human, a writer, a business person-- it's important to sometimes ask yourself why you are doing something. I've always found that taking these thoughts-- which typically bounce around inside my head-- and actually putting them down "on paper," tends to clarify what I am thinking, so I can find a sense of direction.

So, since this blog is somewhat over three years old, I was just pausing to take stock.

Looking at Colors: Red

For many sea glass lovers, "finding a piece of red sea glass" can be the highlight of a beach combing trip. For some, it can even be the highlight of the entire year, or an entire beach combing career.

Red is, indeed, both very rare and quite beautiful-- and it is perhaps this combination of scarcity and beauty that makes it particularly sought after. But just to "put the record straight," though-- Red is NOT "the rarest sea glass color." That said, it is commonly estimated that a beach comber will have to pick up between 3000 and 5000 pieces of sea glass to find one piece of red. In addition, red glass (due to its chemical composition) tends to be "softer" and more "brittle" than many other colors of glass, and thus even when a collector does find a piece of red, the piece is often quite small, and not necessarily in nice smoothly frosted condition.

So, what's the story with red glass?

For starters, red simply isn't a color that has been used very often, for commercial glassware. There are a couple of reasons for this: Red glass is costly to make, and difficult to work with. And, ultimately, "difficult to work with" also drives up the cost of making red glass objects.

As I have written in other posts, colored glass is typically the result of adding metals and minerals (in oxide and chloride-- powder-- form) to sand and silica mix that is glass before it is molten. The simplest way to obtain a medium to deep red glass color is by adding gold-- in powder form. And, at $100s per ounce, this has generally not been an economically viable proposition for glass manufacturers. As often as not, when we run into red glass in an antique store, it is more likely to be "art" glass than manufacturer production glass.

Because of the cost of using gold, alternatives have been explored. Most successfully, highly purified iron and cupric oxide has been used. However, new challenges arose.

Some years ago, I was proprietor of an art gallery, and one of our specialties was blown art glass from small studios and individual artists. In the course of ten years or so, I got to know a lot of glass blowers-- and often noticed the absence of deep red glass in their work.

Knowing that there were alternatives to using gold for red glass, I asked "why no red?" And learned that even though there are non-gold options to make red glass, they can only be used in extremely controlled furnace environments. The raw materials have to be extremely pure and highly processed-- and that quickly becomes expensive. One glass artist described red glass as "too temperamental," explaining that he could make a "pot" of red glass, but if the furnace got just 10 degrees too hot he'd "end up with brown soup." Keep in mind what it might take to calibrate in 10-degree increments in the context of glass having a melting point of 2700 degrees Fahrenheit. I also learned that red glass-- in its molten state-- is extremely corrosive and damages the "pots" used in the furnaces, meaning that they have to be replaced more often than when working with most other colors.

As an example (again, returning to my days at the art gallery), in 1987 major Finnish glass manufacturer iittala decided to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their world famous "Aalto" glass vase by making a special limited edition in deep red. The original intent was that the edition size was to be 1000 signed and numbered pieces worldwide. After extensive experimentation and numerous failures, the edition size was cut short to just one hundred pieces, due to "manufacturing difficulties."

Red sea glass, as beach combers might find it, comes from a very limited number of sources. Some can be traced to automotive tail lights and lenses from warning lamps and ships' lanterns-- most often, these pieces have some kind of texture on one side, put their to increasing the reflectivity of the lens. A small amount comes from Victorian- to Depression-era production and decorative glass, with a few other pieces coming from decorative art glass. Finally, a tiny amount of commercially produced red glass (most often made by Anchor-Hocking in the 1950's) might show up "locally" in various parts of the US, for example from one particular type of Schlitz beer made during the 50s. In all cases, very limited quantities were made... and red was often the color chosen for various "special" or "limited edition" objects.

As an interesting aside, red glass was often used as "tiny accents." For example, when I look at sea glass "objects" such as buttons or beads (which in and of themselves are rare to find), red is a relatively "common" occurrence. Perhaps a full one-quarter of the sea glass beads I have found have been red... but it's very much a "relative" thing, as the chances of finding any sea glass bead is maybe 1-in-2000! Although beads are not exactly rare, most are never picked up because of their tiny size-- beach combers see a piece of glass less than 1/4" in diameter and think "why bother?" not realizing that the tiny round piece has a hole through it, making it a miniature treasure.

"Cranberry Glass" as sea glass

I am occasionally asked why there is not more "cranberry glass" found as sea glass. People point out that when you go to an antique mall (for example) there is far more cranberry glass-- essentially a "pinkish/purplish" red-- than pure red glass. Most likely, the answer lies in how glass is used, and how we-- as "consumers"-- treat the glass we have around us. Whereas cranberry glass was made on a fairly large scale during the first half of the 20th century, it mostly was made into decorative objects. As such, relatively little of it was actually broken, and subsequently very little of it found its way to trash dumps. The same is true of colors such a deep amethyst and bright orange, which was used for decorative objects but is extremely rare as sea glass. Think about it, for a moment: If you chip a glass canning jar, what happens? You throw it away. If you chip your favorite cranberry glass vase, what happens? Unless it's seriously broken, you probably try to fix it. Or leave it out, with the chip facing the wall...

The bottom line is that most sea glass-- probably 99% of it-- comes from commercial glassware. That is, glassware that "contained" something, and/or was "used" for something... after which its utility ended, and it was discarded.

Whatever its origins, red glass is definitely a "treasure" for a sea glass collector, as well as for the few jewelry artists who are bold enough to use it in their work.

To see more photos of red sea glass (and I have many!), please visit my Red Sea Glass Photo Album on Flickr.

The Ebbs and Flows of Life on the Beach

For the past few months, I have spent much less time on the beach than I could wish for. And I have spent much less time "playing with my glass," than I could wish for. In more ways than one.

Beach combing has always been a catharsis-- the beach and the sea have healing properties for me. Maybe that's not true for everyone... however, I start feeling a bit "disconnected" from the world, if I am away from the beach for too long.

Sarah (my honey) recently commented "You really should get a web site going, for your sea glass." We've talked about it, for a long time... a place to write about sea glass and its origins, and showcase some of my sea glass photography. I already have the site "reserved;" I already have this blog. But getting it done has become yet another thing I "wish I had the time for." Although I don't really do "New Year's Resolutions," definitely something I would like to get to, in 2010.

It seems that not only do the tides of the beach ebb and flow, often LIFE itself ebbs and flows. The "stuff of life" has been keeping me somewhat away from my photography and beach combing.

The aftermath of my mom dying (she lived overseas) in August has been time consuming. Making a living in a depressed economy has been time consuming. Dealing with some personal stuff in my life has been time consuming. Creating the "platform" for a better future has been time consuming.

Aside from "tides of life," the beach itself has been "ebbing and flowing," too. Mostly, it has been ebbing.

An article in the Seattle Times (which reaches close to a million people) back in May offered a lot of exposure to sea glass, but unfortunately gave all but "perfect directions" to a piece of beach previously only known to a limited number of hardy enthusiasts. Of course the beach is public property, and I recognize that-- but "over use" of ANY resource is never a good thing; regardless of whether we're talking about fishing, mining, or collecting sea glass.

On one day during this past summer, I counted ONE HUNDRED people on a stretch of beach where I used to perhaps see a single person, every few hours. Many were not "beach combing." They were there with buckets and rakes and shovels and coolers and "manpower," like they were trying to run a "strip mining" operation on the beach.

I take a small amount of solace in knowing that I was not the person who told the journalist where I usually beach comb. His wife beach combs there, too. I wonder if she's as disappointed as I am...

This all brings me to ponder the ebbs and flows of life, again-- and how "a secret" stops being "a secret" when EVERYone knows about it. That amazing hamburger joint around the corner gets featured in the Sunday paper, as a result of which their "amazing" hamburgers become "mediocre" because they have to assembly line mass produce them.

The landscape of the beach changes, too. I mostly beach comb at the base of tall escarpments made up of sediment from the last ice age. These (sometimes 300 feet high) slopes are largely made up of compressed sand and clay, and the erosion and slope collapses have been extensive during the past 12 months-- which means a layer of fresh 10,000-year old sand is laid on top of the material/rocks that contained much more recent material... including sea glass. People often think it is heavy storms that bring down the slopes-- more often it is heavy rains followed by a hard freeze. The water gets into the ground, near the top, expands when it subsequently freezes, and cracks start to form. Eventually, a chunk of compressed sand the size of an apartment building gives way and lands on the beach, changing the topography of everything as the sea and tides eat away at it.

As some wise person once observed: "The only constant in life is change."

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!

Overexposure: When publicity is not a good thing

Sea glass is enjoying a wave of popularity, these days. A couple of decades ago, sea glass collectors were just "random scattered hobbyists" around the globe-- in recent we have become "organized." We have web sites, online communities for collectors and artists, we have an "Association," we even have "conventions." Frankly? I think it's wonderful! It doesn't get much better than when we can share and enjoy something with like-kind spirits.

However, with "organization" and "popularity" also come the troubles of "exposure," along with the dangers of OVER-exposure. It's difficult to pass a "value judgment" on this... but I liken it a bit to the process of a "small town" growing into a "city." Regardless of whether you think of it as GOOD or BAD, the fact remains that without some form of "careful management," you suddenly have traffic jams, urban sprawl; strip malls and the local hardware store is replaced with a Wal-Mart supercenter.

An article ran in the Seattle Times back in early May, and it provided a lot of exposure to sea glass. On the surface, a good thing, but unfortunately the article also gave pretty much "perfect directions" to a remote stretch of beach previously only known to a limited number of hardy enthusiasts.... willing to trudge 3-4 miles across gravel and rocks to get there. How things have changed. On Memorial Day, I counted ONE HUNDRED people on a stretch of beach where I used to see a single person, every few hours. That is, 100 people before I simply gave up and went home. Over July 4th weekend, a similar scenario... I didn't even get on the beach, after seeing how many cars were in the parking lot (and up the adjacent street).

The sad thing is that many of these folks were not "beach combing." They were "exhibit A" of the ugly trait of "human greed." They were there with buckets and rakes and shovels and coolers and "manpower," like they were trying to run a "strip mining" operation on the beach. They'd hike in with a cooler of soda and beer, and then hike out, using the cooler as a storage container.

I take a small amount of comfort in knowing that I was not the one who told the journalist where I usually beach comb. I take less comfort in carrying out a trash bag full of empty beer bottles and cans that littered the beach, a few days later.

Things come and go, in life-- and "a secret" stops being "a secret" when EVERYone knows about it. A friend (online) and fellow beach comber (and jewelry artist) stays pretty philosophical about it... pointing to the impermanence of things. She depends on sea glass to make her jewelry, with which the makes her living... and I admire her ability to stay neutral in the face of possibly using the primary raw material for her livelihood.

I've been around "collectible" hobbies most of my life, and I have seen the aftereffects of overexposure. The problem isn't about whether "people make money," it's about the level of overall enjoyment people derive from the hobby. Thousands flocked to stamp collecting when someone pointed out that stamps were "a good investments." But when it turned out the "big deal" was no longer there when everybody was involved, the newcomers left in disgust. However, during the "chaos years" many old-timers also left in disgust, when their once peaceful hobby had suddenly become chaotic and very expensive. The net result was that overexposure shrank the hobby, in the longer term..

And THAT is what worries me, when I look at sea glass collecting and its growing popularity.

The Rising Popularity of Sea Glass

There is little doubt in my mind that sea glass is pretty popular. When I think of all the beach houses I have visited that had jars of seaglass in the window sills, and the people I've met while wandering the sea shore, I realize that collecting sea glass has wide appeal.

I've been collecting for 40+ years (since I was a little kid, basically) and I certainly realize that I am "not alone" out there, when I am beach combing. It surprises me sometimes, though, just HOW many people are familiar with sea glass.

I thought perhaps my perspective was skewed by my involvement in the growing sea glass "community" on the web. For example, I belong to a couple of online communities for sea glass enthusiasts, each with more than 1000 members, all interested in the same thing. Similarly, I have been a seller of sea glass on eBay for a few years... over the years, at least 500 different people have bought something from me.

That said, I increasingly notice sea glass in the news, and in the media. Whether it's a Travel Channel documentary, or snippets on late night talk shows, a surprising number of people seem familiar with sea glass. In fact, I was recently interviewed by a local writer putting together articles about beachcombing/sea glass for the Seattle Times Sunday magazine. The writer's wife is an avid collector and lives here in my town.

However, the degree to which awareness of sea glass is "in public view" really struck me recently, when I decided to add a sea glass "album" to my pictures I have posted on social networking site Facebook. Now, with the exception of maybe a handful, none of my Facebook friends know me in connection with ANYthing to do with beach combing and sea glass.

And yet?

As soon as I started posting photos of sea glass, I also started getting comments from all over the place... from people I've known for years and years... and whom, it turns out, also collect sea glass.

I think it's wonderful how this pastime/hobby of ours ties folks together, from all walks of life. If you haven't mentioned sea glass to your friends, you might be surprised at how many of them are also collectors....

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: Kelly Green

Green sea glass-- alternately referred to as "common" green, "Kelly green" or sometimes "Heineken green"-- is the third most common color in sea glass collecting.

Although quite a common color, it is actually also fairly "new", when it comes to collecting sea glass. Green, as a color for sea glass collecting, comes in a great many different shades some of which can be extremely rare. Most sea glass experts and collectors limit the "distinct and named" shades to about 6-7, but I have identified close to 30 distinct (repeating) shades of green in my own collection.

If you examine antique (100+ years old) green glass , you'll find that most of it comes either in very bluish or olive green shades. The "pure" kelly green we typically find on beaches today has mostly been mass produced during the past 60-70 years, most often for beer and soda bottles-- it is more common in some countries than others.

To see more pictures of green sea glass, please visit my Green Sea Glass Photo Album on Flickr!

Looking at Colors: Brown

Along with clear and kelly green, brown is one of the three "common" sea glass colors. Common is a relative term, of course-- but this color can be found on most beaches around the world. That said, it was quite uncommon on the beaches of Denmark (where I grew up) because 99% of beer and soda bottles there were green, rather than brown.

A large and thick nugget of brown sea glass

In the US and most other countries, the majority of brown sea glass comes from beer bottles. Thicker pieces generally come from older glassware-- in the US, Clorox bottles used to be made of dark brown glass; a practical matter as chlorine in photosensitive and tends to lose its potency when exposed to light. For this reason, quite a few other cleansers and chemicals were put into brown bottles-- it was also a relatively inexpensive color to manufacture. Brown was also used for medicine containers. Growing up in Denmark, I remember various pills from my mom's medicine cabinet would be housed in dark brown jars.

Brown sea glass actually comes in a number of different shades, ranging from "almost black" to amber. The paler shades tend to be scarcer. There are practical reasons for this: the brown color is obtained by adding iron oxide to the glass "batch," and the more is added, the more durable the glass becomes. Collectors generally find that any large pieces of brown also tend to be darker colors. The true "honey" or "mustard" colored amber sea glass is very rare in larger sizes. The difference between golden/honey amber and brown glass can fairly easily be seen when you hold each color up to the light, side by side.

As stated at the beginning of this post, brown sea glass is fairly common. I'd estimate that for every 100 pieces of sea glass I find (US beaches) about 20-25 will be some form of brown.

Because most brown tends to be somewhat dark and often looks "blackish" away from strong light, this color is rarely used by artists and jewelers for their creations. That said, it can be very pretty when used for framed art to be hung in a window, backed by natural light. The pieces in the photo at left are mostly smaller (1/2" or less) and are shown here in bright sunshine-- where they show in a more vibrant and "warm" color.

To see pictures of more pieces of brown sea glass, please visit my Brown Sea Glass Photo Gallery on Flickr!

How is that POSSIBLE??

Occasionally, I receive slightly "accusatory" letters (emails) from sea glass collectors. Usually, they have recently looked at my sea glass sales listings and have concluded that I "must be selling fake sea glass."

The reason?

They insist that it's "not possible" for me to have as much high quality sea glass-- and in rare colors, to boot-- as I have. At least, it's "not possible" if the sea glass was actually "real."

Of course, all my sea glass is "real." What is missing from the equation is a sense of perspective.

I live near the beach. As the crow flies, the ocean is about 100 yards from my back porch.

I beach comb... a lot. Because I am self-employed, and my work is not dependent on "business hours," I could pretty much beach comb every single day, if I wanted to. As it is, I'm probably on the beach 150-200 days a year.

Beach combing isn't a "short stroll" for me. Many of my outings cover 15 miles over 10 hours... or more.

I've been beach combing since I was a child. 45 years, give or take a few. Not everything I offer for sale was found "recently."

So let's say-- for example's sake-- that I find 10 pieces of sea glass per hour. A lot of collectors can look at that and say "Yeah, I find that on MY beach, too!"

Then, let's extrapolate: That's 100 pieces in a 10-hour day. Or-- conservatively speaking-- fifteen thousand pieces a year. Now, let's extend that and just talk about the last 25 years of my adult life... that becomes four hundred and fifty thousand pieces of glass! Keep in mind, I didn't start seriously trading/selling till 2007-- so many of those years I simply "accumulated" glass, common and rare.

I hope this post doesn't come across as sounding too defensive. I just wanted to illustrate that it's all a matter of perspective. If your perspective is that you beach comb once or twice a month during the summer, for about an hour each trip, then of course it seems like I have an "unreasonable amount" of sea glass.

As for the rare colors, I am fortunate to live in a place that has had an active seaport since the 1850's, so all colors of "old" glass can be found here... which is not generally true of places that are "newer" population centers.

Looking at Colors: Clear

Clear (sometimes called "white," although this is a misdescription) is the most common sea glass color. For every 100 pieces of sea glass found-- on pretty much any beach around the world-- it's a good bet that half or more will be clear. This is not really surprising, if you stop to consider just how many containers and other objects are made out of clear glass.

Piece of clear sea glass from old insulator

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." Another popular term for sea glass is "Mermaid tears," and I feel pretty sure this name originally came into use in association with clear sea glass.

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 originally 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, pieces of laboratory glass, security glass, window glass and 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. Such large thick and frosted pieces are actually somewhat uncommon-- I was very happy to find this piece washed up on the beach, after a winter storm.

To have a look at some of the many and varied types of clear sea glass, visit my Clear Sea Glass Photo Gallery on Flickr!

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.

End of Season Reflections

It has been a year, of sorts. Frankly, had anyone (in the past) told me that I would end up actually selling some of my seaglass to other collectors and to jewelry makers around the world, I would have looked at them like they were nuts. It surprises me a little, in a way, because I have been seeing jewelry made with seaglass for many years. I suppose I always figured that the jewelers got their own glass from personal trips to the beach.

Now that I think about it, that doesn't necessarily make sense-- some of them lived in locales 100s or even 1000s of miles from the nearest coastline. And, as one person at a street fair pointed out to me, earlier this year: "Making jewelry and going to fairs takes up all the time I have. I can't really afford to give up a bunch of days to go find my own glass, and then not be assured that I even get what I need, when I give up an entire day."

The thing I had "overlooked" is that a lot of artists live in financially precarious positions, and so the $100 they could save by doing their own beachcombing doesn't make up for losing three days of work. Apart from which being able to buy a batch of glass that has already been sorted by color, and selected for "jewelry quality" is a lot more reliable than depending on whatever turns up, on any given day at the beach.

North Beach Treasures eBay Store

I have been encouraged by the favorable response I have received from people, as a result of my seaglass auctions on eBay. Seems that a few folks out there believe I am "doing it right."

I never really envisioned my selling some of my "excess" seaglass as being more than something I "dabble" in. Certainly, I never contemplated it as "a business," and I still don't. It's a hobby, first and foremost.

That said, I have had a few of my seaglass-for-jewelry customers suggest to me that I put up an eBay "store," rather than just rely on periodic auctions. I understand their point. As I have been going, so far, I just bulked up whatever I had left to sell every 3-4 weeks and put it out for auction. In a way, an "all or nothing" approach.

An online store makes sense (from a buyer's perspective), because people can go there and buy supplies when they need it, not based on when I happen to have time for auctions.

Of course, it costs money to have a store on eBay, but since I'm not really trying to have a business, per se... the cost seems negligible, vs. the benefits to people out there.

So, with no further ado, I am pleased to announce the "opening" of my eBay store:

North Beach Treasures

If you're a sea glass collector, you'll find some better individual shards-- unusual and rare. If you're a jewelry maker or doing crafts projects with sea glass, you'll find bulk lots and "selections," often listed by quality grade and color.