All of the sea glass that we at By the Bay Treasures (BTBT) provide, comes directly from the beaches in and around San Francisco, CA.

Sea glass is becoming increasing difficult to find as recycling efforts improve and fewer people are tossing their trash in the waterways and oceans. Another major factor in the scarcity of sea glass is that glass is being replaced by plastics.

Many factors dictate the value of an individual piece of sea glass. Red and orange are very rare and extremely difficult to find. A good piece of jewelry grade red, yellow, purple and/or pink can fetch over $100.

It takes several years for sea glass to form with the majority of our pieces being at least fifty plus years old. Though there is artificially tumbled craft glass on the market that is mass produced and sometimes sold as sea glass, it does not have many of the features unique to genuine beach sea glass. Genuine beach sea glass often has small "C" formations on the surface, irregular to very uniformly round shapes and often times reveals what it’s original form was such as a Coke bottle or a lip from a bottle that is threaded. Sea glass that has formed naturally will often have deep pitting and a light crystalline patina on the surface causing it to sparkle in the sunlight.

We have managed to provide you with these gems of the sea by undertaking extreme measures in order to find them. We rappel off of two hundred foot cliffs into hidden pocket beaches along the ocean, we kayak to difficult to access beaches and risk life and limb standing in the surf zone while working underwater gravel washes in order to locate these jewels from the deep.

Rest assured that after they are rescued from the beaches that the only indignities they sustain is a dunking in bleach water to kill any bacteria and a thorough rinsing followed by a session in an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner using nothing more then warm water to knock loose any stubborn dirt or algae.

We are proud to be a founder of the North American Sea Glass Association.