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Your online resource for Genuine Beach Sea Glass, Sea Glass Jewelry, Unique Gifts, Mosaic Supplies & more.
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Sea glass is found nearly everywhere in the world and comes from glass objects which find themselves in our rivers, lakes and oceans. This sea glass comes from shipwrecks, landfill, pleasure boaters and many other sources.
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Some of the sea glass was introduced into the bay during the 1800s and early 1900s when San Francisco expanded their city by building out on to the tidal flats. After the great earthquake and resulting fire in 1906, a lot of rubble was used as fill material. Several pieces have been found which are melted down from their original state. Either they are slag glass, campfire glass or glass from the 1906 fire.
The history of the area really dates back to the 1600s when Spain first sent explorers into what became known as San Francisco. The beaches this sea glass comes from has also offered up such treasures as antique Coke bottle fragments, electrical insulators, sea lion teeth, agates, jade and naval sailors buttons. Antique marbles, glass bottle stoppers, pottery fragments and china fragments too.
Much of the lavender sea glass comes from the WW1 time period, during that time a shortage of a bleaching agent used to make the glass clear or white, resulted in the use of a different bleaching agent which then caused the glass to over time turn lavender or purple. The chemical came from Germany and due to our being at war with them, the supply dried up.
one of the rarest types of sea glass is Vaseline glass. Vaseline glass is known by that name for it's striking similarity in color to Vaseline. The color is caused by uranium dioxide crystals and turns the glass a greenish yellow color. The color was not very popular and as a result not much was produced. An unknown property of the glass at the time of it's early production was that it was radioactive and would glow with a light of it's own when exposed to a black light, or concentrated UV rays. Even though the glass will register on a Geiger counter, it is considered "safe" as long as it is not ground/polished and the resulting dust becomes airborne. During the 40's with our country at war again, all of the uranium was seized by the government, further restricting production of the glass. The glass is still produced today, but in very limited quantities and is highly collectable.
To learn more about sea glass and sea glass collecting, I recommend reading Richard LaMotte's book entitled Pure Sea Glass it came out in 2004 and he is currently promoting his book through several book signings. You can pick up a copy from me and I include a small bottle of genuine beach sea glass from San Francisco Bay with the purchase of the book.
I will be attending a book signing with Richard in Half Moon Bay, CA on September 16th 2005. The book signing will be held from 2-4pm at Seascapes in Half Moon Bay. I will be on hand showing some pieces of sea glass from my private collection and answering any questions as well as appraising sea glass brought in by fellow sea glass lovers and beach combers.
Seascapes is also hosting a jewelry show of my sea glass jewelry to co-inside with the book signing. If you have any special pieces of sea glass that you would like turned into a piece of jewelry, please bring them to the book signing and I will be happy to discuss the possibilities that your piece/s present for jewelry making, and I will be taking orders on the spot.
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