The Ultimate Guide to Sea Glass by Mary Beth Beuke

Author:Mary Beth Beuke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2013-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

a few words about red sea glass . . .

Over the past decade, much ado has been given to red sea glass. Almost every time I work at a show, a dozen or more shoppers make a point of telling me that they have been informed that red sea glass is rare. The enjoyable part of the discussion is conversing with them about why it is rare.

What is so special about red sea glass? It is said that red is the most coveted of the many sea glass colors. Where does it originate? Why is it so rare? And can it be found anymore? A handful of smooth, rare red gems. After years of studying thousands of pieces, both from our collection and hundreds of other collectors’ compilations from across the globe, it’s a proven fact that red is one of the most difficult colors of sea glass to find. It’s been said to take a lifetime of hunting to find just one piece. Red glass was not mass produced much in the United States due to the expense of the colorants needed to create pigment. The metal that helps create the color in the glass is from gold! This explains why red sea glass is so rare. If you do have a piece of red sea glass, it can originate from such items as signal lanterns and car and boat light lenses that were made from glass prior to about 1950.

On the left is a rare red nautical signal lantern on display at one of the International Beachcomber’s Conferences. It won a blue ribbon for being such a unique find. These glass lens (not plastic, which show a more modern style) indicators helped aid boats and ships in navigating. It is very exceptional to find one with the glass still intact.

In my lifetime of sea glass collecting, I have seen only two pieces of sea glass that could be directly attributed to a buoy lens like this. One of them was found by my friend Linda’s husband, Ben, along one of the Great Lakes. The other was found by a customer now sea glass friend Sue, who came to by my booth in New Jersey to have me identify her rather large chunk. I was able to pull up this image of the lantern from my website and tell her precisely what her piece came from.

Though I have quite a few pieces of red, most are tumbled so smooth that it is especially unique to find them with identifying marks like the ridge marks or faceting that is seen in lens glass. The reason why we have more than just a couple pieces in our collection is because ours is an older collection from decades of searching that was done long before the recent popularity of sea glass. Today such quantities and quality is unheard of.

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