SEA GLASS REVISITED...NY TIMES ARTICLE

              When collectors unite, as in the North American Sea Glass Association, does it make a collection more credible? Yesterday, in the Science Times section of the NY Times I found this article about a collection that I have written about before. There was the book, Sea Glass by Anita Shreve that prompted a book review post, and a deeper appreciation for the little glass shards that litter the beaches. For a while, I enjoyed a few pieces of the collection as the character in the book did... displayed on a white ironstone platter. The collection grew, not only from finds while walking on the beaches of the Jersey Shore, but from yard sale finds as well. A small bag full of sea glass at a yard sale for 25 cents was too good to pass up. It is displayed in a depression glass banana bowl. The glass, that I have been picking up off of beaches for most of my fifty some odd years wound up in a lamp this year  ...an easy way to display and keep the collection together. I have to honestly say that I never really gave a lot of thought to the historic and archaeological aspects of the collection though. 
When I found this book at a yard sale, it started to dawn on me that there was more to this collection than good looks. The woman who sold me the book pointed out that it had been signed by the author and so she felt that it was worth a dollar more than her unsigned books...2.00...okay, I paid the extra dollar and brought the book home...the pictures are just beautiful, but again, 
it gave no weight to the collection. For me, it was all about the colors and the shapes. Each one beautiful by itself and even more so as a group. After reading this article in the Times though, a deeper appreciation emerged. Looking through the pieces of glass, I started to envision who it might have originally belonged to and where it may have come from, because although I knew that some of the glass was left by picnickers at the beach, and that broken bottles found their way into the ocean, I never gave thought to the fact that so many shipwrecks would also have left behind glass. The glass that fills the lamp in my house might actually contain bits and pieces from the Titanic. There might just be a piece of a Noxzema bottle used by a very distant relative a long time ago. Something to consider...there is history washing up on the shores of our beaches...very, very pretty history.

♥, Susan    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Comments

[Jenna Ericson]

Pirate glass, I'm telling you.

[Sue]

I really love sea glass. I just wish I could find a piece on my own...mine has all been purchased. I've been going to the beach on vacations my entire life and never found a pretty piece of glass. Go figure. I keep a bowl of it out at my house...like you, I'm drawn to the color. It makes me happy!

[Brenda Kula]

Oh, pretty indeed! I love the lamp filled with them. I've looked for some around here, but it's not like I'm near an ocean or anything. Reminds me of my love for rocks!
Brenda

[Pat ~ Mille Fiori Favoriti]

I was also intrigued by this NY Times article Susan. I love sea glass and have a large bowl full that I collected off the beaches of Southern Italy. I have a few pieces of glass and a pottery shard that I collected from a Western beach in Ireland. Unfortunately, I never found any in the USA! I am very tempted to go to Cape Cod one summer just to walk its beaches and look.

Your collection is very pretty! I love all the dark blue pieces you have. My collection is mainly white and light green with a few small aqua pieces and some brown and gold pieces.

[Kary Gonyer]

o.k. i am up for the challenge...let's try growing those big guys

:-)

and i love sea glass...we don't seem to get much out here in the Pacific...i wonder why?

kary
xxx

[Melody]

Hey Lady! I'm so glad you stopped by! I've been bad to about stoppin by. My back, legs, ans arthritis in my hands have been givin me a fit. We've been busy at the flower shop....gettin ready for craft shows......argh...I've been fallin asleep at the keyboard for pete's sake. As I typed my post I thought about you:)
Sea glass is always pretty, but I've always wondered where it came from.....what ship...what island it floated from....pirates.....okay so I've been weird all my life. What can I say.

[rochambeau]

Sea Glass is True treasure! Thank you for sharing this article from the Times! I will forever look at these beautiful gems with new eyes!

Happy Autumn Susan!
Hope ALL in your life is good. That you are feeling creative too! So happy to see you today!

xox
Your part Mermaid friend,
Constance

[cheryl comfort]

When I was visiting relatives in Scotland when I was a small child, I found my very first piece of sea glass. At the time, it was like finding a piece of gold :-)
~Cheryl

[Mrs. Magpie]

What a wonderful collection, Susan! I adore sea glass. Some of my favorite napkin rings I own were purchased in Maine from an artist in Blue Hill. She had mounted sea glass on them. They are gorgeous, too.

I have some of the "manufactured" sea glass simply because I like it, but I keep my antique sea glass separate. I have a piece of cobalt that I love, and I also have a bottle neck covered in barnacles. It might not be that old, but it has a romantic look to it. I think you might actually find more up you way than we do here, but when I do find it on the beach, I love it!

It would be fun if you could identify some of the colors of your glass as belonging to a particular time in history. I don't know how one would go about that, but it really would be fun!

XO,

Sheila :-)

[Amisha]

I really like sea glass and you have a beautiful collection! Hmmm and this was such and interesting read.

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