Sea Glass Hunting Kit

Discarded glass (bottles, tableware, old glass dumps) tumbled by the surf and the sand for years (often decades) — the mechanical and chemical weathering rounds the edges and frosts the surface (the "hydration" layer). The best beaches are those near old glass sources (a 19th-century dump, a historic waterfront) with consistent surf. A regional guide identifies the productive beaches.

White, green, and brown are common (the modern bottle colors); blue (the old Bromo-Seltzer, ink, and vintage soda) is uncommon; red, orange, and turquoise are rare; black (old beer) and yellow are very rare. The rarity reflects the historic glass production — the colors used rarely in glass are the rare finds. The rare-color piece is the collector's thrill; the common colors make the bulk of a collection.

The sea glass grading — A (jewelry-grade, perfectly frosted and rounded), B (good, some chips), C (fresh, barely tumbled). The grade reflects the tumbling time and quality; the A-grade piece is the jewelry material. Grading is a learned eye (the frosting, the edge-rounding, the surface evenness); a sorting kit (and practice) sorts the collection by grade.

After a storm (the rough surf tosses up fresh glass) at low tide (the wrack line — the debris line — is exposed). The first light of a post-storm low tide is the best (the fresh glass, before other collectors). A storm forecast and a tide table is the sea-glass hunter's calendar. The productive beach after a storm at low tide is the formula.