Scarce OBX Sea Glass Finds

Pem Bryant shares the story behind OBX Sea Glass, beachcombing along the Outer Banks, the timing and technique of finding sea glass, and the significance of the different coastal treasures that turn up in the sand.

By Pem Bryant on Nov. 20, 2017

A familiar beachcombing obsession tends to take hold of people who roam the Outer Banks shoreline. It usually begins simply, with one downward glance toward the sand. Suddenly, the search for treasure is on. A gold doubloon would certainly be welcome, but beachcombers are rarely that selective. A real piece of eight, a whole whelk shell, or even an attractive stone can feel like a prize. Then, sooner or later, the first bit of sea glass appears, and the hunt for the next one quickly becomes the point. After that discovery, the beach is never quite the same.

Treasures turn up all along these beaches, from one end of the coast to the other. They may appear in one place one day and somewhere else the next. Sometimes they seem to be scattered everywhere, and sometimes they seem to vanish entirely. There is no dependable pattern that explains why sea glass shows up when it does. Some beachgoers suggest searching after storms, and while storms often leave plenty behind, sea glass is not usually part of that debris. Its timing and location remain uncertain, which is part of what makes collecting so appealing. Sea glass collecting has grown so popular that, during the in-season, visible footprints may mean someone else has already passed over the best finds. Still, every incoming wave can uncover another hard-to-spot fragment.

Nearly everyone recognizes the beauty of sea glass, and that beauty is why people pick it up. Some collectors keep only a modest stash in a little dish near the kitchen sink. Others turn their pieces into creative objects such as picture frames, ornaments, mosaics, or, in Pem Bryant’s case, fine jewelry. However it is used, something beautiful continues to be beautiful.

At first, people are often drawn to sea glass because it is pretty and uncommon. Before long, though, they want to understand it. The first question is usually what sea glass actually is. In simple terms, sea glass begins as manmade glass that enters the ocean, spends a long period rolling through the water, and changes physically and chemically before eventually returning to the beach.

The physical wear is easy to imagine, but the chemical process is what turns discarded glass into something treasured. That transformation is known as hydration, and it requires many years to occur fully. Hydration is the reason authentic sea glass cannot be recreated by machine. When the Ph level of the water is 7 or above, as it is throughout the world’s oceans, the water becomes caustic, or corrosive. The glass then starts changing at a molecular level. In effect, it is breaking down molecule by molecule. It commonly takes generations in the sea for glass to hydrate completely and become the distinctive material so many people prize.

On the Outer Banks, some sea glass likely arrived in ordinary ways. Maybe a child left a Coke bottle on the beach in the 70s. Perhaps boys with slingshots brought marbles onto a fishing pier in the 50’s to see whose would travel the farthest. But some of the pieces found here may come from darker or more dramatic beginnings. The coastline has over 2,000 documented shipwrecks since the early 20th century alone. The area’s past is also steeped in pirate lore, which means fragments from that era are possible as well. The Dutch brought gin here in glass container vessels from the late 1700s through much of the 19th century. Hurricanes have also swept along this coast, carrying dozens of houses and everything inside them back into the ocean. Those storms took down many telephone poles too, and until the mid to late 1970’s, those poles often held colorful glass insulators. Those remnants may still be out there. The region also has a strong history of rum-running during Prohibition, and embossed fragments from liquor bottle faceplates dating to the 1930’s are not unusual finds. During World War II, Germans sank ships off this coast for years without being stopped. The possible sources of these shards continue from there. Along the Outer Banks, sea glass fragments are meaningful historical pieces, each one offering a small view into another time.

That history is part of why so many people feel pulled toward the romance of what sea glass used to be. Each piece once served a purpose in someone’s life. The unknown story behind a shard can be as compelling as the discovery of a vivid rare color. Collectors understand that feeling. From the instant it is lifted from the sand, sea glass holds attention and invites admiration. Simply put, sea glass is treasure.

Author

Pem Bryant is an avid sea glass collector and artist at Sea, Sand and Hand.