Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Big Hunk of Junk

My big hunk of black seaglass has become the butt of jokes on a certain message board, so I thought I'd defend it here on my blog. Ha! Craig found the piece back in October on Isla Mujeres. Now I can't be sure if he picked it up from our claim, or if he was pirating from Jana's, but I told him to throw it back. But he insisted, so I told him he could carry it home when he left the island because I didn't want to lug an ugly piece like that.


It's rare, but it does occasionally happen. He was right! That ugly chunk of junk was actually kind of a rare find. Reading through my new Pure Seaglass, by Richard LaMotte, after Christmas, I was astounded by what I read about black glass. Actually, Craig read it first and waved it in my face. To quote from the book:

Finding black glass should be considered fortunate, since it can often be presumed to be glass made prior to 1900 for beer, wine, and other alcoholic beverages. In many cases, the use of black glass bottles waned heavily by the mid-to late 1800s.

La Motte goes on to explain that iron slag was added to the glass to help create the color, which made the bottles resistant to breakage. And that is why black is often found in large pieces rather than small rounded pieces.


And here we have a large chunk from the end of a black bottle.


In the book, black glass is listed as a one in 2500 piece find!

I guess Craig was a lucky dog! I'm starting to anticipate my next seaglass hunt on Isla. I know we'll have to get up early with the birds to avoid the heat and beat our rivals to the claim. Ha!



9 comments:

Ann said...

I was surprised this past trip--not as many folks out hunting for shells & glass as usual--had an ok haul--will put a photo on my blog

Life's a Beach! said...

Ann, I saw a few regulars searching for seaglass every morning I was there on the Media Luna stretch. Over Day of the Dead weekend, some Mexican visitors were watching us by the malecon and got into the act, but they were a bit puzzled about what they were hunting for. LOL When I was picking up glass after Ida, a few of the local guys who'd been fishing gave me some really cool shells. We didn't even get out to the airport strip and beyond. Next trip! Can't wait to see the photo of your haul!

Jane said...

Butt of jokes or not, Becoming me is thinking about going into a sea glass archive to see if I have any black glass stored there!

Love your stories, Beck!

Life's a Beach! said...

Thanks Jane! Tee hee! You gave me the idea for a post!

Vee said...

Interesting info, Beck. Yay Craig!

Isla Deb said...

That's funny because when I went sea glass hunting in December, I found a piece of black glass and almost threw it back, but decided to keep it. Now I'm glad I did! Just need to figure out what to do with it now.

Life's a Beach! said...

Deb, it's definitely big enough for a manly necklace. HA! Mine's just sitting in a bowl of seaglass.

And Vee, I'm hoping to get about 9 days work out of Craig in July! : )

Moongrl722 said...

I have several black pieces. Don't you love that book? It's fun to find some history and info on the glass you find. It's like shopping for free!! :)

Life's a Beach! said...

Jana, it's exactly like shopping for free! In fact, I rarely buy anything on Isla because I'm enthralled with my shells, seaglass, and photos!