I moved to Accokeek in 2017 and discovered a number of beaches have more than their fair share of glass and shells. The tides and currents obviously deposit these treasures there.
Being a connoisseur, these are my observations:
The longer the glass rolls around the river, beach, whatever, the more "sugar coated" or "frosty" it is. The sugar coating is the surface of the glass roughed up by the action of the rocks, shells, and sand. There's "sugar dusted" just a bit of “sugar,” "powdered sugar," and granulated "sugar coated" like a gum drop. Passed the sugar coated phase the glass begins to develop deep pitting and can sometimes be difficult to discern from rocks.
Example of really old, 100 years plus, glass, deeply pitted:
This brown piece is just beginning to deeply pit. You can see the pitting around the bottom edge.
The longer the glass rolls around the river, beach, whatever, the more "sugar coated" or "frosty" it is. The sugar coating is the surface of the glass roughed up by the action of the rocks, shells, and sand. There's "sugar dusted" just a bit of “sugar,” "powdered sugar," and granulated "sugar coated" like a gum drop. Passed the sugar coated phase the glass begins to develop deep pitting and can sometimes be difficult to discern from rocks.
Example of really old, 100 years plus, glass, deeply pitted:
This brown piece is just beginning to deeply pit. You can see the pitting around the bottom edge.
Newer glass is thinner and smoother. The newer, the thinner, to be exact. I typically avoid new glass which I call "raw glass," unless it has a good color and at least some patina.
Above example: Left piece is likely 1950s - 60 or more years old, a bit thicker, and sugar coated. The piece on the right is newer glass probably 1970s, thinner, and powered sugar coated.
Another powered sugar example, like the right hand deep blue piece above:
Examples of granulated sugar coated, and thick:
The Coca Cola Contour Bottle was introduced in 1916. At least two of these pieces were certainly from a Coke bottle. These pieces and all the others in my hand are much much thicker than anything that was around in 1970 or later. These pieces are old, but not older than 1916, most likely. They have the classic granulated sugar coated patina.
Sugar dusted:
Another sugar dusted. Note that the edges are smooth but the glass surface is not very rough. When held these pieces feel silky. I find these pieces more often on sandy beaches that lack stones.
Last category I often find is the bonfire glass. I don't hang around people who would throw glass bottles in fires, but I probably did 25 years ago. Still, I didn't recognize what these were when I first started finding them. It took some one on facebook, an Aussie actually, to point out these came out of a hot fire. Where they were collected, a private beach, there hasn't been fires in many years. Therefore, it's hard to date them. But they are very interesting for sure, especially the ones that have numerous colors.
Bonfire glass, powered sugar, sugar dusted, or sugar coated... they all feed in to the grading system, which I'll cover another time.
The Coca Cola Contour Bottle was introduced in 1916. At least two of these pieces were certainly from a Coke bottle. These pieces and all the others in my hand are much much thicker than anything that was around in 1970 or later. These pieces are old, but not older than 1916, most likely. They have the classic granulated sugar coated patina.
Sugar dusted:
Another sugar dusted. Note that the edges are smooth but the glass surface is not very rough. When held these pieces feel silky. I find these pieces more often on sandy beaches that lack stones.
Last category I often find is the bonfire glass. I don't hang around people who would throw glass bottles in fires, but I probably did 25 years ago. Still, I didn't recognize what these were when I first started finding them. It took some one on facebook, an Aussie actually, to point out these came out of a hot fire. Where they were collected, a private beach, there hasn't been fires in many years. Therefore, it's hard to date them. But they are very interesting for sure, especially the ones that have numerous colors.
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