Black Sea Glass

Very dark olive or amber glass

Markings and exact colorations may vary.

Glass so dark it looks black until you hold it to the sun, usually from 18th and 19th century bottles.

Typical size
0.5–2 in
How often it turns up
Rare
Collecting
Usually legal to collect

Sea glass is discarded material and is free to collect on public beaches. Leave modern broken glass for a bin, not a pocket.

Handling
Safe to handle

How to tell it apart

  • Opaque black in hand, deep olive or amber against light
  • Thick and heavy
  • Often irregular, hand-blown shapes

Found one?

Photograph it and BeachNut ranks the likely matches with a confidence read, then logs it to your collection with the beach and date.

Browsing beaches and the full field guide is free. A free account logs unlimited finds and gives you three photo identifications a day.

More sea glass in the field guide

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