A field guide, one colour at a time

Sea glass colours

Every piece on the beach was something else first: a beer bottle, a medicine flask, a lantern lens. The colour can offer clues to what it used to be.

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Colour distribution

Share of the 374 beaches that reported each colour

What collectors find

374 beaches with colour reports. A share of beaches, not a count of pieces.

Green

Wine, beer and soda, for more than a century.

318 of 374 beaches, across 40 countries

Possible origin

A green glass beer bottle with an embossed brewery name, its swing top missing
A brewery bottle from Lübz, pulled out of the Jabelscher See.

E.H.M.PlauenCC BY-SA 4.0

Sea glass

Green sea glass on pale sand among weathered shells
Green sea glass on the shore, photographed by Balachander Palaniappa in 2019. Detail view.

Balachander PalaniappaCC BY-SA 4.0

Wine, beer and soda bottles are familiar sources. Green glass was also used for food jars, including the deep emerald jars once used for capers.

Clues to its age
Green bottles have been made since the 1800s and are still used today. Bright bottle green could be recent or decades old.
What to look for
Look at the shade and thickness together. Heavy, uneven glass may suggest an older bottle; surviving lettering or part of the base can help narrow it down.
About the data and photos

Percentages use beaches with at least one colour report as their total. Each beach counts once per colour, whether one piece or many were found. A beach can report several colours, so the percentages can add up to more than 100%. These percentages do not tell you how likely you are to find a piece.

Reports come from members, not a systematic survey. Some places and colours get more attention than others. More reports broaden the picture but do not remove that bias. Figures update as beaches are added or edited.

Colour names follow the choices available when adding a beach. Collectors may name the same shade differently, especially the blue-greens. Some shades, such as grey, olive green and yellow, are not listed separately yet. More colours may be added as the guide develops. Country filters include only countries with at least 8 beaches reporting colours; small samples can still change considerably with a single report.

Photos are credited individually. The small colour swatches are illustrations, not photographs of finds.

The shelf of old glass on the links to this guide is made from photos by the Wellcome Collection and Auckland Museum (CC BY 4.0), Cindy Shebley (CC BY 2.0), E.H.M.Plauen and Quercus acuta (CC BY-SA 4.0), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0) and Cornell University Library (no known copyright restrictions).