Genuine Surf Tumbled Sea Glass Sterling Silver Pendant

This sterling silver pendant features 6 genuine surf tumbled sea glass gems that I personally collected from Midland Beach on Staten Island. They have been tumbled around by the tide for over 60yrs before washing ashore. Most of the pieces I collect are not jewelry quality so it took a lot of sorting through hundreds of pieces to find these beautiful soft sea foam colors with similar shapes.  Each station is bezel set and joined with soldered jump rings giving the pendant nice articulation and length which is over 3”.  They have enclosed backs which helps protect the sea glass, and also adds substantial silver weight to the piece.  It comes with a 16” sterling silver chain.

Sea Glass

Since moving to the US from Australia, I’ve been walking the beaches of the north eastern coast collecting surf tumbled sea glass and antique pottery shards. From the moment I picked up my first piece of sea glass I’ve been in love. They are stunningly pretty with their soft colors and frosted finish, but are also a part of history as it takes a minimum of 50yrs for the tides and surf to toss and tumble them into little gems. Of course, fake sea glass is being “cultivated” overseas now, and whilst the bright colors and uniform shapes are attractive to some, it is fake and I don’t use it. Its value is zero, much like a lab created diamond. About 90% of the sea glass in my jewelry has been collected by me personally over years. I do buy a small amount of genuine sea glass from collectors in places like Hawaii because my local surf does not produce the rounded gem shapes found in those locations. I will always let you know the geographical origin of the sea glass in items I create. Unlike “cultivated” glass, real sea glass is shaped organically by the surf and tides so they are uniquely uneven, and present a real challenge when creating their bezels. They also often display tiny “C” shapes on the surface of the frosting. I do not remove these as they are the signature of genuine sea glass, like the inclusions in an emerald. Where I collect, I find more white pieces than any other color. Brown is next, followed by Kelly Green. Very rare are the seafoam greens, and soft blues, with cobalt blue being the rarest color of all. Sadly, only about 10% of my finds are jewelry quality and the rest is chipped and used for craft. I hope you too come to fall in love with genuine sea glass.