Collection of Seaham seaglass "fisheye" pebls, colours are dark red and grey. All are suitable for jewellery, craft or display purposes.
Colours as shown in the photos, as are the sizes, shown with a ruler. Some photos show the pebls wet, and others dry. You can rehydrate them for display with a tiny drop of light oil or simple skin cream massaged into the surface to bring out the colours.
Collection of Seaham Sea Glass fisheye pebls - B3219
COLOURS OF SEAGLASS
Between the 1870s and 1930s, laws were passed in both the United States and the UK, that determined the colours and shapes of the bottles that were produced to contain poison; with many people being illiterate, it was essential that the colour, shape and embossed lettering of the bottle clearly indicated that it contained a dangerous substance. Bottles in colours such as cobalt blue, honey amber, black and emerald were produced, and ensured not only that they stood out from others on the shelf, but these shades also gradually became recognisable as containing substances for the public to be wary of. More decorative colours, shades of aqua, orange, yellow, red and more were used for ink and perfume bottles, as well as being made in more ornate shapes that reduced any confusion.
HISTORY OF SEAHAM SEAGLASS
The Candlish glass and bottle works at Seaham, England was the source of most of the glass discovered on the beaches below the factory site. Discarded, broken or below standard glass, at the end of each day, was dumped over the cliffs, where it lay for years until being dredged out in 1925 when the harbour was greatly extended, The glass waste ended up being dumped just North of the harbour where it began it's slow return to the shore, tossed around by ferocious Seaham waves, which resulted in it being tumbled, eroded and polished by the sea over many years.
In it's day, the six bottle and glass houses formed the largest glass production facility in Europe and exported across the world. Everything from decorative glass items to the humble beer bottle was made at these glasshouses, and the volume of production meant that the volume of waste was also high, leading to Seaham and the adjoining beaches becoming a rich source of sea glass, even today, almost a hundred years since the factory was forced to close due to shortages of raw materials.
More information on John Candlish can be found on his Wiki page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Candlish , and the glassworks can be seen in this amazing archive, http://www.east-durham.co.uk/seaham/bottleworks/