Sea glass community in an uproar

I like beach glass.

It's pretty.

I have a few pairs of beach glass earrings, a couple of necklaces and bracelets. All in "my" colors: lovely blues and greens. 

A few times, I've found a piece of beach glass while walking along the beach. Almost as exciting as coming across a sand dollar. 

But what I didn't know about beach glass...

For one, what I've always called beach glass is actually sea glass. Sea glass is found on the ocean; beach glass can be found by a lake or river. Conceivably, some of my earrings, etc. are beach glass, but since all of my sea glass merch is local, much purchased on the Cape, I'm going with sea glass. And puting beach glass way, way, way out of my mind.

So from here on out, it's sea glass.

Another thing I didn't know is that there are a lot of folks who collect sea glass. Who very seriously collect sea glass. 

And there's a controversy around the practice of seeding, a process through which broken glass shards are deliberately thrown in the water so that waves will do their thing: tumble the glass around, smooth out the edges, work some moisture in there to create the frosted look, and turn it into sea glass that can turned into jewelry.

Purists don't like seeding. They think it's cheating if the glass was just tossed in the drink last year vs. something that was formed from a 1948 Coke bottle that someone hurled out to sea in 1948. Although it may be hard to distinguish naturally-formed sea glass from sea glass that was seeded, the real aficianados try to determine a piece of sea glass' provenance. 

If there's a controversy around seeding in general, there's a really big controversy about seeding with marbles.

Most sea glass is flat; sea glass marbles are formed from actual marbles, and they're historically a rare find. (There are a number of theories as to why sea glass marbles exist, including that in the late 1800's they were used as bottle stoppers. Another likely source come from kids who used to play a lot more marbles than they do now, with some of those marbles games played on the beach.)

“A marble is supposed to be the most exciting thing to find beachcombing. It’s the ultimate treasure,” [New England sea glass hunter Dave Valle] said as he hunted a field of beach pebbles on a recent day, holding a walking stick with a spade fashioned to one end. “TheyS [seeders] say they’re leaving this for the future? It’s littering. And it sucks the magic out of it. Who wants to find a marble someone threw there?” (Source: Boston Globe)

I don't see the big deal between a marble thrown in a few years ago vs. one that strayed from Dick and Jane's marble game in 1935, but I'm not a sea glass purist.  

And Valle and other purists are mad as hell that finding a sea glass marble, thanks to aggressive seeders, has gone "from a once-in-a-lifetime find to once a day for some hunters."

Purists vs. seeders: the outrage is flying on both sides. Enemies attacking. People and/or topics banned from Facebook forums. 

Mary McCarthy is:

...a Maryland beachcomber who has written and lectured on the cheapening effects of seeding, who want the pressure to remain on until it becomes unforgivable.

“Its most significant sin is the loss of provenance,” she said. “Beachcombers find stuff on beaches that is there for a historical reason. They’ve done the research and know there was a resort or a ferry or an amusement park or a dump, and you find things that tell that story. Throwing marbles is Easter egging. It’s artificial.”

McCarthy travels to sea glass festivals all over the country, where she will examine finds to help people trace their story. “And I spend too much time informing people their precious marble was purchased two years ago at a Michael’s.” 

Sea glass festivals? Not sure what happens here. Much as I like sea glass, and my sea glass earrings etc., doesn't it all start to look alike after a while?

Anyway, seeders - especially marble seeders - counter Valle and McCarthy with arguments that "sea glass is a diminishing resource," with "the good stuff" having all been scooped up. Modern glass is just not as high quality as old-fashioned, 1948 Coke bottle glass. Marbles get that sea glass "frosty" look pretty quickly, especially in New England, and then make their way into their second life as vase fillers or pendant necklaces. (Somewhere around here, I have a sea glass marble pendant. I suspect - now that I know of its existence - that the marble was seeded.)

There's also a mid-ground of sea glass people who are okay with some seeding, as long as it's not overdone. 

The Internatonal Sea Glass Association has not, to date, taken an official stand on the controversy, although "it is strongly discouraged."

My goodness.

I don't know when the next time I'll be walking on the beach, but I'll be on the lookout for sea glass. And since I'm such an amateur here, I'doubt I'll know the difference between natural and seeded. 

But I suspect that the sea glass community will keep on keepin' on with their uproar.