What Is The Most Alluring Sea Glass Color?

Ask a seasoned sea glass collector his or her opinion about which sea glass color is the most alluring, and there is a good chance that the answer will be aqua.

A lot of buzz surrounds the discovery of a few “holy grail” sea glass colors like red, orange and turquoise, but when it comes to natural beauty and allure, aqua tops the charts.

What is the Meaning of Aqua Sea Glass?

The term, aqua, has two dictionary definitions: one is “water” and the other is “a light greenish-blue color.” The color term is also thought to be derived from the term, aquamarine, meaning “water of the seas.” Aqua is the “water” color.

It’s no surprise that aqua sea glass is admired by collectors who revel in its second life as a treasured gem from the sea. Sea glass aficionados appreciate its adventurous journey of tossing and tumbling in the very ocean waters for which it is named.

The natural, greenish-blue hue of aqua sea glass, more than any other sea glass color, evokes an aura of serenity, relaxation, calmness and a purity connected to clear cerulean waters and memories of warm summer days at the beach.

Aqua contributes a feng shui energy of calm, peace, and an overall sense of quietude and healing to the home environment, which illustrates why there are so many paint and fabric colors available in this sea glass themed hue.

Aqua is the color of the creative and the curious. The color has cleansing properties and embodies a connection to all things akin to the sea.

Aqua is the color rumored to be treasured by Mermaids and, like all sea glass, is universally thought of as a good luck talisman.

The color is prized as it is believed to cool the temper because of its water properties, allowing the wearer to remain calm, collected and able to make clear decisions.

Aqua sea glass is a welcome, meaningful and appreciated gift for anyone who is trying to achieve a state of peace and tranquility.

It is the ideal gift for someone with a March birthday because it has the same cool and calming allure as the Aquamarine gemstone, the birthstone for the month of March.

Aqua, our best selling sea glass jewelry color, also inspires creativity and unlocks the imagination of those who wear it, just one more reason why it such a desired sea glass color!

Antique Aqua Bottles, Flask, Medicine Bottle and Ink Well

Where Does Aqua Sea Glass Come From?

For all its present day acclaim, the aqua glass color (and subsequent sea glass) derived from a modest beginning as one of the most widely used glass colors prior to the 1920s and all the way back to the early 19th century. Virtually every bottle and glass vessel made during this 100+ year period was an aqua hue.

Bottles, ink wells, fruit and condiment jars, containers for magical lotions and snake oil potions, flasks, electrical insulators, all were varying shades of this greenish/blue color, simply because it was the least expensive glass to make.

Ordinary soda/lime glass was made with 60-80% silica (sand), soda (potash/wood ash to lower the melting temperature of the silica) and lime (a stabilizing agent). This was the most economical glass recipe. Ordinary raw sand was used and expensive colorants or decolorants were not necessary. The naturally occurring, low iron content in the raw sand is what produced the aqua color.

In later years (after 1920) a colorant such as copper oxide was added to the glass mixture to produce a more consistent aqua color. But by then only a few companies continued use of aqua bottles and jars (mostly fruit canning jars and early soda bottles) because consumers were demanding colorless bottles so they could easily see the inside content.

How Rare Is Aqua Sea Glass?

Most natural aqua glass was made over 150 years ago, so it’s easy to understand why there is so little genuine, aqua sea glass available today.

Broken aqua glass tumbles in the ocean for 50 – 100 years before it becomes sea glass after being smoothed and polished by rocks and sand.

It is also conditioned through a natural dehydration process, actually a chemical reaction, between the glass ingredients and salt water, before it turns into true sea glass.

Small pieces of naturally occurring aqua sea glass may still be found in limited quantities along rough ocean coasts at old dump sites, but the supply of jewelry quality, aqua sea glass is severely diminished and, with the exception of occasional deep aqua chunks from old electrical insulators, most jewelry quality, aqua sea glass is very small.

Aqua Sea Glass Jewelry Is Extremely Rare, Highly Prized & Collectible

Today we would categorize all shades of aqua sea glass used in our sea glass jewelry designs as extremely rare and highly prized and collectible. Aqua is, by far, our best selling sea glass shade.

We invite you to shop our genuine and unique aqua sea glass jewelry collection.