The Shard of the Month
An amberina sea glass shard from Puerto Rico.
December 2009
An Amberina Sea Glass Shard
Specifications:
Color: Red to Orange-Amber
Length: 29.2 mm (1.15")
Width: 19.6 mm (0.77")
Weight: 2.9 grams (0.10 ounces)
This is a fine example of amberina sea glass found on the beaches of Puerto Rico. This shard could be as old as the late 1880s and possibly came from discarded tableware.
Amberina was used primarily in tableware and decorative glassware.
Amberina is a two-tone glassware that gradually transitions from ruby red to amber. The red tone was originally created by adding gold chloride to amber glass before it cooled down, then reheating the areas where one desired to develop the ruby red color.
The process of making amberina glassware was first patented in 1883 by the New England Glass Company of East Cambridge, MA. In the years that followed other companies used minerals such as cadmium sulphide or selenium, or flashed glass techniques, to attain the red color in this type of glassware.
The amberina process was used mostly in tableware and ornamental glassware and is still made today. While the term amberina is applied in general to all glassware that transitions from red to amber, purists insist that the only true amberina glassware was that made originally using gold.
