My husband, Ron, was known as the “Man from Barcelona” in certain circles long before we ever dreamed of moving to Spain. Admittedly, it was a small circle—mostly sea glass aficionados on and around Bainbridge Island, Washington. He picked up the moniker from a woman selling jewelry crafted from sea glass at the annual Lavender Festival in Sequim. The story’s worth telling because it offers a glimpse into the world of sea glass collecting.
Shortly after relocating to Bainbridge Island in 2006, we visited a new friend’s home. On a cocktail table rested a decorative bowl filled with frosted, multi-colored glass stones of various sizes and shapes. It caught Ron’s eye, and we got our first introduction to sea glass. “All these jewels are from our local beaches,” she said. “People around here don’t search for seashells; they search for glass.”
Who knew discarded, broken glass thrown into the sea could turn into beautiful pebbles? Under certain conditions, the effects of tumbling, salt water, and rocks will transform a jagged shard into a smooth stone with a frosty sheen. Collectors, our new friend divulged, prize pieces that are round, smooth, and in rarely-found colors. The pride of any collection will be red, orange, or yellow glass.
Ron was up early the next morning and headed straight to the beach. The search was on for sea glass. Ever since he discovered his first arrowhead by the lake near his childhood home in Michigan, his eyes are peeled to the ground looking for treasures. He didn’t find a rare piece of glass on his first day out, but he did find plenty and became hooked on the hunt.
The next year we took a vacation to Spain. It wasn’t long before Ron discovered Barcelona beaches were a treasure trove for sea glass collectors. It makes sense, people have been dumping glass in the Mediterranean Sea for more than 1000 years. We returned from Spain with our luggage weighed down by rose, teal, and cobalt-colored sea glass. Our Spanish collection was kept scrupulously separated from locally-sourced glass and displayed under light in a prominent place.
Ron turned into a bit of sea glass snob. He bragged to friends about all the great pieces he’d found in Barcelona and on the beaches of Cadiz. The friend who introduced us to the joys of sea glass began to rue the day she let Ron in on the fun. Her collection began to look quite thin next to the robust and growing assortment of Ron’s jewels.
Not long after our return from Spain, we headed out for the day to take in the annual Lavender Festival in Sequim. Ron sighted a booth selling sea glass jewelry. He couldn’t resist checking out the quality of the sea glass. Not very impressed with the pieces he saw, he asked the woman where she sourced her glass. She was hesitant to give details. No serious collector willingly shares his or her secret places with potential competitors. Undeterred by her reluctance, Ron told her about the superior sea glass available on the beaches of Barcelona.
The next day my friend called. “Were you and Ron at the Lavender Festival yesterday?” Affirming we’d been there, she said, “I knew it—we knew it had to be you guys!” She and her husband had also attended the festival and stopped at the sea glass
jewelry booth. An ensuing chat with the woman revealed that “a man from Barcelona” had been at her booth earlier in the day boasting about Spanish sea glass. From then on Ron became known among our glass gathering friends as the “Man from Barcelona.”
Rarity drives collectors and sea glass is no exception. It’s relatively scarce and getting scarcer. First, it’s only found near rubbish dumps or dumping areas. Even then, debris is only washed back onto shores under certain tidal and current conditions. Second, (fortunately) recycling and water pollution awareness have reduced the supply of garbage—the raw material for sea glass. Third, it takes decades to transform a piece of broken glass into a sea glass jewel.
Color is the primary attribute sea glass collectors focus on. More than nine out of ten pieces will be either white, brown, or common green. Clear glass windows and containers, beer bottles, and wine bottles are the sources of these common colors. Somewhat rare are cobalt blue, lavender, cornflower blue, and lime green. They show up in one of 300-500 pieces of sea glass and often relate to glass colors no longer in production. Extremely rare colors are teal blue, red, pink, yellow, orange, and black. There’s only one red or orange for every 10,000 – 20,000 pieces of sea glass. A great resource for determining the source and scarcity of sea glass is the beachlust site.
We’ve amassed a whole new collection of sea glass since moving to Barcelona. Our flat is filling up with sea glass and bits of tile discovered on Spanish beaches. At low tide, after a storm has blown through, you can count on seeing Ron down on the beach searching for that rarest of all pieces to add to his collection. And, as we mark the first anniversary of our move here, he really has become the “Man from Barcelona.”
Travel With Me 
AWESOME story! Never knew a thing about sea glass, but now I want to start looking too. Thank you for sharing Ron’s great adventure and his well deserved nickname!
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Of course! Once you start looking for sea glass you’ll be hooked.
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Just wondered if any beach in Barcelona would be ok for sea glass. Will be there in October 2020.
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Love this story. You captured Ron perfectly. I have so enjoyed looking at your collection each time we visit. With all your travels, it must be fun checking out new areas. Always looking for that new special piece.
Love You❤️… Victoria 💃
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Yes, and we have many fond memories of Crystal Cove which you introduced us to in SoCal!
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I LOVE sea glass too! I had quite a nice collection when we lived on the east side of the island. I would spend hours on the beach with my dog, searching for special colors. I used most of it to create a backsplash in my craft room, then sold the house. I miss all the beautiful colors! Time to start searching again! It is such a joy to find a rare color. I would love to see Ron’s Spanish collection….pretty cool story Nancy! We miss you guys!
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It makes perfect sense that you’d be a sea glass lover. I wonder if many pieces make it down into Hidden Cove by your new house?
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Great story. This is so funny, because Steven and I were walking on the Wing Point beach today at low tide and spotted some sea glass. We didn’t pick it up, and I’m sure anyway that it wasn’t one of the rare colors. But now you’ve got me wanting to watch for the rare orange and red colors. Today is Earth Day, and I was more focused on picking up a ballpoint pen, golf ball, and plastic cap that had washed up on the beach.
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You make a good point—we should remember to pick up garbage and dispose of it as we encounter it on the beaches. You never know, you may have beginner’s luck and happen upon a red or orange piece.
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I’ve been a sea glass girl for decades but Florida had always been slim on treasures. I’m finally working on my bucket list in life and coming to Barcelona this mid-May, would you do a private beach walk tour with me? Going there on my honeymoon & my kind of souvenir is a piece of beach glass. I know there are no guarantees of glass it’s when a mermaid & mother nature deems you a piece. My email is mermaids1111@aol.com
Thank you..karen
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This is a great story. I will be traveling there in October. Do you have any specific locations you can tell me about, as well as good places to stay. I’ll be traveling alone for the first time, so I’m nervous about finding my way around. I’m originally from Washington, too.
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Thanks for reaching out. I’ll respond back to you offline by email.
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Thanks so much for the beautiful pieces you gave Cathy to give to me! I love them so much and knowing where they come from is so wonderful! I will treasure them always and hope to make some nice pieces with them this summer. Enjoyed meeting you at Tickets and our wonderful meal! Keep up the slow walking, head down!
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You are so welcome, Glenda! It was lovely to meet you and I hope your river cruise was great.
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Hi Nancy, I was searching about the stones I found the other days when I was at Barceloneta beach and I found your beautiful article! I wonder what’s the red/orange ones with white/grey surface in your last picture? Are they tiles? I’m asking because I found a lot of them on the beach the other day. I’m so curious about what are they and where they come from. Thanks again for your beautiful story;)
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You are so welcome! I’m not sure which piece you are referring to. Can you send me a photo of one of the red/orange/grey pieces you found on the beach? njjpearson@gmail.com
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Any suggestions on where to find seaglass in or near Rota? I may be visiting in July.
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Sorry, I’ve not been to Rota. I have found some nice sea glass on the shoreline around Cadiz.
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Thanks Nancy. Is Cadiz near Rota?
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We will be in Barcelona from October 10th to the 15th. Any chance your husband might like a walking partner one morning? Happy to give my cell phone number via email.
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Sure, he’d be happy to show you around the beach! Send me an email at njjpearson@gmail.com with your contact details.
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So excited about visiting Barcelona for the very first time. Loved your article.Since we will only be there for a week, I would be so grateful if you could email me the best beaches to find sea glass along the east coast…Since we are not familiar with the area it would save us precious time. Thank you so much.
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Send me a separate email at njjpearson@gmail.com and i’ll respond. My husband was out on the beach today and he didn’t find much. ☹️
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I love your story!! I will be traveling there in December for Christmas vacation and I am looking forward to see the beach locations. Do you have any specific locations you can tell me ? Thank you so much 🙂
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Just came across your article via a random google search and coincidentally only came back from Barcelona yesterday
We have just started to look for sea glass ourselves here in North Devon in England and in fact had only been twice until we arrived in Barcelona last Wednesday
I didn’t think the beach there was going to be lending itself to any sea glass just based on the photos I’d seen all golden sand but as we walked down between the skyscrapers and onto the beach we stumbled upon a small line of about 100 yards of stones and almost immediately started spotting glass and lots of it including our first blue and a solitary red piece,you are indeed lucky to have a small but quality piece of beach to sift through
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Thanks so much, Alastair, for sharing your experience on sea glass hunting in Barcelona. It’s so fun to stumble upon a cache and to find some rare colors. Happy hunting!
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Hi, I’d love to know some good collecting spots. I’ll be in Barcelona in late August. I’ve collected in the Bahamas and Maine so far.
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Let me know when you arrive. Happy to share our sea glass spots with you!
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We travel on the 29th and I’ll be in Barcelona until Sept. 3. I can’t wait to spend some time searching for treasure!
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Wauw what a beautiful story!! I never knew sea glass existed until I read about it in a book and since then I’ve looked at the internet for places in or around Barcelona and I’ve got to your story, which I am very happy to! I have a question, could you maybe give me a few tips or places to look in Barcelona, or maybe if Ron wants to walk together sometime, that would be so nice! I’ll be in Barcelona until the rest of the month 🙂
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This read got me super excited.. me and my wife we stumbled upon sea glass in Italy, and since then we are obsessed with it. We will be travelling to Spain in April, and cant wait to explore the Barcelona beaches. Would suggest any specific beaches for our hunt? Would be very nice of you if you share the locations. Happy to connect over mail for the same.
Email: mailvinode@gmail.com
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The best place to find sea glass in Barcelona is along the main beach in Barceloneta. Go to Somarrostro Beach in front of the giant Frank Gehry fish sculpture. Small piles of rocks accumulate here at low tide, and you can find sea glass among the pebbles. Good luck, and enjoy your time in Barcelona!
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