Since I have been collecting sea glass my favorite pieces are those that have embossing on them that help me to identify what their origin is. I have lots of them. On some the embossing is still very clear, on some not so much.
That was how it was with one of the last pieces I found, the embossing was very worn down. I could make out the word “bottle” but just couldn’t make out the line above
it. I tried looking at it under different lights, I tried wetting the piece and leaving it dry. Still no good.
Then I remembered something that we did as young teens. We happened upon a graveyard in the woods. This was in Harford County, Maryland and it was literally forty
years ago, when the area was still very rural. The stone foundation of the old church was still there, in the middle of what had become full blown woods. There were tombstones from the 1700’s. Some were standing, but most had fallen. Some we could read, some we couldn’t.
So on some of them we did what is called stone “rubbing”. We put paper over the lettering and rubbed over it with crayons. It helped us to see the letters. I figured it might work on the glass, so, I got out a #2 pencil and started rubbing. Yippee!
I was able to make out letters “DS SALE” on the first line and “BOTTLE” on the second.
I still don’t know what it means, but at least I could read it! And, the pencil washed off very easily with dish soap, no harm done. I have lots of other pieces that are hiding their letters, but they won’t be for long!
