The Sea Glass Shard of the Month: August 2015
An Aqua Blue Sea Glass Demijohn Lip Segment
A sea glass lip segment from a very large demijohn bottle used to transport wine and other spirits.
Sea Glass Specifications:
Color: Soft Blue
Length: 52.1 mm (2.050")
Height: 24.7 mm (0.973") at highest
Thickness: 14.6 mm (0.576")
Weight: 35.7 grams (1.26 ounces)
This large, aqua sea glass specimen probably came from the lip of a demijohn bottle. Demijohn is a term for a large bottle, up to 20 gallons in size, that transported liquids, often wine and other spirits.
These bottles were in the more common (inexpensive) colors of green and aqua as the primary function of a demijohn was to transport large amounts of a liquid that, upon arrival, would then be parceled out into smaller portions.
As the photo demonstrates this sea glass lip segment came from a very large bottle.
This type of bottle will usually have a large, bulbous body with a comparbly smaller neck and opening. Often these bottles were encased in wickerwork, presumably to prevent such large bottles from smashing into each other during transportation.
"Demijohns can be very old with very thick walls, blow molded, and often contain lots of bubbles..."
While the soft blue color of glass could be obtained purely from the impurities found in the sand used, often copper oxide was added to achieve the deeper aqua color found in this sea glass shard.
Demijohns can be very old with very thick walls, blow molded, and often contain lots of bubbles within the glass which can produce very interesting, and extremely collectable sea glass specimens of various shapes and sizes.
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