Privacy Sea Glass

By Tiffany Meekins

Tiffany Meekins

I had the opportunity to beachcomb in Puerto Rico on a beach with an abundance of sea glass and came across a piece with a pressed floral pattern on one side. It was likely a piece of privacy glass from an old window or door.

Kirsti Scott. Alicia Peterson. Jill Dobson.

Privacy glass is also known as obscure glass or figured rolled glass. The process involved using engraved rollers to imprint a pattern, producing glass sheets with a textured surface. After pouring the molten glass on a steel sheet, a heavy metal cylinder, the roller, was used to flatten the glass. Rolled glass came in a wide range of patterns.

Learn about patterned glass that comes from Depression-era glassware often referred to as Depression Glass.

Anna Varone. Elaine Furda. Tammy Stuckey.

The first patterned flat glass was patented in 1847 by James Hartley, whose process involved pouring the hot glass onto a surface engraved with a pattern and then rolling it flat from above. Glasgow Plate Glass Company improved on the process by using pattern rollers to imprint the design on top of the hot glass.

Ads for early rolled glass manufacturers.

Around the same time in the 1880s, the Chance Brothers in Staffordshire patented a similar machine for making their own “Rippled” glass. Other companies in Britain made glass using the same process, including Pilkington of Saint Helens, Hartleys of Sunderland, and Cooksons of Newcastle. Competitors sprang up around the world, including companies in the U.S., France, Japan, Australia, Germany, and more.

Patterned sea glass from Puerto Rico (Kirsti Scott).

Rolled glass was used as decorative glass in Victorian windows, doors, cabinets, and more. The designs in the glass are intended to obscure the view but still allow the light to come through. From simple to more elaborate patterns, they each have a unique way of diffusing and distributing the light and distorting the view or hiding what is on the other side of the glass.

Japanese pattern glass in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Wagner Campelo/Shutterstock.com).

There are over two hundred documented rolled glass patterns. Glasgow Plate Glass Company designed most of the earliest figured glass patterns. One of the most popular is a floral pattern called Muranese or Florentine, made by many different manufacturers with only slight differences between them. Privacy glass patterns had many different names depending on the manufacturer, and came in an array of colors including clear, amber, Kelly green, lime green, turquoise, cobalt, cornflower, peacock, and amethyst.

Rolled glass is found on the East Coast of the U.S., but I have only personally found Florentine pieces in Puerto Rico. Maybe I will get surprised one day here on the Outer Banks!

Privacy glass is still used today, and many of the original patterns have been reproduced for replacement of damaged Victorian windowpanes over the years. Who knows? That may mean there will be patterned sea glass from old windows still to be found in the future!

Have you found any of these patterns in sea glass? Take a look on the following pages of privacy sea glass pieces found by readers.

Learn more about patterned glass through history at bit.ly/bcpattern.

Muranese/Florentine

Top to bottom, left to right: Barbara Smith. @sea_me.ie. Scott Smith. Alora Pickett. Vintage samples. Agnieszka Radymiak-Lokaj.

Anna Varone. Ellen Hill. Tammy Stuckey. Veronica Costa.

Paula Plapis. Teresa Henry.

Maze

Scott Smith. Cathy Dries. Vintage samples.

Morisco/Number 84

Kaitlin Allen.

Morisco pattern glass (Javas95/Shuttertstock.com). Vintage samples.

Mallocene

Alora Pickett. Vintage samples.

Colonial/Pattern D

Elisabeth Morvillo. Elisabeth Morvillo. Vintage sample.

Alicia Peterson.

Japanese

Anna Varone. Kirsti Scott. Vintage sample.

Door with Japanese pattern glass (puha dorin/Shutterstock.com).

Diaper

Vintage sample. @sea_me.ie. Agnieszka Radymiak-Lokaj.

Alison Smith

Can you identify these?

Let us know in the comments if you recognize any of the patterns below!

Alora Pickett. Anna Varone. Kirsti Scott.

Alicia Peterson.

This article appeared in Beachcombing Magazine Volume 48 May/June 2025.