Because so many beer and wine bottles have been thrown into the ocean, the most common colors of sea glass are various shades of brown and green.  

Pale colors -- such as white shades and sea foam shades -- are fairly common colors of sea glass. 

Blue sea glass is popular, but fairly rare.  On a good day, we will find two or three pieces of blue sea glass compared to several hundred pieces of brown or green sea glass.

After the blue, the next rarest colors of sea glass are amethyst, honey amber, olive green and bright lime.

The rarest colors of sea glass are orange, red and yellow.  Orange is such a prized color that a single piece often sells for several hundred dollars.  Other very rare colors are gray, pink, black, and purple. 

If you see "sea glass jewelry" for sale in colors such as pink, yellow, orange, purple, lavender or turquoise, you can be sure that the seller broke up pieces of glass and tumbled them in a rock tumbler to create a sea glass patina effect.     

It's interesting to note that glass will change color when exposed to ultraviolet rays of the sun.  Clear glass will even change color as it contains magnesium as a decolorizing agent.  The amount of color the glass will assume depends on how long the glass has been exposed to ultraviolet rays.

Richard LaMotte's Sea Glass Color Rarity List

Extremely Rare: Orange, Red, Turquoise, Yellow, Black, Teal, Gray

Rare: Pink, Aqua, Cornflower Blue, Cobalt Blue, Opaque White, Citron, Purple/Amethyst

Uncommon: Soft Green, Soft Blue, Forest Green, Lime Green, Golden Amber, Amber, Jade

Common: Kelly Green, Brown, White

Sea glass in various shades of blue -- turquoise, teal cornflower and cobalt - are difficult to find and much loved by beachcombers and collectors. 

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Every green in nature can be found in a collection of sea glass -- from deep pine green to bright lime green.  At the end of a long day hunting for sea glass, we like to grab a cold beer, start sorting, and see how many different shades of green we have found.