The Right Materials

When restoring antique leaded glass—or even when making a simple repair—it’s essential to use the right materials to maintain the right look.

Antique glass and jewels
For use in hard-to-match repairs or the restoration of antique windows, we maintain an amazing collection of discontinued sheet glass, some of it more than a century old. We have clear sheet and plate glass from the early 1900s. We stock thousands of cut, cast and pressed jewels for use in elaborate Victorian panels.

Exquisite bevels
To replace broken beveled glass pieces in an old window, we create replacement bevels in our studio on turn-of-the-century beveling equipment, taking care to use vintage plate glass to better match the subtle tint of the existing surrounding pieces. We can also create fancy bevels—zippercuts, starbursts and honeycombs.

Old plate glass
Float glass made today has a greenish-blue cast. Old glass has a faint yellow look, sort of like pale Vaseline. If you’re trying to match the glass in an old window, this difference matters. (Today’s manufacturers also offer “colorless” and “old-looking” types of sheet glass.)

Appropriate metals
For restoration of bowed or buckled panels, we refabricate each leaded panel with a special alloy lead that stiffens the panel and prevents stretching and sagging once the repairs are complete.

Our inventory of cames—lead, zinc, brass—covers nearly all the extrusions, profiles and metals used in the construction of all types of art glass panels, new and old. We even carry lead that looks like twigs! Please note that we do virtually no work in copper foil.

To keep restored panels straight and rigid, we don’t skimp on applying the necessary rebars. We inventory these, too, in all shapes and sizes, in galvanized metal or brass to resist rusting.