Any handmade stained glass experts hangin' around?

[Fred Voorhees]

My younger brother salvaged these stained glass panels while they were still in old cabinet doors on some home remodeling project a long time ago. He ended up giving me the five doors that he picked up. They measure roughly 9 1/2 inches by 32 inches and are probably a little thicker than 1/8 inch. They appear to be old hand made glass with all of the requisite flaws and features such as bubbles in the glass, linear lines, distortion and an uneven surface. The lead channel used to nest the glass in is also, I believe, a sign of an older piece. Am I barking up the wrong tree here or do I have something in this glass? Should it be somewhat collectible and valuable...can anyone put a rough estimate on the worth of each panel? Thanks

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[Dan Hintz]

I can't answer your question directly, but I'll say this... plenty of stained glass is still done with lead channeling, and bubble glass is still manufactured (for the old-style look you mention). So, it may be old, it may not be... how old was the cabinet?

[Jay Jolliffe]

They make glass now to look old with all the bubbles, streaks & unevenness. The lead came is suppose to have the channel for the glass. I've done some leaded glass yrs back.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Am I barking up the wrong tree here or do I have something in this glass? Should it be somewhat collectible and valuable...can anyone put a rough estimate on the worth of each panel?

I used to work for Salisbury Glass (a big commercial glazing company) we used to buy in new stained glass that looked centuries old, the easiest way to tell (if memory serves) is to measure the thickness of the panels, modern glass tends to be float so is a nice even thickness where as older stuff tends to have quite a variation in the thickness due to the way it was made (no, not because glass is a liquid, it's not it's an Amorphous Solid) if it is very even in thickness it's likely post 1950 (Alistair Pilkington pioneered the float glass method in the mid 50's)

Not a definitive way to tell as small modern manufacturers still make non float glass to order (I'm going to be at a glass blowing factory on Wednesday this week as it happens) (I have a hobby level fascination with glass blowing) so I'll ask one of the pro's there if there is a better way to age the item.

cheers

Dave

[Jim Koepke]

Looks pretty much like the glass one finds in a stained glass supply store.

My wife has interest in doing stained glass. She would look at this and comment that its value is only as much as raw glass since it is a fairly simple design. This is the kind of thing she would buy if the cost was low enough to salvage the glass if it was something she wanted to use.

jtk

[Perry Holbrook]

I've got some glass like that in my inventory racks in my glass studio, pretty common stuff. Actually the panels look more like they are assembly line stuff to me. The joints are a little too uniform to be custom work. Either way, as said before, it doesn't have the look of something special. Sorry Perry

[Kevin Bourque]

I've done some stained glass work before. I'm a little suspicious because the lead came is too perfect, smooth, straight, as are the leaded joints. The glass looks too clear and too uniform in color, not like old glass at all. Also the joints between the glass and the came would be filled with putty, or remnants thereof.

[Rick Christopherson]

Nope. That's all modern. They didn't even put on an artificial patina to the lead.

[Fred Voorhees]

Thanks to all who answered. I finished them up this morning.

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