The Proud Dowager

This stunning piece was purchased at an antique store in Cumberland, WI. Several sections of the glass were missing, and many others were cracked or broken due to deteriorating lead. Once the glass window was removed from its wooden frame, a cascade of failures occurred, making a full restoration necessary.

The glass we needed had last been made over a century ago, likely by a company whose formulas were lost to time. Each color and texture belonged to its own era, and modern glass couldn’t quite capture the same character. To make things more challenging, the old lead and zinc had different compositions than what’s used today, leaving even the framing profiles a century out of date. Every piece required patience, skill, and a bit of creative problem-solving to bring the window back to life.