One man’s treasure is another man’s trash, as they say, but finding enough pieces of stained glass for an entire door and sidelights in the garbage was still a surprise– especially for someone whose job is repairing stained glass.
But it happened. Six years ago, says Chris Botti, owner of Botti Studios of Architectural Arts Inc., one of his apprentices was walking through a Wrigleyville alley when he noticed a box of glass alongside a garbage can. Gingerly poking through the jumble, he realized he had found the pieces for a stained-glass door and sidelights.
He took the box to Botti, whose Evanston-based company specializes in stained-glass repair, and Botti bought the glass for about $300. To his surprise, all the pieces were intact. He restored the panels, which are now worth $7,000.
While Botti has other such stories of lucky finds, he cautions that such instances still are a rarity.
“It used to be in the ’60s you could go to Wisconsin and find a good deal,” he says. “Now everybody’s so hip.”
But good deals still abound. A few years ago he bought some scarce, hand-beveled stained-glass windows for about $500 each at a Pearl City, Ill., antiques shop. Botti later sold the restored windows for nearly $5,000 each.
He bought a signed Tiffany window at the same store eight years ago for $1,500; the piece is now priced at $8,500 at the studio.
But stained-glass aficionados have to be careful; there are a lot of stained-glass antique windows on the market that cost more to fix than to buy.
“Let the buyer beware,” warns Bob Nugent, president of Tiffany Stained Glass Ltd. in Chicago. “There’s a lot of junk out there. People fall in love with a piece at an antiques shop. They come home with it and find out it rattles like a bag of keys.”
Not only should collectors avoid windows that rattle but those that have hairline cracks, loose support-bar systems, breaks in the lead cames (channels), and severe buckling and bowing. These flaws signify crucial repair work.
How much will a repair cost? “It’s not like you run the numbers through a calculator,” says John Curran, owner of Affinity Art Glass in Oak Park.
Size, the number of pieces and the type of beveling are among other considerations that will figure into the final bill.
Whatever you do, most stained-glass studios recommend shopping around for a reputable stained-glass restorer. Avoid the hobbyist working out of his garage or his basement.
Long-established stained-glass studios tend to be the best place to restore a window. These studios usually have a wide selection of stained-glass pieces and the technical knowledge to bring a window back to life, Botti says. Established studios’ prices are comparable to those of the newcomers, he says.
Stained glass restorers say they see and fix a lot of botched restorations.
Botti Studio restorers are working on a set of German-made windows from St. Vincent’s Church in Chicago because previous restoration caused the windows to buckle and bulge.
“If the work had been done properly . . . the windows could have gone 200 to 300 years before they needed work,” says Botti.
If the stained-glass repair estimate turns you the color of one of the glass panels, reproductions are another, less-expensive option.
“The biggest problem people have is the perception that old is better,” says Curran. “Sometimes old windows have charm, but not always.”
Reproductions are comparable in price “to a pair of expensive curtains,” says Nugent. A reproduction 4-by-4-foot window will set you back about $800, he says. The beauty of reproduction is that it’s custom-designed.
Still “a new window is a new window,” says art historian Rolf Achilles, who teaches at the Art Institute of Chicago and at Columbia College. “Replicas don’t sell as well as antiques.”
“Nor,” he adds, do reproductions appreciate in value. You’ve got a Tiffany wannabe as opposed to a real Tiffany.” But if you’ve got your heart set on an original Tiffany or any vintage stained glass, there are ways to find quality glass at a low cost.
“It’s work,” Botti says. “You’re not going to go out there and trip over these things.”
For starters, Botti suggests you bone up on your knowledge of stained glass. Visit the library for books on the subject and the Stained Glass Association of America (SGAA)’s web site at http://www.stainedglass.org.
Botti and Curran both recommend subscribing to Stained Glass magazine, published by the SGAA. A one-year subscription for four issues is $30. To subscribe, call 800-438-9581.
Botti also calls the “SGAA Reference and Technical Manual” (SGAA, $225) “the ideal bible to have at your bedside.” To order the 850-page manual, call 800-888-SGAA.
Restorers also recommend supplementing your reading with classes at a studio such as Affinity. Classes will give you a feel for what it takes to restore a stained-glass window. “Courses are ideal even if you’re not a craftsman,” says Botti.
Then start hunting. Botti likes to scout out estate sales. He also suggests approaching owners of old homes for sale or exploring neighborhoods ripe for redevelopment.
Offer homeowners a reasonable price for their stained glass and have the glass removed with the help of a stained-glass professional or a knowledgeable carpenter.
Watch for old buildings to be demolished. Approach the owner of the demolition company. While salvage companies may have a contract for the bulk of architectural remnants, Botti says a wrecking company might work out a special deal for an individual looking for one particular piece.
Whatever you do, be prepared. “If the price is right, buy it on the spot,” says Curran. “Chances are, it will be gone next week.”
If you’re not going to install or hang it right away, sandwich the glass between two pieces of plywood, Curran says. Tape the wood together and store the glass vertically. Then, after it’s installed, sit back and enjoy.
