To Keep Or Replace: What Makes Austin’s Homes Historic Stained Glass Valuable

Stained Glass Repair And Replacement Austin

Most people have not idea what their stained glass windows may or may not be worth.  Which is understandable because values are hard to estimate in general and tend to fluctuate with time and styles.  Now more than ever,  as the  Austin area is going through a renovation boom, finding out the value of your stained glass and whether to keep or replace it, is important.  Not all stained glass is worth a lot of money but a lot of the stained glass, has value beyond monetary.  And every once in a while there is the case of a vintage homeowner stumbling upon a surprisingly lucrative piece of stained glass they didn’t realize was so rich in history and value. While most historic stained glass will be not be something you can quit your day job for, finding out the value of your Austin home’s glass is critical for things like insurance value and home resale for example. Below are a few things a stained glass expert, like Stained Glass Austin, will consider when pricing your beloved stained glass window.

What Appraisers Look At When Pricing Vintage Stained Glass

Context Of The Building or Home: The history of the building is a huge part of stained glass value and provides many more clues about the history and maker of the stained glass.

Inscriptions and Signatures. An easy and obvious way to tell the value of  stained glass windows is inscriptions on them.  These let you know precisely who made the glass or from which studio it came from.  Many studios and artists, like Tiffany, put signature plates on the lower right-hand corner or their work.

Composition and Style Elements: The style of your Austin window is a very good way to figure out when it was made and even who made it. Styles like Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Prairie School are all distinctive style,  coveted and valuable too. If your vintage stained glass is in these types styles, it is easier to estimate the time, area or artist it came from.

The Surrounding Framing Structure: The frame holding the stained glass is just as telling as the glass that it holds in. If it is the original it will tell you precisely when the vintage stained glass window was made. But what it was made of also tells a tale:

• Iron frames are typically around post 1850s
• Steel frames are usually post-World War I
• Cast stone frames were used as early as the 1880s, but truly came into vogue after 1900)
• Terra Cotta Frames came into use right around 1900

The Make-up Of The Glass: Of course, the glass is a huge clue in and of itself. There were many varieties of glassmaking methods and innovations, each dating to a different time and style in American history. So,  opalescent glass, for example, was invented in 1880 and widely used, in two variations by Tiffany.

Stained Glass Austin For Stained Glass Pricing

Before removing or changing the vintage glass in your Austin home, be sure to make every effort to find out and record its history and composition. Also, get it documented for future generation. For help finding out the value of your Austin home’s stained glass contact us at Stained Glass Austin today!