Glass Repair

[Granmaa]

Here is a beautiful Victorian claret jug; unfortunately, its base is badly damaged, and is missing a sizeable chunk of glass.
I'd like to know if it's possible to restore it, if it's expensive and if anyone knows of a good glass restorer (preferably in the South of England).
I did check myself, but didn't have much luck.

Miles


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[dognose]

Hi Miles,

I can't see from your picture, but is it damage that could be disguised by the application of a silver rim or band?

I was thinking about old Doulton ware you sometimes see, with silver rims, often around the lip, these are often applied later to cover up chips that have occured.

Nice piece. Who is the maker?

Regards Trev.
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[JLDoggett]

Is the broken piece on the left side, toward the the front? It looks like 2 cracks there which meet just under the body of the jug. This would require a sizable rim to be applied to cover the break.

It may be possible to find someone who can do the restoration by cementing the broken bit back into place then coating the entire foot with electroforming solution then building up a layer of sterling plate to completely cover the foot. This would cover the break and stabilize the broken piece so the jug could be used. It would always be a repaired piece, but at least the repairs would match the upper silver mounts.

The other option would to ave the foot removed and a new silver foot crafted and attached. A lot depends on how far up the break goes and if they have enough glass on the base to form a lip to receive the foot.

Unless the glass and silver can be seperated (unscrewed or unclipped) most glass restorers would have problems trying to repair the glass.

Best regards,

Jim
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[Granmaa]

Thankyou both for your replies. I'll try to get a picture up tonight (or tomorrow if the light's not good enough).
It is literally missing a piece of glass, I don't have it. However, I heard that using glass like plastics, it's possible to rebuild the piece. Like when repairing chipped windscreens: a liquid is pumped into the chip which hardens and makes the join very hard to see.

The maker is Edward Hutton and it was made in 1882. It has a really nice neo-gothic style, so I'm quite eager to restore it to its former state, or as close as possible.

Miles
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[Granmaa]

Here is the picture. As you can see, I've removed the silver base.

Miles

PS In my previous post I meant "glass-like plastics" not "glass like plastics).


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[JLDoggett]

Ah, in your first picture it is shown sitting in something. Tricky, tricky...

That is a sizable piece that is missing, but a good restorer might be able to moulde the intact part, then using a non-heat setting acrilic; castr the missing bits onto the the piece.

You might contact Sothebys or Bonhams in London for a lead on a good restoration house.
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[Harbord]

The following is an address for a firm which I have had some dealings with and they were most helpful. Hope they can do the necessary repairs for you.
(admin edit)
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[Granmaa]

Thankyou for the link; they recommended having all the glass replaced. I think I'll take them up on it, and will post the "after" photo when I get the jug back.

Miles
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