Antique Stained Glass
Coloured glass leaded into a window, and moulded glass given a coloured wash, both made to catch light and both sold under the same heading.
What Is Antique Stained Glass?
Two different things sit under this heading. About half the listings are architectural: leaded and painted window panels, church panels, doors and windows taken out of buildings and sold on their own. Roughly a third is Rene Lalique moulded glass, where "stained" means a blue, sepia, grey or red wash rubbed into relief on opalescent or frosted vases, bottles, plates and boxes.
On the architectural side, the version you'll meet most often is a single painted and leaded glass window or panel, dated Victorian or around 1900. Many carry a named subject: a kingfisher, a bird, fruit, a ship, a biblical scene, a Pegasus. Coloured glass in lead came was made for church and domestic windows from the medieval period onward and revived heavily in the 19th century for churches, halls and house doors.
Dates run from 1865 to 1930 where a clean year is given. The 1900s and the 1920s dominate, the first cluster largely painted windows and the second largely Lalique. Some dates are estimates rather than records: "Victorian", "19th Century", "Circa 1880". A Georgian panel and a Dutch 18th-century Pegasus panel are the only pieces placed before the Victorian period.
A smaller tail is coloured drinking and table glass. Bohemian ruby flash, engraved ruby tumblers, ruby decanters, a hand-painted decanter, a Baccarat amber and clear trinket box. Pairs and sets turn up throughout both branches, from a pair of church panels to a set of four multi-coloured windows. Only about three pieces a year are listed on Sellingantiques, across eighteen dealers, so this category arrives in ones rather than runs.
Where The Range Sits
Naming carries the moulded glass. Titles that give a model - Picardie, Ceylan, Myrrhis, Amours, Rose Rouge - sit well above those that say only "antique stained glass" or "late Victorian stained glass panel" and stop. The treatment matters too: a cased opalescent vase with sepia staining heads the whole category by a wide margin, while plain sepia-stained plates sit around the middle.
Windows work the same way through subject. A kingfisher, a bird, fruit, a ship, a biblical scene, a Pegasus: each of those sits above the unnamed panel. Scale and pairing push in the same direction, so a large pair of doors, a pair of painted windows or a set of four multi-coloured windows all rank above a single small panel.
Documented origin lifts a panel as well. One pair names St. Dunstan & St. Catherine's Church, Feltham, and the Pegasus panel is given as Dutch, the only Dutch origin in the archive. At the other end of the range sits a small piece of coloured drinking glass.
Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for stained glass, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
The top sale of the last year on Sellingantiques was a 19th century stained glass panel of a biblical scene, mounted in a later backlit frame, in October 2025.
The Antique Stained Glass Glossary
- Stained glass
- Used two ways under this heading: coloured glass leaded into a window, or a coloured wash applied to moulded glass to pick out relief.
- Panel
- A self-contained section of leaded glass, often taken out of a window and sold framed or unframed.
- Leaded
- Pieces of glass joined by strips of lead came, as in the common title "painted and leaded glass window".
- Painted
- Pigment fired onto the glass surface for detail and shading. It appears in eight of forty titles.
- Ruby flash
- A thin layer of red glass over clear, usually then cut or engraved through to the clear beneath. Recorded on Bohemian drinking glass.
- Opalescent
- Milky glass that shifts between white and blue in transmitted light, used of the Lalique vases in this category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Lalique listed under stained glass?
Because "stained" describes the finish, not the construction. On Lalique the stain is a wash of colour rubbed into moulded relief on an opalescent or frosted body.
Fourteen of forty titles in this category are Rene Lalique moulded glass rather than window glass. Blue is the commonest staining colour named, with sepia next; grey appears once, on an enamelled bowl.
How old is most antique stained glass sold here?
Twenty-six of forty listings carry a clean year, and those run from 1865 to 1930. The 1900s and 1920s are the two biggest clusters.
The 1900s group is largely painted windows, the 1920s group largely Lalique. A Georgian panel and a Dutch 18th-century panel are the only entries placed earlier.
What subjects appear in the painted window panels?
Named subjects recorded include a kingfisher, a bird, fruit, a ship, a biblical scene and an allegorical Pegasus.
Other panels are described only as stained glass panels or windows, with colour and date but no subject. Titles carrying a subject sit higher in the range than those without.
Can a panel be displayed away from a window?
One panel in the archive is offered mounted in a later backlit frame, a light box that lets a leaded panel be shown off a window.
That is the only display solution recorded across the whole category. Other panels are described as framed or unframed and nothing more.
Do pairs and sets come up in this category?
Seven or eight titles are pairs or sets. A pair of church panels, a large pair of doors or windows, a pair of painted windows.
The drinking glass follows suit, with pairs of engraved ruby tumblers and ruby decanters. One set of four multi-coloured windows is the only set of four recorded.
Are makers named on the architectural panels?
No window-maker or studio attribution appears on the architectural side of this category. The panels are described by subject, colour, date and form.
Provenance turns up once instead of a maker: a pair of church panels named to St. Dunstan & St. Catherine's Church, Feltham, London.