For you experts out there. As you see in the picture below, I have a shade with a couple little problems. The first is some verdigris and rust in the frame. What should or can I do about this? I assume this is lead or spelter (zinc or white metal / magnet does not stick) so is there some specific treatment? It also appears as if it has been given a copper coloured wash (it is not solid copper, its too thick and soft). Should I just grind it off a bit and touch it up with a metallic glaze and seal it, or something else? The next problem is a clean break in one of the panels. Is there an effective glue to fix this that will not make the crack show or atleast mask it as much as possible? The pieces float a bit in the frame and will join back up cleanly. I don't want to try to swap out the old glass obviously, so any suggestions are appreciated.

It looks as if your came could be copper. The corrosion is typical for copper. I might suggest using a blade to scrape at the corrosion to see if you expose copper or a different metal. The metal appears to have been stamped with a design. If it is copper, I might suggest carefully scrping the corrosion off the surface. This will only remove the corrosion on the exposed surfaces and not on the surface touching the glass.

The glass panel can be bonded with a clear (non-yellowing) epoxy. You will need to find a way to keep the two pieces of glass together while the epoxy cures. It will still be noticeable and it will be better than what it is now.

Fred

Thanks Fred - yes maybe it actually is copper, now that I look at it a little closer. I'll see what it looks like as I clean it up - maybe I'll scrape a hidden piece inside to see if it brightens up to confirm the copper thing.