Taking care of your Art Glass

Collectors want pristine pieces and many collectors never let their art glass see the light of day to ensure top prices when they finally come to sell them.

Many serious investors will buy the latest collection from well known glass producers and then keep doing that for ten years – putting the pieces away, still in their original boxes. Then, after ten years they will sell the pieces from a decade ago and buy new pieces. This ensures they have a constant supply and also guarantees top prices as they will all be mint and boxed.

This is a shame though as those pieces will not be enjoyed for the first ten years of their lives. So, instead, here are some tips to ensure you can keep your pieces in the daylight and in tip top condition.

Many a fine piece of art glass is ruined by using abrasives or other incorrect materials to clean glass crystal. A beautiful piece of art glass always needs to be cleaned by hand and with great care and attention. Most art glass can be a great investment for the future so you do not want to reduce its value significantly with improper cleaning. Here you will find advice on how to care for fine glass crystal items.

The first thing to bear in mind is that you do not want your art glass going anywhere near a dishwasher. Have you ever noticed that your wine glasses start to look a bit scratchy after a year? This is due to the harsh abrasives used in dishwasher cleaning tablets and they cause minute scratches on the glass. At first, you can't see them, but as the tiny scratches increase from a few hundred to thousands they crossover and become more obvious to the eye.

A fine piece of art glass needs cleaning by hand and here are some step by step instructions to ensure you don't damage your gorgeous objet D'art.

Firstly you will need some 'Marigold' washing up gloves, as they have little bubbles all over the fingertips which give you extra grip when handling slippery wet glass.

You will also need a plastic washing up bowl. This makes it far more unlikely that the glass will be damaged or break if it slips over in the sink. The edges of a plastic washing up bowl are far more forgiving than a sink.

The next thing is what you put in the bowl. Now here comes the complicated bit ;-) You fill the bowl with warm water and add some washing up liquid! Yes, its that easy! Just use a soft cloth and wash as much as you can. Get into every little crevice and, if you need to, use a soft sponge and plastic bristle bottle to get into the glass item's nether regions.

Dip back into the soapy water gently to wash off the soap and then dry with a soft cotton cloth. Do not leave to stand dry as this will leave water marks. Also, trying to stand a piece of glass on the sideboard is the time when a lot of beautiful glass pieces get chipped, damaged or smashed. So BEWARE!

Beautiful art glass bowls which are so gorgeous that they should never have fruit anywhere near them, need looking after. And, as a future financial nest egg, the more careful you are with the cleaning the more valuable your item will be if you ever come to sell it.