I am glad to know that I am not the only one interested in stained
glass and mechanical music.  I found a great history on stained
glass on the website of the Stained Glass Association of America,
http://www.stainedglass.org/  Other information I have found concerns
the Arts and Crafts movement.  A book by Sharon Darling, "Chicago
Furniture Art, Craft & Industry, 1833-1983," has a chapter on art
furniture.

Supply and demand principles, among other things, play a role in what
kind of glass and forms are used in various instruments.  With the
discovery of natural gas reserves, more foundries were established to
produce stained glass.  Also, stained glass methods became more widely
taught in art institutes therefore more cheap labor was available for
production.

Considering there may have been hundreds of the same pieces needed,
materials and labor were major factors in the use of these panels.
People like Frank Lloyd Wright, Armstrong and Tiffany made stained
glass part of American non-secular environments.

As a stained glass artist, I can look at a piece and have some idea of
the methods used, the types of glass associated with the piece and the
period it may reflect.  The study of just the glass in instruments can
be just as complex as the study of the mechanical parts of an instrument.

It bothers me at times when I heard someone say, "I'll just take my
glass cutter and replace a broken piece".  People with the knowledge
and skills to restore these items to their original glory should do
restoration and replacement.  It is like hearing someone trying to
replace the teeth on a comb or re pin a cylinder and has no idea of how
to do it properly.   Who knows, the stained glass in your instrument
may be worth more than the instrument.

Paulette Smariga - on the beautiful Lake Jem, in Mount Dora, Florida,
where the sun always shines at least at some point during the day even
if it is liquid sunshine.