Hello Progressive Bronze blog readers! It’s been some time since the last update, but we’ve been keeping busy. In this post I’m going to highlight a couple of brass statue repair projects we’ve had the chance to work on. Both of these were headed for auction when they were damaged in shipping. The first statue is a lovely sculpture of a woman on a marble base. It is made of brass, and plated with what appears to be either nickel or silver that has worn off rather handsomely i

I know what you’re thinking. A holiday post? In retort, I will say that December is a bad time to start thinking about having your menorah polished. We’ve had a couple folks recently who wanted to be absolutely sure they were ready and brought in their menorahs for polishing. The first menorah is a small brass piece with the shamash (the ninth light) on an arm with a Star of David. It came in a bit tarnished and bent, with the Star of David turned to the side. So we did what

At Progressive Bronze, we have a lot of capabilities, and a lot of experience dealing with unique jobs. That is why we don’t like to say no to jobs, even though some can be toughies. A customer recently brought in one of those toughies – a statue of a chariot in pieces. Talk about your busted rides…. The horse team had become detached from the chariot, one of the horse’s legs was broken, the rider had come off the chariot, and her arm was off as well. So put it all back toget

We recently had the opportunity to refinish a number of sports trophies from St. Viator, a nearby Catholic school. There is some serious history in these, with the oldest dating back to the 1920s and the newest of the bunch coming from the 1950s. They are mostly for baseball and softball, but don’t think St. Viator is a one sport school! There is a swimming trophy in there too. As you can see from the ‘before’ image above, these trophies were definitely showing some of their

Here in Chicago, we are preparing for Thanksgiving and hope you are as well. Today I’d like to highlight a fireplace fender we recently refinished just in time to not want to use a fireplace. With the number of wood-burning fireplaces dwindling and modernized designs, fireplace fenders are becoming rarer. But because most fenders were produced early-to-mid 20th century they are typically made of solid brass, and are therefore extremely durable. One such fender was brought in

I thought I’d highlight some recent refinishing jobs that maybe don’t warrant their own posts, but are interesting none the less. This cute little brass door knocker came in a little dingy, we gave him a polish and an oil rubbed finish. And of course our outdoor lacquer so he’ll stay this way for a long time. This brass tray came in for a refresh after several years of faithful service. We sent it back out so shiny I couldn’t get a picture of it without including yours truly.

I think it’s safe to say that I love old lamps. And the lamp a customer recently brought in is a doozy. This lamp is old. We’re not entirely sure how old, but we think it was converted from oil to electricity sometime early last century. It’s got a lovely painted ceramic vase and brass hardware. Unfortunately it was knocked over (or fortunately for me, since I wouldn’t be writing this if it hadn’t happened) and the base was bent. Most importantly we had to get this fixed. We

A couple of weeks ago, a gentleman walked in to our shop with this antique lamp: Apparently it’s an old-style dentist’s lamp, and has been in his family for quite some time. There are all sorts of articulations on it that allow tooth illumination from several angles. It swivels and tilts in its wall bracket, as you can see below, as well as has a telescoping pole. After the telescoping pole, the four-lamp head hangs down to give you plenty of light while you polish. Over the

Happy new year! We had a lovely vacation at Progressive Bronze, and now that we are back to work it’s time to highlight some more projects we’ve been working on. Toward the end of November the Lyons, IL Fire Department contacted us regarding a plaque that was installed when their firehouse when it was renovated in 1973. I am a big fan of plaques generally – I read just about every one I come across – so I was happy to hear they were looking to refinish. Understandably, after

Typically, people bring in a bronze or brass piece, and would like us to either refinish it to restore its luster, or at least not damage the existing patina. But what if the damage is so bad we have to refinish the item? And the customer wants to preserve the look of the piece? Our customer approached us with exactly this problem. His mother was a member of The Daughters of the American Revolution, and upon her death in 1941 a bronze marker indicating her membership was plac