Glass Doorknobs
tips for when you buy

Glass doorknobs have been produced for decades and are still made today. This guide focuses on antique knobs and what to look out for when buying them.

Condition

The condition of glass knobs vary greatly and can be hard to see in the photos provided in auction. Beware of buying glass knobs with blurry or out of focus pictures. Also be alert to "as-is" auctions. Ask the seller if there any chips in the glass.

Another things to look out for is if the collar of the knob is loose. The brass or steel base sometimes comes loose from the glass portion of the knob. This can result with the glass portion spinning freely from the base. This could make the knob unusable if it were placed back in service.

Purple knobs are usually just glass knobs that have been exposed to UV rays from the sunlight. This causes the glass to turn purple. Another way that glass knobs become purple are from people putting them in the microwave. (I would not try this if I was you.)

Types

There are many types of glass doorknobs. The most common styles seen on Ebay are the hexagonal, ribbed, and smooth round knobs. I have even seen some that looked like a ball with bubbles in the center.

There are a lot of knobs out there that came off antique furniture that are mislabeled as doorknobs. They will usually have a bolt sticking out of the back where the doorknob spindle should be.