These days it isn't enough to buy a period house with a smart listed-building pedigree. With the craze for historical bricks and mortar has come a new obsession: getting every last detail right, down to the doorknobs and window catches.

For perfectionists who are putting the final touches to their Queen Anne house, however, tracking down a doorknob that is both well made and historically in keeping with the house can be a problem.

Nicholas Johnston, an architect with the Oxfordshire-based practice Johnston Cave, says that the high cost of period fittings has, until now, limited the market for them, and thus the supply.

"Many people don't include them in the initial budget," he says, "so that cost rather than aesthetics is the main consideration."

There is no shortage of British doorknobs and window fitting designs. It is just that all the foundries that produced them have closed, and the increase in demand has been so sudden that modern manufacturers haven't had time to catch up. But this could be about to change.

Charles Brooking, a collector for 35 years, has amassed bits and pieces thrown out during the widespread demolition of old buildings in the 1960's and the modernisation of what was left in the 1970's.

After years of keeping his finds in garages and sheds, he has run out of space and been forced to transfer more than 100,000 of them to the University of Greenwich in South East London.

The Brooking Collection has recently been granted charitable status and Brooking is currently seeking lottery funding to enable him to add to the collection and make it more accessible to the public.

Such is the interest in architectural ironmongery - and replicating the original architect's intentions - that Brooking is increasingly asked to lecture on the subject.

He is also negotiating with manufacturers to produce selected pieces of antique ironmongery to meet the demand for something more than a highly lacquered brass lever handle.

In the meantime, Brass Foundry Castings at Brasted, Kent, has more than 800 brass-and-foundry castings that can be copied. The average price for a pair of doorknobs is £120. The company can also help if you have an old handle you would like copied; prices are dependent on quantity.

Ashfield Traditional produces hand-forged iron latches, hinges and doorknockers for the National Trust and English Heritage. Its latches start at £29.75 per set.

Those looking for brass door and light fittings, from Georgian to Art Deco styles, should contact J.D. Beardmore in London. Fittings are also available in different finishes - chrome, nickel or bronze - and prices for a pair of doorknobs start at £35.

The company also offers a bespoke service and will make up one-off pieces or hundreds of knobs from your original.