Abacus
Antique Dealers: Restoration or Conservation Which
Do You Need?
Consult
an appraiser if you’re in doubt about the value
of the object.
Expect to pay for an estimate. You may not have to,
but be prepared.
Ask questions about the work to be done. What materials
will they use, and why? What are the alternatives?
Responsible professionals want you to make an informed
choice.
Save any loose pieces, no matter how small.
Cautions
Avoid
phone estimates. A ballpark is for baseball.
The lowest price isn’t necessarily your best
choice. Quality work takes time.
Don’t attempt a repair yourself unless you’re
confident about your skills and the appropriate materials
to use.
Nothing
lasts forever, at least not without some help. Anyone
who cares for old things knows that it’s rare
indeed to encounter a piece that hasn’t already
had repairs. It’s not uncommon to encounter three
or four generations of repairs of varying quality
on a 200-year-old object, be it a painting or a sideboard.
Historically, restorers have been responsible for
repairing the damage caused by the vicissitudes of
environment, accident, and use. Their clients set
the standard for what were acceptable levels of restoration,
and the restorers worked to that standard.
More recently, standards for caring for the more valuable
objects have changed. Connoisseurship, technology,
and the marketplace have combined to elevate our understanding
and appreciation of original methods and materials.
It is no longer enough that “rare and important”
pieces have survived regardless of what work was required
to ensure that survival.
Rare
and important now indicates that the appearance of
a piece is consistent with its original maker’s
intentions, and that the information that the piece
contains about its original materials, technique and
appearance has been protected, preserved, and where
possible revealed. Conservation as a separate profession
emerged some three decades ago to address the needs
of these rare and important objects. Generally speaking,
a conservator works principally on objects that may
have or are known to have historic or artistic significance.
Restoration
and Conservation Compared
It
isn’t always easy to make distinctions between
restoration and conservation, nor is it always necessary.
The two disciplines have much in common. Both strive
to provide the owner with quality work and a satisfying
result, and both share a common distress in having
to undo and correct poor previous work. Sometimes
a conservator and a restorer will prescribe identical
solutions to a problem. For example, if you have milky
white marks on your dining table, both professionals
will recommend carefully cleaning the surface, abrading
it with fine steel wool, and padding it with denatured
alcohol until the marks disappear. Both of them will
also recommend that your guests be more careful with
hot dishes or wet containers.
With
more complex problems, the differences between restoration
and conservation are manifest both in approach and
in execution. A restorer’s priorities are to
improve appearance and function. This may or may not
require removing and replacing damaged elements and
coatings. If there is information present about the
original materials and techniques of the maker, there
is not necessarily a separate priority or capacity
to look for and preserve it.
However,
if the restoration has been performed without identifying
and protecting remnants of original material and technique,
the piece slips further away from its origins. Simultaneously,
it moves further away from being a meaningful or valuable
representative of its type. For example, once a piece
of furniture has been refinished or reupholstered,
information about early finish layers, or nailing
patterns and threads captured under tacks becomes
fragmentary and difficult to find.
For
conservators, it is paramount to identify and protect
evidence and remnants of original material and technique.
Before they undertake to treat an object, they must
satisfy themselves that what they are going to do
will not damage or destroy information about original
elements (e.g. finish remnants, paper fragments, construction
techniques).
Both
restorers and conservators rely on their own experience
and the piece itself for information about original
appearance and what has happened to bring it to their
attention. A conservator adds the ability to access
information that is not visible to the naked eye.
S/he has recourse to an array of analytical techniques
that make it possible, for example, to characterize
resins, identify pigments, describe finish layer sequences,
and view the internal configuration of a joint without
disassembling it.
For
example, with fluorescence microscopy tiny samples
of finish can be viewed in cross-section for information
about layer sequence and composition [Fig. 3]. If
the finish cross-sections reveal that there are remnants
of original finish buried under the layers of newer
finish, then steps can be taken to protect those lower
layers. If the finish cross-sections have revealed
that the coating you’re looking at is only the
latest in a series, then tests can be conducted to
remove it without damage to the original surface over
which it was applied. Elsewhere, deteriorated original
fabric remnants found under a nail head can be identified
for color and type (e.g. linen, silk, wool) and the
information gained used to guide choices about the
replacement fabrics.
Where
to Turn?
As
the discriminating owner, where should you turn for
quality care: a restorer or a conservator? Begin by
asking yourself how valuable the piece is—historically
and/or artistically—to you or to the market.
An appraiser can help if you’re in doubt. Many
of our possessions are neither rare nor important
except to us. Your vase may not need the diagnostic
capability and protection of information that a conservator
offers, in which case a restorer is your better choice.
Then,
too, you may not have to decide. A good restorer will
refer you to a conservator if judged appropriate,
and vice versa. Alternatively, call a museum curator.
Based on your description, the individual may be able
to steer you in the right direction and, at the very
least, doesn’t have a vested interest in your
choice.
In
short, 99 percent of what we own probably will be
well served by a good restorer when something goes
awry. For the other one percent that is old enough,
rare enough, or complex enough, conservation may be
a better choice for interpreting and protecting its
story.
Most
importantly, enjoy what you have and take good care
of it.
Melissa
Carr
