On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 1:15 PM, <gholl@optonline.net> wrote:
> You carefully sidestep the question regarding what "information" would be lost by a proper repair. I submit that no "information" would be lost and the integrity of what remains would be preserved. If necessary, various photographic, chemical, and even X-Ray techniques could be used to document the bike before commencing repairs.
What would be lost is the bike's originality- it's very essence as a historical object. Repainting a 60 or so year old bike with hand pinstriping using the paints and techniques available today can at the very best only reproduce a hollow facsimile of the original surface. Even if the painter gets the color exactly right, catalyzed epoxy will never look convincingly right and the modern pinstriping however artistic will never be more than a pale replication. Is it really a "proper repair" if the object's originality is irreversibly lost?
Kurt Sperry
Bellingham, Washington
USA