Just to clarify (from an offlist response), the museum conservation 'industry' has not decided on a set paradigm, though the current vogue is to 'do no evil', don't do anything that cannot be restored back to how the object was received. some of the philosophical factors involved are maker's intent, viewer's draw (basically ticket sales), maximizing communication abilities, technology restrictions, etc. A museum has certain missions to fulfill, conservation is one of the subsets in the considerations.
However, we are talking about items that are privately owned and enjoyed, and if the museum conservation community has not established set procedures, I think it may be a slippery slope for us. Rather, value the bike as you see fit, refinished or not, rather than thinking of it as an asset and how the market will react...just my opinion...
G L Romeu wrote:
> <div class="moz-text-flowed" style="font-family: -moz-fixed">Theories of
> museum conservation are constantly evolving and are also subject to the
> 'fashion' of the period.
> YOu can find quite a bit of varying opinion in the American press during
> the restoration of the Sistine Chapel sometime back, there is still no
> consensus of the results.
> A similar thing happened with furniture restoration, it was fashionable
> to 'restore' pieces late in the 19th to mid 20th century, then despised
> in the late to current.
> I believe that much of this is market driven, to increase scarcity of
> the 'pristine (or untouched?)' primarily.
>
>>
>> In museums, I haven't noticed that bronze Greek statues are polished
>> up to a high finish, and the green surface oxydation removed to get
>> back to the o
>> riginal colour? I understand that the patina is actually a surface
>> protect
>> ion against the ravages of time.
>>
>> But of course all of these museum curators might just be idiots, or
>> not hav
>> e enough skill, money, or talent to restore/have their works of art
>> restore
>> d properly?
> gabriel romeu
> chesterfield new jersey usa
--
G L Romeu
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