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Newmans, ltd., Fine Art Restoration: howard and mary newman conserve and restore candelabra, bronze sculpture and statues, antique mechanisms, and a wide variety of art objects made of metal, ivory, wood, plasti.

Howard building a copper fountain sculpture in his workshop, for the Philadelphia Horticultural Society The design is based on a lilypad, and medieval armor. The parts are connected by copper interlinking tabs, and supported in the water by insulation foam floats.
rom his home and studio in Newport, Rhode Island, Howard Newman solves challenging problems involving historical and antique metal art objects with the eye of an artist, and the hands of a master silversmith. Howard and the staff at Newmans, Ltd. employ the full range of technology from traditional metalsmithing to advanced Rapid Prototyping computer systems.

A member of the American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works, Newmans, Ltd. is a valued resource for the owners and caretakers of public and private historic properties, and for collectors nationwide.

Newmans, Ltd. has collaborated on restoration projects with these cultural, educational, political and religious institutions:

 
Brown University
A restored 19th century fine art object; a Persian decorative incense burner made of cast filligree brass and semiprecious stones. We filled in the gaps with hand forged copper sheet which we tied into the forms with brass wire sutures.
The City of Newport, Rhode Island
The International Yacht Restoration School
The International Tennis Hall of Fame
The New York Yacht Club
The Pequot Library, in Southport, Connecticut
The Preservation Society of Newport County
The Rhode Island Historical Preservation and Heritage Commission
St. George's School
Salve Regina University
Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island
The United States Sailing Association
Yale University
The Portsmouth Abbey, Portsmouth, Rhode Island

Projects for individual clients include restoration of French bronze sculptures, ormolu figurative and animal sculptures, and damaged ormolu and silver candelabra.

Newmans, Ltd. specializes in antique mechanism restoration, including office machines and optical devices made of brass, steel, glass, ivory, leather and wood.

If you would like to discuss the restoration of your bronze sculpture, statues, or fine metal objects, or speak with Mr. Newman regarding other metal objects of your own, contact him, and he will be happy to discuss it with you.

Allison Ledes, editor of The Magazine Antiques, has written a vivid description of Howard's work. You can read her article here.

 

Download the Touro Synagogue restoration photo essay
Pieces of Touro Synagogue:

Restoration of Touro Synagogue, including all of its brass candelabra chanukkiah, and other ecclesiastical objects made of silver, brass, cast iron, steel, and wrought iron.  We restored and replaced glass and wood parts and rebuilt weak, broken, aged wood.

Brown University

Brown University's antique bronze statue was cleaned and the patina restored.Restoration of the patina of an historic bronze Gorham plaque for Brown University.

 

Pequot Library

Restoration of decorative and structural late 19th century cast iron objects in the library stacks including the stairway balustrades. Restoration included cleaning, stabilizing and repainting the pieces with rust retardant paint.  Other parts were copper plated iron that we replated and recolored

 

Preservation Society of Newport County

chinese pierced silver ostrich egg containerWe rebuilt this silver candelabra with broken base by emptying the pitch from the inside, reassembling the sheffield plate parts, and refilling the body with pitchWe straightened castings of silver and recolored the parts, then lacqauered the silver parts, and reassembled the silver castings and hollowware.We recreated the missing cast foot of this figurine by soldering a block of tin alloy onto the leg stump, and carving the new foot in the style of the other foot.  We matched the surrounding color with pigments and metal powders dispersed in lacquer.

 

Sotheby's Restoration

Fine art sculpture; Painted, polished and patinated Art Nouveau bronze female dancing figurine, art nouveau lamp restoration, bronze horse restoration, art nouveau bronze figure restoration

 

Individual Commissions

Art Deco silver coffee service with broken early plastic handles restored by rebuilding english teapot with broken handle.  Researched and discovered the original handle design, carved the design from legal ivory, and reattached the handle to the tepot with silver pins. Art Deco bronze figure restoration, art deco lamp restorationEarly american decorative mechanism is made of silver plated pot metal with cast brass gears.  We made new gears where needed, rebent the hinges and doors for the rotating condiment bottle holders, straightened and reinforced the weak feet.The base of this spelter, or cast zinc, and copper plated bust was shattered. We reinforced the broken legs with epoxy, and restored the damaged surfaces.

This early twentieth century hand made bronze lamp was made with translucent, polished shell inserts which we replaced with similar shell, then fitting it by cutting to a template.  We also rebuilt the origina, but broken, electrical switch parts. We then polished, patinated,and lacquered the bronze metal parts.We restored gaps in tanned and dyed elephant hide leather album.This zinc fine art sculpture statue of a peasant maid was anchored in concrete. Someone trying to move her ripped the body from the anchored legs.  We used a pneumatic hammer to separate the base from the concrete, and reassembled the parts.A parcel gilt Art Nouveau bronze female dancing girl figurine, restored by chasing and refinishing the bent leg, back, buttocks, and legs, repairing this sumptuous bronze dancing nude art nouveau small statue with stone base

repair bronze sculpture, statues, restore bronze figurines, fix antique mechanisms, conserve metal art objects, Antiques