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Silver and Leather Album
1904, American
This album, part of the Stanford White Family collection, was rediscovered and sent to us for restoration. It arrived with the silver overlay separated from the leather and, along with the inset silver letters, deeply tarnished. A worm had eaten through the leather, and the leather was deteriorating from Red Rot at the binding.

We removed the overlay, cleaned and straightened the silver, treated the leather, filled in and matched the worm hole to the surrounding leather and reassembled the album.

Gorham leather and bent silver before restoration and conservation. This portfolio is made of elephant hide which had been eaten by worms while stored in the damp basement of a family residence.

Before

detail of art nouveau silver and leather album before we restored it. You can see the deeply tarnished silver overlay which is now a blue-black, and the coarse,tanned elephant hide dyed black. Red rot can be seen in the upper edge of the leather where the finish had worn through.

Before, detail

Here, the complete album is restored for the collector. The silver has been carefully highlighted to emphasize the relief design, and lacquered. The worn elephant hide has been treated for red rot. The worm holes have been filled with a thermoplastic colored resin using a stamp to duplicate the texture, and lacquered.

Restored, detail

the planishing hammer icon which links you to the homepage. Planishing hammers, with their polished flat and slightly domed heads, are essential tools to the silversmith and sheet metal worker.