Re: What does "original finish" mean, exactly?

In rec.antiques  quarkmeister <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


>A patina can, apparently, be anything at all - summed up by "shit
>happens". (In essence, Krylon graffiti on an armoire would be part of
>its patina - it is after all part of the piece's history.)
>


That's bollocks.


The "piece's history" is its provenance.


Patina will be determined by environment, how the piece was looked after,
cared for, restored and conserved. A piece may be devoid of 'good' patina
(and colour) as it may be devoid of provenance. If a piece was never
properly cleaned, buffed, waxed and generally cared for during its lifetime
then it will never build patination. Also its environment will play a major
part also in building colour and patina. Vandalism is NOT patina.

The American and English view of what good colour and patination should look
like could differ widely. Wasn't so very long ago good English patina was
getting the bleach-over by the Americans to lighten that rather dark look,
whereas, the Brits were busy reploshing/refinishing all that fine faded
Yankee blonde stuff thinking they were putting the life back in. I would
like to think we have come along ways since those bad old days, but somehow,
I doubt it very much.




-- 
Ronnie