Coromandel _{Antique Restoration}

Restoration to Antique Objects Made of Wood

Almost all antique objects, boxes and caddies, picture frames and mirrors use wood in their basic construction.

This carcass is then veneered with finer woods, which is then often inlaid with patterns in contrasting woods or decorated with tortoise shell, ivory or mother of pearl.

As part of the restoration process we often have to repair the wooden carcass to provide a sound base for veneering, as can be seen on our tortoiseshell restoration page.

Wood veneers, inlay, mouldings, replacement panels and french polishing are just a few of the tasks required to restore tea caddies, document boxes, work and snuff boxes, and many other items.

Burr Wood and Ivory Tented Caddy

This lovely and unusual 18th century octagonal tea caddy needed restoration to one burr wood panel, and several of the ebony and ivory lines.

Geometric Inlaid Cabinet

Geometric designs of bone, ebony and other decorative hardwoods are typical of early Spanish colonial table cabinets, of which this is one. Missing large areas of inlay, we were tasked with replacing them to match the existing.

Burr Wood Snuff Box

Snuff boxes were also often veneered in fine woods with attractive figure and lined with tortoiseshell. We were asked to re-veneer a missing panel on this example.

Dog Snuff Box

What a super dog! A small chip to one ear of this snuff box had to be repaired and a bone tooth - suitably stained - was made to replace the missing one.

Spanish Colonial Box

This very pretty inlaid Spanish colonial document box needed replacements for some of the missing veneers and mouldings, and after cleaning and re-finishing turned out to be a very handsome box.

Specimen Wood Work Box

In Ceylon and parts of the West Indies, the local craftsmen were justifiably proud of the range of local woods at their disposal. They often veneered work boxes, tables and other furniture in geometric designs of highly contrasting woods. This particular example was made in Ceylon, and we had been asked to restore two missing panels.