Ah, the old question of which is better: the item with a patina of age or an item which is restored to a brand new condition. I think it depends on the opinion of the buyer. If you as a seller have gone the other way opposite to the buyer's preference , well, no sale! If you try to restore it, either have it done professionally or not at all. Amateurs can do more harm than good.
Oh Lord....one HUGE mistake I see at shows are the people who find 'Dad's' old Nazi knives...they think that the brighter the better...man oh man...talk about killing an item. A lot and I mean A LOT of original TR items came burnished, frosted or lacquered. The worst thing someone can do to an untouched original TR edged weapon is to start cleaning it. Most people will see the yellow areas of lacquer and think that it is grime...you clean that off you just cleaned off a few hundred bucks. The next favorite thing that stupid people like to do is use semi-crome or some other type of light abrasion cleaner on their edged weapon blades...plated blades you can get away with this if you are ever so careful but man alive...you will strip away all the original cross graining and you will also strip away a good portion of the pieces value. Go have a look at some SA daggers...you can always tell the ones that were cleaned over and over and over again...they have no cross graining left! Do yourself a favor...unless there is something damaging just keep your fingers and most importantly your cleaning agents to yourself!
maybe this thread can expand to embrace more variety of items and advice thereon. Certain things are obviously best left untouched, certain things should be cleaned but in the correct way, and some items have to be preserved or would perhaps be better restored. views, advice, opinions, techniques, all maybe collected together would make a useful stop here for any would be collectors.
I have a few items that could use a nice cleaning, but I am simply not confident I will not depreciate it by doing so. Usually from a lack of proper care. I just display them as is. The piece is just as interesting with the rust as it would be without it.
leather and fabric seems to be where the biggest disagreements are about what's best. I have one small question - I have a cloth fabric hat that has been badly misused by having lots of pins/badges attached. Although there is no major damage, i still haven't found the best way to get rid of the marks - some light indirect ironing and some massage seem to be working a little bit, but maybe someone has a better idea as i have many holes to 'disappear'. It's not a seriously valuable or historically interesting hat - it's a Soviet side cap from 1990, so I'm prepared to experiment, although other than the pin holes it is as unworn brand-new.
Fabric I have no advice about, but for leather goods a 100% Pure Neatsfoot Oil is the very best for redeeming cracked and damaged leather. I personally use a brand called Fiebing's, but that is only because my family and I have been using it all our lives. My Grandfather Oskar turned me onto that stuff out of his tack room where he kept his working harnesses and saddles at "peak" condition. I've used it on all kinds of leather which appears to be "beyond" salvage, halted the splitting and scaling, and made the leather supple again with light, repeated applications. Amazing stuff, google up how its is made and you will be amazed. This is a unique oil made from the rendering of the lower leg bones of cattle and sheep. Nothing in the world like "neatsfoot" oil.
There are very few exceptions for cleaning old stuff. I collect coins now and then, and a polish job can ruin the price of a rare one. I've gotten ripped off in the past paying for a coin and not knowing how to look to see if it was polished. My advice, don't do it! I'd rather have the wear and tear on an object anyway sometimes. That tells a story itself.
I agree with you 100%. By leaving an artifact in its found or bought state it helps paint a picture of what kind of a scenario its original user was facing.
You should only clean an artifact if it is very very dirty and you know it won't do any damage. For the dagger i say leave it alone.
Agree with everyone else, if it ain't broken' don't fix it. I collect ancient coins and only clean to the point of being able to identify. You can make many things appear brand new but that can also cause a $100.00 to $500.00 coin become a $15.00 ballmarker for the golf course. Most times, like mentioned above, the "patina" is everything.
As arule of thunb, i never clean an item. i broke that rule when i got in a smelly dirty pair of chemical/nebelwerfer troops shoulderboards. took almost a week of soaking and scrubbing to get these in good enough condition to place with the rest of the collection. Since i never had any intentions of selling them, i broke my rule and cleaned them.
