dk nkf - Nordisk Konservatorforbund Danmark

Notes:
1. There are a few notable exceptions: the
polished aluminum aircraft of the 1950s and the
stainless steel streamliners and railway coaches
made by the Budd Manufacturing Company
from the 1930s to the 1950s. Also, a number
of brass or bronze parts on industrial artifacts
are left unpainted as a matter of tradition, such
as the bells on ships and locomotives. Metallic
finishes will be discussed in a future article.
2. In fact, the very word “finish” carries with it a
sense of finality.
3. The importance of surface coatings was
recognized long before conservation existed as
a profession. One could argue that painting was
an early form of conservation.
4. For example, in the 1930s, Canadian Pacific
Railway steam locomotives were estimated to
have a service life of thirty-five to forty years.
Freight locomotives were sandblasted and
repainted in the railroad shops on average every
130,000 kilometers (80,000 miles). It was not
uncommon for a freight locomotive to accumulate
approximately 1.6 million km (1 million miles)
during its working life, during which time it
might have been repainted 12 times or more.
Every one of these finishes would be considered
as historically valid, regardless of its date,
because of its association with the railroad shops.
“Reconditioning of Locomotives,” in Canadian
Pacific Facts and Figures. (Montreal: Canadian
Pacific Railway, 1937), p.140.
5. In the realm of fine arts, there is a parallel
between the value placed on works by a
recognized master, such as Rembrandt, and
those created by his students.
6. In the future, we might consider creating
a vocabulary similar to the one used by
numismatists, ranging from “Brilliant
Uncirculated” all the way down to
“Counterfeit.” Numismatists also have
a certification system, whereby a coin is
authenticated and graded by a professional
service. A similar certification process for
finishes could be carried out by conservators
and curators.
7. See Valentine & Company ad (Saturday
Evening Post, Sept. 27, 1924, p.36) “...there are
cars...that need re-finishing before they are six
months old.” The owner in this ad is amazed
that his refinished car, “...looks as though it had
just come out of the paint shop, yet it has been
used continuously many months in all kinds of
weather.”
8. Attempting to make an artifact look shiny and
new is misguided in another sense, in that it
appears never to have been used. An unused
artifact is in reality an anomaly. The object did
not fulfill its intended purpose, suggesting that
it was a failure. Why didn’t someone buy it or
use it? Was the design defective? Were more
desirable items available from competitors?
Did some tragedy intervene with its intended
use? Unused artifacts – or artifacts made to
look unused – should make museum visitors
uncomfortable because there is no association
with the human experience.
9. Consider the situation with volunteers restoring
airplanes from WW2. The war ended in 1945.
Anyone old enough to have served during the
final year would now be 82 years old. Most
would be older.
10. A person may also have memories only
of incorrectly restored vehicles. For
example, automobile tires before 1925 were
predominantly grey or white. By 1935, they
were predominantly black. White tires were
no longer produced after the mid-1930s, so
“antique” cars that followed were invariably
outfitted with new black tires. This went of
for a period of over forty years. As a result,
entire generations saw vintage cars only with
incorrect black tires. If the collective memory
of something as obvious as tires could be
completely reversed from white to black, the
memories of more subtle things like finishes
have little chance of being accurate.
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