I need lots of help and advice on repairing the surface of an old table I have.  The table is structurally sound, nothing is cracked or broken.  The surface of the table is really beaten up and there are a lot of scratches on the top and some on the legs.   The table has been in the family for almost 100 years and has a lot of sentimental value. I want to do whatever I can to repair and restore it as much as possible.   I don’t want it to look new, I want it to maintain its history of living with five rambunctious kids and many years of big family holiday dinners and celebrations.
I took it home last weekend from storage where it sat for a number of years.  Looking closely at the top I think it is thin leather.
The photos show the condition of the top.  I believe the gold pattern is printed on leather not wood.  There is lots of crackling.  I don’t know if that is in the leather or in a finish that was applied on top of the leather.   The larger damaged area in photo 2 looks like the surface of the leather came off leaving some bits of bottom layer behind around the edges.
The black material on the surface in photo 5 is hard and feels like adhesive or  something similar.  I haven’t tried to get it off.
In addition to the top work I need to address the scratches in the wood on the top and legs.
As I go through this project I’m going to have lots of questions for you guys on how to proceed.

I’m assuming the first thing I should do is clean any dirt from the top and get that black stuff off.  What materials and process should I use to do that?  I don’t want to damage the gold edge accent.
Are there solvents that could help with the black residue and not cause damage?
If there is a finish on top of the leather should I try to remove that?