this was one of the more interesting and challenging repairs i have ever taken on. according to my client, the piece was made in the 1700’s in austria, escaped the russian invasion of hungary in 1956, and acquired by my client and her husband in australia in the late 60’s. from there it went to the coast of rhode island for about 40 years, and then recently to landgrove, vermont, where the owner lives now. somewhere along the line, the top of the piece was subjected to heat, extreme sunshine, and/or enough dryness to buckle/loosen the hand sawn veneer pieces on the top of the case. surprisingly, since the veneer was applied originally with hot hide glue, i was able to dislodge many of the pieces, flatten the top in the process, reglue the pieces and install it all back on the original case, without disturbing the existing, french polish finish. the gods were smiling on me for taking this one on. the client was happy. there are more photos and an extensive description of the entire process on my dorset custom furniture blog. here’s a link to the post.

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