Hello,
to me an untouched item in a collection is like a time machine. Even
conservation - not restoration - can cause loss of information. So my
guidline here would be that the loss caused by conservation should be
fewer than the loss by non conservation.
For example it might be informative to inspect the accumulations of
dirt/dust/rosin or the abrasion/scratches showing use etc.
If the item falls apart and parts are in danger to get lost it might
be neccessary to fix them and its ineviteable neccessary to kill
woodworm or fungal decay.
To only document the item before more intense restoration is
problematic as documentation allways only answers the questions
asked. But we never know what questions the future will ask and be
able to ask - some can be imagined: things that have to do with
chemistry of materials, with DNA, ...
I found that on restoration even in museums often not even the
replaced original parts get kept, what a shame!
In the seventeeth century giving a christian funeral to the remains
of the prehistoric miner they then found in the salt mines of
Hallstatt *was* state of art. Today we would like to ask and answer
this remains a lot more scientific questions before.
S.
---
have a look at:
http://hurdygurdywiki.wiki-site.com
http://drehleierwiki.wiki-site.com
---
my site:
http://simonwascher.info
