James Huffner asks a good question which has come up many times
before: May you do anything to an antique except preserve it in the
condition found?

Museum curators often answer with a resounding "no" even though the
future viewers of the artifact will never see (or hear) its original
functioning.  Of course, in fine art they then often violate their own
principles, taking off four hundred years of varnish (on an 'as found'
painting) in order to restore it to the look the original artist gave
to his creation.

To me, the answer seems relatively simple.  If an object is still being
manufactured today, you can use it in combination with other devices or
objects to build whatever you fancy.  So, if you want to buy a Lexus
460 and put a Hummer engine into it and call it a HumLex, that's okay
with me.

But, if an item is no longer being produced -- say, a Model T Ford
-- and you become responsible for its rebuilding, I believe you are
obligated to restore it as close as possible to its original condition
so that you preserve the original maker's intent, skill and technology.

I'll give you an example that's closer to home for those of us who
collect and treasure mechanical music.  The earliest cylinder music
boxes (say 1800-1825) did not have cement in the cylinders and, as
a result, had what some people call a 'tinny' sound which they believe
detracts from the sophisticated musical orchestrations that were
already in use.

Some restorers, when such early boxes need repinning, not only
repin but also add cement to the restored barrel.  The box 'sounds
better' to the restorer and to the customer, who now can show an
'antique' early music box, in perfect condition, with beautifully
mellow, 'music box sound'.

The fact is, however, that the box is no longer an early music box and
the sound is unlike any early music box ever made.  We have destroyed
an antique through the addition of technology that did not exist and
had not been invented when the original box was made.  We have created
a 'HumLex' and the world has lost one more example of a true antique.

And down the road a piece, say a hundred years from now, an expert will
look at and listen to this box and discover that it was made in 1815
(which it was) and listen to it and quickly determine that it has a
cemented cylinder, and quietly announce to the world that the old experts
were wrong and that instead of cement having been started in 1825, this
box proves that it was started in 1815.

In essence, my thesis is that we may restore the appearance and function
of a mechanical music machine to what it was when it was made and not
more, and that we should, whenever even remotely possible, do this
restoration with materials that are the same or as similar as possible
to those used by the original maker.  Leather for leather, hot hide
glue for hot hide glue, French polish not polyurethane!

We should try to preserve the past, and not try to falsely embellish it.

Frank Metzger