Now days we can probably create a computer simulation of how it was
supposed to look. Do museums do this for crumpled items? It seems
like it would really help us “see” how objects were made to be. And
it wouldn’t mess them up.
M’lou
Hello Goo,
Yes, I’d also love to see these pieces as they were first made. From
a strictly museum/curatorial/historian’s point of view, I suppose
that studying the sorts of damages they have suffered is just as
interesting and revealing as seeing them whole. Were they torn from
the clutches of their resisting owners in battle? Or hastily pulled
from the arms and armament of the dead after battle? Were some of
them intentionally destroyed because they were, in someone’s eyes,
“blasphemous?”
But as to whether they are more valuable as-is or restored - -
This speaks to the question of the difference between folks who make
things and folks who hoard things. Reading various newspaper
accounts of this discovery I have been mildly disturbed by the
emphasis placed on the weight, and thus the “value” of the hoard.
That’s to be expected in the popular media. Not a big deal, but it
does point up one regrettable fact of our present culture - that the
popular mindset leans much more commonly towards hoarding things than
towards making things.
I saw a bumper sticker recently which summed it up nicely - “The best
things in life are not things”
marty in Victoria
I am lucky, I went to see The Staffordshire Hoard last week. If you
are going, go early they are opening that gallery only at 9AM, the
rest of the museum opens at 10.Take a small torch, it is all lit from
the top and there are interesting details on the sides that are
thrown into shadow.
And yes it is very good work, although they have left a lot of mud
on it so some is difficult to understand at first. I can see that you
could easily lose small pieces of foil and garnet if you did a rush
cleaning job.
They let you stay as long as you like, although it is not really
fair to be there all day! The queue when we came out went round the
side of the building. And no photos. I belive it is going to be in
restoration for about a year once the exhibition closes.
What they have on show is about 70-80 pieces, about half knotwork
with beaded wire and the other half garnet cloisonne in various
patterns. It is some time since I saw the Sutton Hoo pieces but from
memory some of this is finer work. There are better pieces on show
than on the website photos, althugh you cannot see the detail that
the photos show up.
regards Tim Blades.
M’lou
I have done both dog (pendant chewed and sent all the way through) and driveway (backed over earring with truck) restorations, but only on my own work.
The dog one sounds really unpleasant, although the truck probably
did more damage. But in both cases you work your butt off using every
trick you know and end up with something you can’t be proud of. It
is nice to make a client a little less distraught (even if it is just
you) but there are limits.
Some repair work is best avoided with a confession of a total lack of
skills, the only problem is when the boss says sure we can fix, pick
it up on tuesday 
jeffD
Demand Designs
Analog/Digital Modelling & Goldsmithing
http://www.gmavt.net/~jdemand
I have done both dog (pendant chewed and sent all the way through) and driveway (backed over earring with truck) restorations, but only on my own work.
Me too! In the case of the dog, it was a Russian filigree hoop
earring, part of which had to be sawed out of the re-formed frame
and mirror matched. The backed over earring of the same technique
actually faired better. Who would have thought that a labrador puppy
could be more destructive than a motorized chunk of metal? At least
no one was wearing either earring at the time of their respective
incidents.
What next becomes of the Staffordshire Hoard (which is yummy beyond
belief!) belongs in that controversial realm of conservation versus
restoration. Most museums will stay on the conservation side of the
line and only do what is best for the preservation of both the
artwork and the knowledge it provides. Institutions and collectors,
who cross over into permanent restoration, often come under heavy
fire and usually restrict restoration to the removal of grime, mold,
and pollution that may cause further harm. What gets cleaned off is
usually determined by the risk of further deterioration or damage
and, as others have pointed out, only after careful analysis of the
gunk.
In the same vein, any changing or repairing will likely be minimal
because of the risk of further damage and probably because any
efforts to do so would result in contemporary tool marks that change
the history of the artworks. Ironically, lots of conservation and
restoration on artwork today is for the express purpose of removing
or fixing previous attempts at conservation and restoration
performed during eras of less technology and awareness.
For my own work, I’m with Goo; I shudder to think that any of it,
which manages to survive for 1000 years, might be displayed complete
with tire tracks or canine teeth marks. Alas though, I don’t believe
it’s up to us to make that call for other artists. Paintings can be
cleaned to their original colors, but the removal of patinas has
devalued many a work in metal.
Yes, Tim, you are lucky!!!
Best wishes,
Victoria
who is with Brian in being very envious of Peter! 
I see that Jack Ogden is listed as a New Member. His book, Jewellery
of the Ancient World, is really fascinating. I’d like to hear his
opinions on our thread about the Staffordshire Hoard. Welcome back,
Jack!
Judy Bjorkman
Why not make replicas of how they would have looked? With all of the
imaging capabilities that we have today, surely all parts even if
folded, could be seen and studied.
People who lived at the time these items were collected, were
endowed with the same foibles we have today - greed being one. The
"hoard" could well be a battlefield robber’s stash. In that case, the
person would have squashed the precious metal items to reduce their
size and make concealment easier. The folded-up cross seems like a
good example. The pieces were probably headed for “melt”, as I
recently heard someone say when sending scraps to a refiner.
What an intriguing find!
Judy in Kansas, where it’s a gloomy, rainy day… but we’ll take the
moisture. BTW, the little terrapin I found is in a terrarium with
water, food, and places for concealment. So far s/he’s doing well.
The Staffordshire hoard is probably just the valuable (i.e. gold and
gemstone) parts of the original items that were removed in an
unceremonious way as an "investment " or spoils of war by the person
who buried them in the field. These were not a burial hoard in which
case they would probably have been left intact.
It is likely that they were bent and broken up to save space and
weight by the hoarder. The Vikings removed many gold and silver
decorations off bibles and beat flat lots of religious spoils that
they stole when they invaded British churches and monasteries.
Using laser scanning techniques they can be “virtually” restored and
the missing parts i.e. non-precious, added again and then replicas
made. This is the most likely eventual outcome that will be
undertaken - maybe our own Orcadian James Miller is the master
goldsmith for the job especially after seeing his King Tut replicas’
in his recent book ?
Robin Key (FSA Scotland)
Clavis Jewellery
Aberdeen, Scotland