Featured The best "Anglo-Indian box" paper I've ever read

Then , you should collect me !!!!

 

I said rare, not unique

 

Absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately when I buy something it has to be in pretty good nick as I don’t have the skills you have to restore it. Please share the finished item on here after you have finished restoring it. I’d love to see it.

 

I will, it needs a lot of attention, the front slope flap has been glued poorly so it will need to be dismantled, fingers crossed it was done with hide glue. The hinges have been changed, I need to find another slope of the right age that's in poor condition so it doesn't cost a lot (I've tried making hinges and I failed lol) The whole insides and the top slope is missing and it's never been cleaned. I don't know if I want to try and replace the missing insides, it would have had carved lids to the compartments and I'll never be able to find replacements but I am going to find the right hinges, clean and re-glue the front slope. The 2 raised carved panels have undercut carving ie holes underneath and behind the figures it's so deeply carved, I'll try and get photos to explain better lol. If I don't re-do the inside I don't think it will bother me as the carving is what the box is all about.

 

ALERT...... LINK !!

 

Have you seen this writing slope? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/39586711...nwVmhkmSVO&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

It needs a lot of work and the outside is nowhere near the quality of yours but the inside looks like it is in good working order. I wonder if it could be used to repair your writing box. The vendor offered it to me for £80 but I am not interested as it’s beyond my capabilities but clearly they are open to offers. Just a thought.

 

Thank you for thinking of me Unfortunately the Sadeli on the slope is impossible to restore, this is why Sadeli that's fully intact on a box is worth so much more, even if it's lifting it can be reattached using an iron but once it's gone it's gone. You can't easily lift Sadeli off a donor box either, before my hands became useless (shaky and wonder around uncontrollably) I did restore Sadeli ie put back missing parts but now there's no chance. I don't think you will find a restorer in the world who can. The slope it's self is fantastic, the carving is just wonderful and if it could be restored I would, I was looking at new Mysore carved boxes today on youtube and they want $6500 for a really good one, this is because wages in India have risen and wages in the west have fallen, what once was a tourist piece has become quite a major purchase.

 

When I bought the slope it didn't have anything inside and the hinges didn't allow the slope to come fully down. I have been torn on what to do with the inside and I've decided to keep it looking original ie not restored. I hope I've managed to pull it off. Truthfully this restoration has been a real pig, the cleaning has been relentless and I'm still not fully happy with the result but I'm not doing any more...I'm done. Before, after, after, before lol

 

Great job! Looks amazing.

 

It looks happier now.

 

I'm still on the fence about a full restoration for the inside to make it look pretty and restored or like it was when new. It's like making a 18th c coffer like the day it was made, takes all the value out of it. It was quite a job to rebuild the inside and make it look like it's always been there and unrestored.

 

Most USAians wouldn't mess with it much, on the grounds that it'll only look this bad once.

 

My thinking is most writing slopes are 1860s-1920's, this is 1830's, yes it's in a state but keeping the look of age is important past 200 (only 10 years from now) and most writing slopes are all about the inside whereas this is all about the outside.