Restoring Historical Artefacts.

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BENIDORM
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Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Feb 06, 2021 4:50 pm

Many of my 'pastimes/hobbies/ interests seem to blend seamlessly for me.

This week I've been restoring an old door lock which I recovered from an ancient Spanish house many years ago while helping a friend, he had no interest in historical items so I came away with a boxful of 'goodies'.

Having more time than usual on my hands because of the' lockdown situation', I've been sorting my many boxes of projects and came across the lock so thought what an appropriate item to restore it...'Lockdown'..... :think:

So combining my knowledge of crafts, social history and antiques I've managed to bring back to life this old lock, it was caked in dirt and paint, the key still in place but completely stuck.
So I've stripped away, slowly, the paint and age grime and the lock is almost back to the original condition now, I managed to take it to pieces and it actually works.
I'm very conscious of restoring items sympathetically, I didn't want it to look new again, just up to museum quality, which in my eyes it does.
It took me about a week, spending probably 30 minutes a day and about an hour or two researching it on the internet and studying some of my books.
So it's about 200 years old and just handling it has given me a sense of its history, but I wish that it could talk, and the story that it could tell would be full of real life situations such as wars, poverty, crime , pain and suffering and of course happy occasions when families would have lived their rural and rustic lives...Fascinating...
And as to the monetary value, which doesn't really interest me.....150-250 euros...wow..

While I was rummaging in this particular box I came across a small box of broken blue glass, which I recovered many years ago from a garden in Hornsea ,East Yorkshire.
So what's interesting in that you might ask ?
Well it came from a greenhouse-conservatory which in 1904 had reputedly housed the Brandesburton Pygmies.

Blimey, that's interesting Gordon I hear you chuckling.....

Colonel James Harrison had been exploring in the Congo when he came across this small tribe of Pygmies and he persuaded 6 of them to return with him to East Yorkshire, he then arranged for them to 'appear' at the London Hippodrome, Olympia and the House of Commons.
They stayed at the home of the Colonel, Brandesburton Hall, and actually hunted with bows and arrows in the grounds and were often seen wandering around the village.
They apparently didn't like living in the house so moved into the 'Pygmy House', from where the blue glass that I have came from.
So that's what I call 'Social History' in it's best form, and I'm so glad to be able to preserve the artefacts....

If anyone feels so inclined you can find the history on the internet, just enter Colonel James Harrison, Pygmies..

Do you find this type of posting interesting or am I boring the pants off you.. ?? :oops:

Regards,
Gordon the Artefact Hunter...
Last edited by BENIDORM on Sun Feb 07, 2021 11:24 am, edited 2 times in total.

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gerryh
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby gerryh » Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:13 pm

Gordon, everything you write is interesting.
How about posting a photo of the restored lock?
If you don't know how to post photos then use https://postimages.org/ to post photos to this site.
Cheers
Gerry
Gerry Harris

BENIDORM
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:22 pm

Thank you Gerry. :wave:

That's a good idea about posting a photo of the lock and I will attempt it next week, at the moment the lock movement is languishing in a bath of olive oil, a great preservative....

Regards,
Gordon.

ps. I think that I've forgotten your birthday this year, so belated greetings if this is the case.. :wave:

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gerryh
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby gerryh » Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:25 pm

It's today :wave:
Cheers
Gerry
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BENIDORM
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:34 pm

Well I'll 'Go to 'ar 'owse'.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU GERRY.....

You don't look a day older in your photo..... :D

Regards,
Gordon...

El Cid
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby El Cid » Sat Feb 06, 2021 6:11 pm

Happy birthday Gerry.

Sid

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gerryh
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby gerryh » Sat Feb 06, 2021 6:24 pm

Thanks, both of you. :thumbup:
Celebrating, tonight, with a takeaway Indian meal and a bottle of cava as all restaurants are shut in this municipality.
Cheers
Gerry
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gerryh
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby gerryh » Sat Feb 06, 2021 6:38 pm

BENIDORM wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 5:34 pm Well I'll 'Go to 'ar 'owse'.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU GERRY.....

You don't look a day older in your photo..... :D

Regards,
Gordon...
Updated photo.
https://i.postimg.cc/MGrn0yZG/1612632680225-r-1.jpg
:lolno:
Cheers
Gerry
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby olive » Sat Feb 06, 2021 6:54 pm

Happy Birthday Gerry! Oh for a takeaway that would deliver to us. All our local shops and restaurants are closed. Even one of the supermarkets.

Gordon. Yes please photos. I find the locals have an inflated value of "old " things and yet they just allow their campo houses to collapse. A few years ago I took photos of the aoandoned houses with a view to doing an ebook with maybe a photo of their families that lived there. Some chance. they were all so poor that no one had a camera. Even Loja isn't that well represented with photos. We sadly ditched an old door that served us well for ten years. The bottom was rotted and beyond repair especially in situ. It was the type with the "nail"~hinges brayed into the captive frame. Beautifully crafted and must have cost a fair amount of the house build.

BENIDORM
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby BENIDORM » Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:32 pm

Gerry,
A great photo, still as good looking and suave and sophisticated as your early mugshot... :D :thumbup:

I hope that you really enjoy your meal and evening....Cheers.....

Olive, I agree that locals have little idea of true value with regard to antiques , but you have to remember that particularly in Andalucia until recently most people were very poor, most of their belongings were handmade by family or neighbours, and had very little intrinsic value, however now command high prices as the younger generations want to preserve their family history , where they can.
I can understand and support that theory.

Having spent many years in the antiques world I know that the value is what someone else is prepared to pay.

If you are ever in Salar I recommend that you visit Taberna Toni ( Casa Mariano ), he has the walls decorated with many rustic and rural artefacts and many of the clientele are also very ancient and rustic...including me.. :D

I will do my best to show some photos in the future, I should have done before and after photos. :think:

During the past couple of weeks I've found on the campo ( eyes only ) a couple of interesting items, one a buckle and the other a latch hook, hand forged..
The ground beneath us is bursting with artefacts ..if you know how and where to look....

Regards,
Rustic Gordon.

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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby Pamela1 » Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:54 pm

Happy Birthday Gerry. :wave:

markwilding
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby markwilding » Sat Feb 06, 2021 8:41 pm

Happy Birthday Gerry,
Have one on me.

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gerryh
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby gerryh » Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:00 pm

BENIDORM wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 7:32 pm Gerry,
A great photo, still as good looking and suave and sophisticated as your early mugshot... :D :thumbup:
The photo I posted had been computer aged.
I don't really, I hope, look that old now.
:think:
Cheers
Gerry
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firsttango
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby firsttango » Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:22 pm

Very interesting thread .....keep it up Benidorm

Oh and Happy Birthday Gerry :thumbup:

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chrissiehope
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby chrissiehope » Sat Feb 06, 2021 11:56 pm

When we reformed our casa, we found quite a few old items, and kept as many as we could - the door & little kitchen window had the original wood beam lintels, & we found the old beam & string that supported the stairs. The front door was hinged as Olive described - sadly we weren't able to re-use it, but I kept the block with the big nail still sticking out. The kitchen floor had old concrete (?) tiles, which we had cleaned up a bit & re-laid. I love finding historical stuff, & researching the past. In UK, a student house we had, had a very unusual tile embedded in an outside wall right at the base of the wall. I spent ages trying to find out what it was & why it was there, but with no luck, tho' it did find out a lot about the area & the house itself, so not a complete waste of time ;-)
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BENIDORM
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby BENIDORM » Sun Feb 07, 2021 7:26 pm

Chrissie,
Restoring old houses can be a really interesting project , but also very expensive, but I do like to see houses that have been restored sympathetically and retaining original features.
As you know our present house is new, after years of living in ongoing building projects I wanted a finished house with no work !
Researching the house you live in can also be a very interesting , how things have changed over the years.
I've been studying the older properties near my home, for instance ajoining our patio is an old tobacco leaf drying barn and I've been told that during the Civil War it was used as a makeshift mortuary.. :shock:

Anyone else with interesting stories to add ?

Regards,
Gordon

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Wicksey
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby Wicksey » Mon Feb 08, 2021 3:16 pm

Our UK rental house was built in the late 1800s and the previous owner had done some research and gave us all her findings. It was interesting to read how the terrace on that side of the road was built on a 'garden centre' of its day and the owner/builder kept all the houses and rented them out. From what I could see, our house stayed in the original owner's family until the 1980s.

Our French house was the oldest and most interesting property we owned. The previous owners had done the majority of the restoration of it and uncovered an old stone sink set in the wall with some graffiti etched into the stone from 1757. We were lucky enough to find out much of the recent history from the neighbours of how it was a virtual wreck before being bought in the 1960s by a French couple who rebuilt it and 'modernised' it in the worst possible way! For some reason they moved the stairs from the hallway into the living room and completely changed the upstairs due to this. The adjoining cowbarn was converted into a gite.The previous owners to us had replaced the stairs back into the hallway using oak with the traditional bottom step of stone and reconfigured upstairs. They must have spent a fortune on it but I don't think they made any money on it considering what we paid. It was a glorious house but after we had finished working on it we'd had enough. It would have been constant work. Must admit I would like to have a brand new house built to our specification, with drains that drain and more spacious rooms.

Pamela1
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby Pamela1 » Mon Feb 08, 2021 4:54 pm

An architect i know told me the majority of people who self build usualy get to their 3rd one before they are happy, i beleive he has a point,relatives are now happily living in their 3rd build..I guess a set of plans are only plans..Looks good on paper etc..I agree a new home would be nice, all ready to move into with rooms exactly the size i'd want them to be, isn't going to happen. :lol: Besides unless you have the skills to build your own or hire a very good builder i wouldn't bother.The workmanship and quality of the new builds on new estates in the Uk is scary and the amount of unsatisfied customers is eyewatering.iNot sure about Spanish new builds on new estates, not knowing anyone who is living in one.
Any future home purchase may have to include updating a kitchen/bathroom .thats more than enough i think for me.

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Wicksey
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Re: Restoring Historical Artefacts.

Postby Wicksey » Mon Feb 08, 2021 5:06 pm

I wouldn't buy an urbanisation/estate property, I'd like something individual. My OH was a chartered town planner and has an interest in design and architecture. I think we'd design a pretty good home between us but it's unlikely to ever happen! One can but dream, especially with nothing else to occupy us!


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