Groden

Groden

Jul 22

 

 

Another great rare Groden came through the shop recently.

 

This one came in with a lot of woodworm damage which is a common issue with these pieces.

 

 

 

 

The customer wanted all the woodworm holes filled and the damage to the top and above the lever repaired, and wanted to retain the original patina.

 

This meant filling every hole individually and blending each one to match the surrounding color/ patina.

 

It’s a lot of work, but is well worth it on a piece this rare.

 

It came out great!

 

 

 

 

I was very happy with how this piece came out and, more importantly, the customer was thrilled with the restoration.

 

A not so Simple Groden!

A not so Simple Groden!

Feb 18

 

I was contacted by a customer who purchased a Groden that had been previously repaired.

 

The mouth was repaired in such a way that it threw the alignment off and set the chest too far back in. (*click on photos for a larger view)

 

 

 

 

On a less rare piece where authenticity isn’t an issue, moving the pin would be an option.

 

On a rare piece like a Groden, the less the original wood on the piece is disturbed, the better.

 

Getting the chest to line up, required a lot of material to be removed from the previously repaired mouth which then pushed the mouth too far back into the piece and out of alignment.

 

 

 

 

To fix this, new wood was added to the mouth to build it back out.

 

 

 

 

The new wood was then carved, blended, and stained to match the original finish and the aged patina on the piece.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a lot of work, but it’s worth it to not disturb the original wood and maintain this piece’s authenticity.

 

—–Brandon

 

Anri from the Netherlands

Anri from the Netherlands

Dec 16

 

Back in August I got an email from Fran – Vintage Breda (Etsy) politely asking if I would mind if they mentioned me as a resource to fix an Anri Sailor they were going to post for sale.

 

The piece went up for sale in November and I let one of my customers who has a great Anri collection know about it.

 

He bought the piece immediately and had the piece drop shipped at my shop for repairs.

 

Here’s the piece as it arrived fresh from the Netherlands:

 

 

Got new wood glued in place:

 

 

I started working on the piece then noticed it had a couple holes too:

 

 

 

Here’s the piece all fixed and fully restored (remember-simply click on the image to see a larger version):

 

 

 

 

This is a great piece.

 

The restoration turned out great and this piece will be heading to it’s new home soon.

 

—– Brandon

 

 

New Piece

New Piece

Mar 04

 

Here’s a new piece we just added to our collection.

 

I bought it off of Ebay. It was in need of some dental work and a finish refresh.

 

Here are a few pictures of the piece before I worked on it:

 

 

 

 

The face looked fat to me so I reshaped it a little, fixed the teeth, refreshed the stain, and finished it off with a couple coats of satin clear.

 

Here are a few pictures of the piece after the restoration work:

 

 

 

 

 

This piece really came out great and turned out to be a really nice birthday present for my wife.

 

—– Brandon

Another Anri Dog

Another Anri Dog

Nov 19

 

Got another Anri Dog in for repairs.

 

This one had a broken handle almost identical to the break on the one I fixed a few moths ago for the Leavenworth Nutcracker museum.

 

You can see the one I fixed a few moths ago for the Leavenworth Nutcracker museum HERE. Very odd the breaks were so similar.

 

Here’s a quick picture of the current piece that came in and and the broken handle:

 

 

 

Here are a couple pictures of the piece all fixed:

 

 

 

 

I was very pleased with how well this piece came out.

 

—–Brandon

 

 

 

Anri Parrot

Anri Parrot

Oct 29

 

With Fall in the air and Winter just around the corner, I’ve been trying to get some of the outdoor work done before bad weather hits. In between sealing the drive, raking leaves, etc., I’m still able to squeeze in some restorations.

 

Here’s a really rare Anri Parrot that was sent in by a Nutcracker Collectors’ Club member. It was missing the beak and was in need of an overall refresh on the finish.

 

Here are some before pictures when it arrived:

 

 

 

Here are a few pictures after the repairs and clean up:

 

 

 

Here’s a couple shots of the back of the piece showing that this piece actually still has the Anri sticker intact.

 

That not only adds to the rarity of the piece, but verifies the age of it as well.

 

 

 

 

Based on the Anri Logo Legend below, that sticker dates this piece to 1925.

 

 

 

This was a great piece to work on. These are crazy rare and even more so with the sticker intact.

 

The customer was very happy with the repairs and age sensitive finish refresh that was done to this piece.

 

A big “Thank You” goes out to the the original owner of this piece who contacted me before posting it for sale on Ebay. He emailed me to get permission to mention my shop in his description as a trusted source to get the piece repaired.

 

The winning bidder turned out to be one of my customers who was very impressed to see my shop mentioned in the Ebay ad. Again, thank you.

 

—– Brandon