Our September update brings you some very clean looking Buchschmid and Gretaux coffee tables.

The coffee tables, owned by Dennis Stallbaumer, have been in his wife's family for quite a number of years, and although they are in good condition, Dennis has asked how that good condition can be preserved.

The main problem with these Buchschmid and Gretaux wood inlays is to prevent them from drying out and shrinking.

This drying out and shrinking problem will cause the base wood (or carcass) to contract to such a level that it will eventually lift the veneers and split the varnish.

This can cause pieces of veneer to break away and eventually lead to major restoration work being required to rectify the problem.

You can easily avoid this problem by placing small containers of water fairly close by the wood inlay pieces.

The evaporation of the water will be more than sufficient to rehydrate the B & G wood inlays.

DO NOT apply water directly to the wood inlay - that approach would only cause more damage to the piece in question.

The application of water directly to a wood inlay piece would cause surface swelling of the base wood / board and may well cause major splitting of the entire wood inlay picture or piece.

if you want to clean your picture just use a small application of Lemon Oil as a cleaning and protecting agent.

Lemon Oil is used as a cleaner and lubricant for guitar finger boards and is widely available from most music instrument stores.

if you have trouble obtaining Lemon Oil, go to Amazon and look for it - they have plenty, we ourselves buy it from them, so we know they certainly stock it!

But, getting back to Dennis's coffee tables, Dennis has had them professionally evaluated for insurance purposes and the advisor has put an insurance value on them of $9,000.

A decent and respectable sum for some wonderful wood inlay work we think.

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If anyone is interested in acquiring this set of coffee tables, Dennis tells us he may consider a sensible offer for them.

However, please do take note of the disclaimer below, thank you.

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Disclaimer

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Please note:

We (the Marquetry Society) do not, and will not, act as brokers, intermediaries or sellers for, or on behalf, of any of our contributors.

We will however, and purely as a goodwill gesture, forward your enquiry onto the owner of the piece in question so that you and the owner can conduct any sales or transactions personally and between yourselves.

Our strict policy is that we do not become involved in any transactions other than our own which have previously been verified and agreed by our executive committee at a meeting set up for that purpose.

The forwarding of your enquiry will be done strictly as a goodwill gesture and for no other purpose.

Information on the valuation of Wood Inlay or Marquetry pieces

Please note that we (The Marquetry Society) are unable to give market reference valuations on any marquetry, or wood inlay works, or pieces of any kind.

Any such value information as we do give on this web site has been derived from references to published information made available by the appropriate auction houses.

If you wish to obtain an accurate valuation for your wood inlay or marquetry piece/s, we would recommend you approach a relevant auction house for an up to date and accurate current valuation assessment.

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