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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;808 raver, post: 12021159, member: 4654&quot;]Like yours my is also walnut but unlike yours mine hung over (I suspect) a Scottish fire place where coal was their main source of fuel, it&#039;s filthy dirty. I did start cleaning it when I first got it but stopped for 2 reasons, 1 because I didn&#039;t know who carved it or it&#039;s value and 2 because cleaning wood carvings can be a real pain in the a**.</p><p>The more antiques I collect the more I&#039;m drawn to wood carving, wood carving is really a lost art these days, yes artists still do it but the best today isn&#039;t anywhere near what it once was. Even your piece and mine were a revival of 17th c carvings done in the mid to late 19th c where schools were learning the old technics in Italy.</p><p>The time and skill needed to produce such works makes these well beyond economic viability unless they are commissioned by very wealthy patrons. I&#039;m unsure of the time taken to do my plaque or your door but I do know how long it took a skilled carver to do a Anglo-Indian writing slope I own, it took 6 months! 6 months of a skilled carver, they would have been paid 3x the wage of a skilled tailor at that time (far more now). Just think of the cost today to produce? This is why wood carving holds such a special place in my colleting, even back then these very finely carved items were so rare. BTW your door is one of those rare items.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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