Fixing the Portland Vase

Oct 10, 2012
Issue 1586

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

John Styler of Prospect Heights, Illinois, who has supplied the delightful pictures from Building “B” at CMoG sends this item along.

Alan, At our Symposium we were treated to a presentation by the CMOG Conservator Stephen Koob. It was a marvelous offering in my estimation.

I had a brief conversation with him on the repair I want to do on a pair of Tiffany Porcelain candlesticks. He suggested a “Conservators Adhesive”.

I searched the web and found a product; HXTAL – NYL1, it was the perfect adhesive for either glass or porcelain.

In my search on adding color to the HXTAL; titanium dioxide, I came across the following article on the “Portland Vase restoration”. a subject of previous Gazelle Gazettes, but I never read anything in the Gazette as to how it was smashed, broken and destroyed until reading this piece from the AP in 1988.

A guy named William Lloyd who had been drinking heavily for a week deliberately smashed it to pieces.

It had a art dealers value of $21 million dollars, small change today when we talk in trillions & billions.

John Styler
Prospect Heights, IL

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