"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote in message
...

Generally antiques are not messed with much at all. Dusting and
light damp cloth touching up.

We had a person on the group that polished the ugly green bronze statue
in the estate he bought... destroyed the value.

Professionals buying would rather clean anything than yourself.

Martin

If I thought I had a valuable antique I wouldn't lay a finger on it beyond
gentle dusting. If I thought it needed some sort of restoration or
stabilizing I'd refer it to a professional after researching what that would
do to the value. I would think that watching just a couple of episodes of
Antiques Roadshow would get that message across.