On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 00:40:52 GMT, Rob wrote:

Last spring we purchased a Gothic revival cabinet, beautifully carved walnut est age at turn of century from Belgium. It has a
dark shellac? finish

Are you in Belgium, or was this imported to the USA ? It would be a
rare piece that was imported with its original finish untouched, so it
could have anything on it now.

Whereabouts are you ? How cold/damp/dry is your winter? What
conditions is the piece kept in?

I'm still having a little trouble reconciling "Gothic revival",
"walnut" and "finish", but I guess that's me being Anglo-centric and
thinking too much of Pugin.

I can furnish pictures if necessary.

Can't comment much without them. Either put them on the web, post
them to news:alt.binaries.pictures.woodworking or mail some to me and
I can post them there for all to see.

but we didn't expect it to turn gray and lose the finish.

As a very wild guess, it's a new finish applied before sale and it
either doesn't like the old finish beneath, or it's having a hard time
with your local climate.

--
Smert' spamionam