What Would You Do ?

[ariel]

Once again, we are getting into murky waters of what is permissible in the restoration process.
Obviously, Robert's bolo is not of real cultural importance. The goal was to make it look better and " serviceable". I have no objection to that. The yataghan is also unlikely to ever be exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts.
What drives me bananas is when people find a really unique item, and "renovate" it into a shiny but culturally meaningless object. Some are even seriously describing it as a "reuse". Well, this is permissible only if one absolutely needs a part for actual use: a swordmaker from 15th century remounting a 13th century blade to use it as functional weapon. These days, we do not really need swords as weapons and destruction of archeological objects should be viewed as criminal offense. Stabilize, preserve, protect, but never renovate!
Look at the Topkapi collection of the swords of Muhammed and Califs. Bloody Ottoman sultans ordered the swords remounted, repolished, re-inscribed etc. By now it is impossible to make even a half-decent guess about their age, provenance, original construction etc. Did the Sultans really need them as weapons? No way, they had enough newly-made ones. Cultural barbarism with the best intentions!