8è Partie. A French Horse Racing Game – Final by Ségolène Girard

Ségolène Girard

10 years ago

Restoration of a 19th c. lottery game by M.J & Cie.

Seg is speaking !

Hello everyone ! Because now I know I am not speaking all alone (ha ha) actually I was lately saying to Brittany that I thought I was only writing these articles for her (and that I was still happy to do it), and two or three friends of mine. But she told me to look in the insights of the blog, and….to the 90 people that read my last post, and to the others (maybe more) that read my former posts ; I am so very flattered !

It’s been exactly a year after I first started writing on this blog thanks to the spot Brittany allowed me to have. It was also at about the same moment that I met her so that is very significant for me, and probably an important date on the calendar for both of us. But that you will know about in time. So yes it makes me sad, and at the same time very happy to write that last article about the Horse Racing Game, at the same time the end and the beginning of even more great things to share with you people ! So much happened within a year.

Now, the last pictures of the Horse Racing Game with before/after restoration comparisons (I know you all love this, we all do). Enjoy !

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The plateau before and after treatment of the felt, stabilization of the rust, and fixing of the flaking paint :

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A sight of the cardboard of the base that I had to change ;

Remember all the mold it was suffering from ;

Now with a new non-acid cardboard, and an extension of the flaps that were missing from the base papers. I replaced them and colored them to merge with the originals ;

And here is a closer view of the aspect of the paper and the details of the plaque. Remember also that golden papers had all to be replaced, you can see the final result here :

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The cardboard lid was extremely warped. Thanks to the dampening room, weights and patience, I got excellent results as you can see on the following pictures :

Unstucking the papers thanks to the Gore-tex® process allowed me to regain the original flatness and resorb the folds and deformations of the paper. These pictures also gives you the comparison before-after dusting, cleaning and bathes that the papers had been subjects of ;

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The pinky-greyish marks are the result of passage of time. I decided not to touch them as I feel that we already get the best results of the original colours with the cleaning process. Nevertheless, I of course executed retouches on the pieces of papers added in order to fill the torn and missing parts. Yet, they are executed in a slightly different tone to let appear the restoration. As part of our ethics, we are not pretending that our restoration never occurred. We are here to extend the life of the object, and if possible, allow a better appreciation of it.

There, on the left and right sides of the corner, and even a tiny piece in the point of the angle.

And here, visible when close, but invisible when at one meter of distance :