![]() It doesn't have to be an expensive antique, either. "It is very rewarding for us to bring back something somebody obviously loved that was tragically damaged." "We're in the business of miracles," Connolly says. Venerable Classics' artists use high-tech reconstructive techniques and materials - borrowed from industries ranging from dentistry to aerospace - to stay on the cutting edge of antique and modern art repair. Reconstructive surgery ranges from $100 to $2,000, depending on the amount of damage and time required to fix it. "Then we cast that new piece into place." "We can make a mold of a similar contour in an intact area, using a technique similar to that used by dentists," Connolly says. The 9-year-old company repairs crystal and porcelain and specializes in museum-quality restorations of glassware, jade and marble. You need not have all the pieces of a broken item for reconstructive surgery, says Janet Connolly, co-owner with Connie Larious of Venerable Classics in Santa Rosa. "With the high cost of replacing porcelain and crystal, it is often more cost effective to repair and restore family heirlooms." THE BUSINESS OF MIRACLES "Our crystal repair people can grind and polish out chips on beautiful Steuben and Baccarat vases and crystal stemware, and we can restore porcelain even if pieces are missing," Gotelli says. An average grind-and-polish costs about $15, according to Linda Gotelli, co-owner of Mark Harrington Glassware & Repair. But less elaborate fixes - such as a chipped rim on crystal stemware - are cheaper than replacing the item. Often, a company's repair service is willing to work with homeowners. Ask whom they call when they need merchandise fixed. Start by calling retailers who sell the item new, whether it's a chandelier or an oil painting. ![]() So before you toss that chipped Baccarat champagne flute, cracked porcelain bathtub or sagging patio furniture, check around for local fix-it shops. Repair specialists do exist, but finding them may require a little detective work. ![]() But look for "Heirloom Light Fixture Repair" or "Children's Art Project Restoration," and you're bound to come up empty-handed. Appliance and TV repair shops are listed by the dozens in the Yellow Pages. Getting a broken washing machine or TV fixed is easy. "They even touched up the paint," Annie Tickner says. ![]() Its intricate porcelain "basket weave" base was painstakingly reassembled and re-created when necessary, the blue garland finish again intact. Two months and $250 later, the treasured lamp - a wedding present Annie's parents brought back from England - is back on the piano, looking none the worse for wear. A few calls later, a local lamp shop referred the Tickners to Mark Harrington Glassware & Repair in San Francisco, which specializes in repairing porcelain and crystal. ![]()
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