Jessamyn,

It is best to go to the AIC website (The American Institute for Conservation) and to use their free Guide for Services where you can search for qualified objects conservators in your region. The link is: http://www.conservation-us.org/

Just click on "Find a Conservator.

Having done a fair number of conservation treatments on porcelain I can offer a few suggestions.

First, collect ALL the pieces, even the tiniest. Let the conservator decide what can or cannot be mended back. Also take overall and detail photos of the broken object front and back to email to a conservator - this will give them a good idea of what the condition of the object is. Usually porcelain will break with clean edges with excellent registration between the fragments. But in harder impacts it can get pulverized or have lots of chips along the break edges. Obviously a clean break will be far easier and cheaper to repair that something that is smashed. It is also far easier to disguise any repair if the porcelain plate or cup has lots of design and ornament in it. If it is plain white any repair, even the best, will show. Once conserved a porcelain plate cannot be used and cleaned in a dishwasher. Ask the conservator for cleaning instructions in their treatment report.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator and Museum Consultant
Los Angeles, CA
On Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 8:36 AM, Jessamyn Boyd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello,

I am looking for recommendations of anyone who does high quality
porcelain repair and conservation work. Please email me directly with
your suggestions.

Thanks,
Jessamyn D. Boyd
Curator of Collections
Alabama Department of Archives and History
624 Washington Avenue
P. O. Box 300100
Montgomery, AL 36130
(p) 334-353-4717
(f) 353-4321
www.archives.alabama.gov

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