Advise For Vintage Set Restoration

So I have my first vintage set. If I have my facts correct, it's a Soviet Latvian set from 1953, also known as a Zvezda set, and apparently it was Michael Tal's favourite set to play with. 

I'm interested to get some opinions, particularly from collectors or people with restoration experience. Where do you draw the line between keeping the patina of a set, and restoring damage? And whats the philosophy when it comes to restore back to original or taking liberties to make small changes. For example, changing the felt type and colour on the base.

I know personal preference plays a big factor here. But I also imagine theres some conventional wisdom that I could benefit from. My current thinking is

The Pieces: I like the pieces a lot the way they are. I find the small amount of wear on the edges quite charming. The only touch ups I'm currently considering are:

• Reattaching the chipped pieces to the King and Queen. 
• Re felting the basses, though I'm still considering if I should find some similar grey cloth to whats already there, or using billiard cloth in a different colour (maybe black).  

The Board: my feeling is that the damage and wear has gone way too far, and so it could benefit from a bit of attention. The work I'm considering doing is: 

• Reattach pealing / chipped veneer on the playing surface.
• Sand back and re coat the exterior with a similar coloured red tinted varnish. 
• Add some latches on the top edge. Something similar to the original latches.
• Tidy up the inside and add light foam for better protection of the pieces

ill be taking care to leave the markings on the inside untouched under the foam, as it's a nice bit of history. 

For context, here are some photos

The set looks lovely, it might be eye candy more than a set to play with.

A few touch-ups will not change the set drastically tho.

I just wanted to comment how beautiful your set is as it stand. I would just fix the chipped collar on the queen and replace the felts for the pieces. The board is another story. Structually it looks good. Hopefully the exterior can be repaired. Good luck.

All above said +1 and I would certainly fix/repair the top layer of the board or it will eat your felts when sliding the pieces.

Nice set congratz!

Thanks. I hope to have a few games with it. But yes it will probably be more for show 

Yes Definitely. I'm pretty sure the top layer is wood veneer. I expect I can inject glue under it, then clamp it until it is attached again. It won't be perfect, but that should at least stop it getting worse or tearing the felts. 

Cheers 

 My preference is, like yours, to do the minimum.  I agree that the signs of wear are charming. 

For the board though, yeah, ew, but you might just have a lot of dirt with something much nicer underneath.  I wouldn't sand it, the veneer is likely to be very thin and going through the veneer would make things worse rather than better. I have a soviet era set like that and the veneer on mine is paper thin. 

It looks like its gotten wet on top and you can see the ring from a glass or cup (condensation on a glass of something cold perhaps).  Is the veneer actually lifting at the edges or is it just wrinkled?  If you are going to glue and press it back down, think about whether the veneer will crumble when it is compressed. Cleaning and then glueing risks the cleaning damaging the veneer, glueing then cleaning risks fixing the dirt into the board.  I like very fine steel wool and wax for cleaning, but only if I am waxing as a finish, you could try a very slightly damp cloth to start.

Is it really a red varnish?  Its strangely uneven.  Is it flaking?  It might include a lot of dirt or be something spilled on it.  

i dont think It's dirt, It's almost definitely some type of coating. I'm presuming varnish, but I'm not sure if there are other similar coatings that were used back then. I've included a close up picture below, so correct me if I'm wrong. 

And good point, I might try something less abrasive than sandpaper to start with. You're right, the veneer is approximately 1 mm thick. If I have to sand it, it will be too risky to do it without gluing first. 

Do you have any good reference for instructions on restorations? 

I'm afraid I don't have a restoration reference. 

There really aren't that many common finishes when you go back 50 or 60 years, and even fewer cheap ones, so it may well be a coloured varnish, thinly applied, that is flaking off and will need to be mechanically removed.  A cabinet scraper might be an option, but it would be a fairly slow process because you can bend them and take off tiny shavings in a fairly controlled way, more controlled than with sandpaper.  In that case it will be difficult to get it all off without risking going through the veneer because it will be in the grain and there will also be dirt in the cracks that will become more obvious as you clean off the top layer, and that will create a temptation to go "just a little further, oh damn..." (don't ask how I know).  You might try a little alcohol on a cloth, see if the finish softens/rubs off/dissolves, in which case its probably a garnet shellac and can be softened/spread with a little alcohol (spreading it to even it out would be an approach).  

It looks very crumbly, so not only thin, but falling apart.  Try to avoid sanding it, even if you glue it first.  The question is what glue would work?  Getting glue under the pieces risks getting glue on top of them too, in which case the glued bits will not clean up in the same way as the un-glued bits.  You might be able to stabilise it a bit with some shellac or other clear finish made fairly runny that would get under and between the veneer, that implies cleaning before glueing and also not being able to press it as the glue dries.  Doing anything to it will be a bit experimental.  

Great call on giving cleaning a go first @greghunt. I was sceptical at first. But It took about an hour and all it needed was a damp scourer/sponge. I'd say it's about 90% good now. Ill let it dry so it doesnt get waterlogged, then give it another go tomorrow to finish it off. Thanks a lot 

Glad I could help.  Cleaning is always a good beginning and now your problem is way, way simpler.   Just make sure that it only gets the barest bit damp.  

@PandDos You scrubbed the board with a sponge dampened with just water for an hour for the below results? WOW.

Cheers… I couldnt believe how nicely it came up either

What an incredible improvement!  Your scrubbing skills are top-notch, Sir!

Repairing the squares with damaged veneer my present a challenge.  Let us know how it goes!

Wow! That board looks nice. Congrats!

I'm by no means an expert but I used to live with a conservator (of books, not chess sets) and gather that "restoration" is currently something of a dirty word. But that also assumes that the stuff is going to be sitting behind glass in a museum, or at most occasionally handled for research purposes. If it's intended for actual use, that's going to change things.

I guess it also depends what you're worried about. This is a nice set, but it's unlikely that it's ever going to be the subject of a museum exhibition or academic research unless some kind of catastrophe befalls all the other similar sets, in which case they'd probably just be grateful to have an extant version. So really it's resale value you're looking at in terms of third-party interest, and it's a question of whether you prioritise maximising a future sale over maximising enjoyment out of it while you own it.

I don't see any harm in cleaning, such as you've done with the board, and only the most purist of conservators would have any issue with that, I think. If the pieces are damaged and you can repair them by reattaching the originally broken bits (without causing further damage or lasting impact on the pieces through inappropriate materials) I don't see the harm.

Making permanent changes such as changing the felt, etc. is likely to be more controversial. That's likely to affect the price. If you're going to make any changes to the box (and some kind of cushioning to protect the pieces isn't a bad idea) I would try to make it removable rather than a permanent modification.

Even museum pieces get cleaned (unless the dirt itself is a meaningful part of the history).  I'm not even sure that the chess piece market at this level particularly values originality, there are a lot of obviously sanded and revarnished sets out there (that syndrome of Jaques sets where the knights are darker and a bit dirtier than the rest of the set), and even people who publish "progress" pictures of their re-finishing activities.  Personally I'd leave the original felts in place and replace only the missing ones, but I understand that finding something that does not look really obviously different to the originals will be difficult.  Its an aesthetic choice for the owner.  

On the subject of the bases, you needn't confine yourself to billiard table cloth.  I believe that in the past heavy worsted suiting fabric has been used, and I'd imagine that even a moleskin fabric (if you can find something thick enough) could work, and would provide a lot more options for colours.    

Question for the experts on here: would a wood filler of some sort help with a rough veneer in this instance? Just curious for my own edification mostly.