Arms, Armour & Metalwork Conservation
The first 'Armourer' charged with care of the Wallace Collection's European and Oriental arms and armour was Arthur Sheffield, appointed in 1924, at the same time that Frank Feser, a cabinet-maker, was taken on to look after the furniture.
Today, however, it is no longer ‘craftsmen’ who are employed to work in the Conservation Department, but professional conservators educated to degree level and beyond. Much of the work is relatively routine, involving preventative conservation and the regular maintenance of protective coatings - microcrystalline wax for most metals, but lacquer for those which, like silver, are prone to rapid tarnishing. Both nitrocellulose and acrylic lacquers are used in the workshops here.
Currently, the entire European Armoury collection is the subject of an intensive programme of condition-checking, cleaning and conservation prior to digital photography, in preparation for a new fully-illustrated Armoury catalogue. The Oriental arms and armour collection will follow in due course. Arms and armour conservation is undertaken in-house by a team consisting of Armourer and Head of Conservation David Edge and a specialist Metalwork Conservator, Deborah Lee.
Conservator cleaning a piece of armour
