Stored in my vaults forever was this pair of 1920s “Romantic’Revival” sconces. They had been spray-painted metallic gold. Oh, the horror. What lurked under this?

I did a controlled stripping process and discovered that the sconces were originally a burnished gold, and with ruby and jade accents. This was a common polychrome for the era, which I recreated. I had not expected the lovely blue on the flowers although I have seen this before.

.

The crystals were missing but the tell-tale mounting holes confirmed their former existence. I chose amber as this was the 1920s default crystal color.

.