Repair and Restoration
Shabbat Candlestick
Sterling Silver Shabbat Candlestick
Repair & Restoration
Antique Silver Shabbat Candlestick
This antique silver Shabbat candlestick is so old there are no hallmarks. It’s been in the customer’s family so long the origin was unknown. I was able to repair the arm adding some reinforcement at the break to strengthen the repair. The customer wanted to be able to use this every Friday night so having a sturdy repair was important. It was definitely an extremely unusual shape and design. After the repair, it was polished very gently and I was extremely careful around the engraved Star of David and Hebrew lettering.
Wolpert Sterling Silver Shabbat Candlestick
This mid-20th century sterling silver Shabbat candlestick was made by Ludwig Yehuda Wolpert (1900-1981), a very famous American silversmith. It was an honor to work on this. It arrived dented with the base slightly misshapen. In this after photo, the dent is removed, the base reshaped and the candlestick carefully polished to preserve the stylized Hebrew lettering.
Sterling Shabbat Candlesticks 20th century from Israel
These sterling silver Shabbat candlesticks arrived with dents in both of the bases and the threads on the candlesticks were damaged. I was able to fix the threads in the simplest way, and repair the bases. Since the bases have small rubies around the edge, I only worked on the inside of the base. After the repair they were polished.
20th-century Sterling Silver Shabbat Candlesticks
These mid-20th-century sterling silver candlesticks were used for generations. The base arrived very severely damaged. I wasn’t even sure that I could fix them. The sterling silver on this type of candlestick is very thin and then filled with pitch for structure. The end result of days of work in shown in the photo (right.)
If you want to use this type of 20th-century candlestick (that is filled with pitch) for Shabbat candles, I would recommend removing the candles….before it melts down into the candle cup. (Put the candles in the sink or on a dish to finish burning. Allowing the candles to burn down inside the candle cups can heat the pitch and damage the candlesticks.
BrassShabbat Candlestick
Repair & Restoration
Antique Brass Shabbat Candlestick
This antique brass Shabbat candlestick came to me bent and with a broken candle cup. The goal was to straighten the candlestick and reattach the cup. Cast brass is very brittle so I had to be conservative in my efforts so as not to break the brass. As you can see, the main stem is a little wonky but overall straight-ish is excellent for a 200-year-old Shabbat candlestick. After the repair, I removed the old wax and polished the candlestick. In general, my philosophy for the repair of antique objects is a conservative improvement, not to make them look like new.