Restoration?

Conservators don't usually restore objects unless it is essential. Some objects, however, do need to be repaired or restored, particularly if they are to go on display in a museum. Pots are sometimes rebuilt and holes in damaged cloth may be repaired. But any restoration should be visible - at least to the trained eye - and it should also be reversible. The importance of this became apparent with the remains of a helmet recovered from the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon burial mound at Sutton Hoo, England. The helmet was originally reconstructed a decade after its discovery in 1939. However, ideas about what the helmet originally looked like changed over the years, and in 1968 the helmet was taken apart and reconstructed again - but this time it looked quite different!