This sounds all too familiar to me. Though I don’t know any of the parties involved, I remember reading the original inquiry post and kept right on scrolling.
I used to do a fair bit of glove restoration as part of my business. I focused on early gloves, usually very valuable, rare models. In many instances, they would be show pieces. Some were unquestionably museum quality gloves. Regardless of the specifics, it’s very detail oriented work. Despite all the tools, materials, and knowledge gained from hours of doing good work, it’s oftentimes very hard to convince some people that they’re not just paying for leather, they’re paying for an experienced set of eyes and hands. It’s doubly frustrating when a collector will eagerly spend top dollar to acquire a tired glove, then reach out to me and haggle with a restoration estimate that was oftentimes a small fraction of the purchase price. I won’t even get into the pigs ear scenarios. No, it cannot be turned onto a silk purse.....
I salute Gordon for being a gentleman and taking the high road. My solution was to remove the service from my website and get on with my life. The few restorations that I do these days are for valued friends and clients who I know to be reasonable people. I wish you well, Gordon!
Btw, since I’m on a roll, I’ll mention that I spoke to Scott (a reasonable guy) last summer and would have happily done the re-lace on his JVDM, but the timing wasn’t good for me. I’m happy to hear that Gordon is jumping on it.
Be excellent to each other.
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