Restoration of a antique mechanical coin bank from around the period 1877-1920’s. It’s a French soldier who shoot your coins down into the old hollow tree trunk.

It is in really bad shape. The wood it is mounted on are rotten and full of mold and the pewter base are broken in many pieces. The trigger mechanics inside the figure are also broken so I needed to fix that.

THE RESTORATION PROCESS
I disassembled the coin bank and sandblasted the base and the big old tree. Then I repaired the pewter base. The plate where the hunter stands. I had to glue the pieces together with solder before I could cast the missing pewter. I gave it a nice layer of metal primer and hand painted it two times.

I also disabled the hunter, but I had to use drill and screw extractor to get 5 of the screws out. I replaced these 5 screws with new ones. I gave him a nice sandblasting and a layer of metal primer and hand painted him two times as well. I fixed the trigger mechanism and replaced the old rotten tree plate with a new one in oak. I gave it some oil to give the wood a darker and older look. I also created a little brass plate which I mounted on the oak plate, it says “Awesome Coin Bank”.

The small parts, such as screws and trigger mechanism got cleaned up in a rust remover solution and after that I polished all the screws.

I did not erase his face in the sandblaster – I only did a very soft cleaning with water.
I really enjoyed this restoration. There are something very special in restoring these old antiques.

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Best wishes and stay safe ❤ Martin