My family’s history and story is of great concern to, so much so that I intend to reconstruct the family tree as far as I can get in order to know who came before me.
In this same sense, I put a lot a value into objects that have reached through the generations. I have china, some furniture, personal items, photos and photo albums, etc.
Everything tells a piece of a story I wasn’t able to fully live through and instead just brushed me growing up.
It gives me a sense of belonging.
check out Baumgartner Restoration on YouTube. you might learn how to do it, or even better, understand you’re woefully out of your depth on a full restoration.
reach out and see if he’s got any contacts that he trusts in your area. presumably you live in Australia.
the fine art world is small, and the fine art restoration community is even smaller. he’s bound to know someone or even could even restore it himself.