Decorative details LACQUERING

Whenever anyone asks me how much gramophone records are worth I quickly switch into auctioneer ‘let down lightly’ mode. I then divert to a side-story concerning the manufacture of gramophone records from a product called shellac. But what has this to do with lacquering? Shellac is actually an important and central part of its historical story, and unbeknown to many, it is derived from the resinous secretion of an insect – the female lac bug. Its applications are myriad, and its other main uses, apart from records, was in surface treatments, paints and varnishes. I discovered at a very young age that a damaged gramophone record could be broken down into smaller pieces, melted down in methylated spirits, and used as a lacquer to ‘ebonise’