My latest obsession has been with door furniture. Door furniture is one of those things that you just don't notice, 99% of the time, but once you do start to notice it, it is a surprisingly rich and diverse area.

This has in large part been the result of recently moving to working in an 1930's office building, predominantly with original brass door fittings, and my regular lunchtime walk taking me past a slightly grand Georgian street with some rather fine door fittings.

I have therefore been scouring eBay, with moderate obsessiveness, to source a variety of period door fittings for my own house. Mixed success with bidding, I clearly have an eye for the popular, as the bidding on some of my favoured items has at times accelerated into the realms in unaffordability. But after a few weeks, I have now sourced a variety of door fittings. The old sixties fittings and modern mock gothic are going, to be replaced by an eclectic selection. An aluminium cinema door style handle in one room, arts and crafts style brass in another, an art deco semi circular shaped one, and a few that could just be hefty pub door handles. The exercise has also reaquainted me with the charms of brass. A hundred years ago brass was clearly the go to metal for all sorts of things. It is slightly softer than most other commonly used metals, has mild antiseptic properties, and with a little polish gives a good yellow metal shine. It also comes in a variety of different hues. Of the brass handles that I have got, some are almost silver, some slightly rose gold, though obviously the overall impression is of yellow metal.

With a tin of brasso, it is possible to polish up the most unprepossing item to its former glories. From a collector's point of view they prefer to leave material unpolished, but for working items, I think it is appropriate that they follow the original intent, and are used in a polished state. Polishing is actually surprisingly gratifying. A little brasso, a good polish, and the formerly white cloth has a dirty black patch on it, you really feel like you are taking off the dirt. A burnish up with a clean cloth and the item really starts to glow. I suspect that the original intent was that raised areas would shine up more, further accentuating any mouldings or accents.

Anyway, I've supported this blog article with a before and after photo to demonstrate the reviving effects of brasso. More door furniture obsessiveness likely in future blog postings.