Gosh - just try bootlegging some of those old world finishes into this state, past our air quality laws and fire codes. The only flammable carcinogenic stuff that gets away with that is women's nail polish! The finest lacquer I have ever seen was "French-polished" in maybe two hundred coats over a marble end-table top
once belonging to Louis XIV. It is flawless and uncracked to this day, and about a quarter inch thick! The ingredients: pure baltic amber dissolved in poppyseed
oil. At the time I saw that piece, maybe late 70's, I calculated the cost of the varnish would be around $50,000 dollars per gallon. Today it would be far more.
I'm not afraid to let that trade secret out of the bag, cause I figure there will be no takers unless you basically own Europe too, along with an antique camera.
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