Vintage View: Advise on buying once and buying right

We’ve all done it — tenderly taken in some injured old thing with a venerable past, only to see it pass away before our eyes. 

When buying used, vintage or truly antique objects, it’s vital to know when the scars simply run too deep to cheer the piece up for use or display.

I tied an enormous creaking church screen to the roof of my car, bouncing it home from Waterford accompanied by tense assertions to my annoyed spouse that it was a sacrilegious steal at only €30.