While they count prestigious museums and bold-face-name collectors among their clients, they will still repair a humble coffee mug, but only you can decide if it's worth the tariff. The easiest repair is a sharp break (with clean edges) and, assuming you haven't fiddled around with Krazy Glue yourself, Rena can often do a minor repair -- a lifesaving measure, if you will -- for $35. More elaborate partial restoration -- where a chip, say, on the rim of a plate is filled in and colored but not glazed -- would represent another rung up in the price scale. The most costly restoration (and Anatoly says rates can escalate into the thousands) for multiple, nasty breaks on a pedigreed Sevres tureen, for example, would require recreating a glaze and overglaze (and might even necessitate creating a tricky clay body), sculpting a shape to fill in missing parts, and might also involve gilding. But Ark's work is seamless, producing a repair that is virtually invisible. By appointment only. 252 W. 37th Sts. btw. Seventh & Eighth Aves., 17th flr., 212-244-1028; www.arkrestoration.net (This article originally appeared in the 1/06 issue of Manhattan Living.)

Posted on November 26, 2007 - by