Several changes of employment led my wife, Nicola Fisher, who has died aged 59, to Sotheby’s in Chester in the late 1980s as the personal assistant to one of their furniture specialists. A recommendation based on a misunderstanding of the meaning of “conservation” then directed her not towards the natural world, but into the furniture restoration trade. She joined a small firm of antique restorers, working in a converted cowshed in rural Shropshire, where she and I met.
In the spirit of serendipity and opportunity, Nicola quickly mastered the art of gilding, developing this as an entirely new speciality for the firm and was responsible for the conservation of many fine 18th-century works, including at least one with provenance as a Chippendale original. The workshop also produced new work in 18th- and early 19th-century styles, which Nicola gilded in the traditional manner. She pursued this career for nearly 20 years.
