Hi Again,

I've read through some of Pete's great guides here, but unfortunately, I'm still not sure what the original finishing products were used on this cabinet. I'm guessing manufacturers would be fairly consistent with the finishing on a wide range of their products, so what may have been used for one Astor unit be similar to other Astor units - in the time period.

I understand there's different kinds of product, from stains, to tinted lacquers and even polishes. I have no idea how expensive the unit originally would have been, which I suspect would determine what kind of surface was applied.

Based on the fact that, in rather large areas, the coating has cracked in a kind of ladder pattern, I suspect it's a tinted lacquer? the underlying wood has much less of a 'golden' colouring to it, unless that's from what I read about certain coatings yellowing with age.

Also, the colouring is washed out in areas that looks to have possibly been from water damage - there's large faded blotches and pale vertical liquid runs.

Additionally, how did they do the dark corners/accents? Is that a form of paint or something? The underlying wood is very much a basic pine colour and the dark colouring has come off in chips, like paint.

I'm not going to touch the cabinet until I'm sure what products I have to use - I'm not looking to restore this for monetary reasons as it is a family heirloom as it were, but I would still like to recapture the original look.

You can see some photos of the unit below:

https://ibb.co/NSjcwYK
https://ibb.co/9WwJV1K
https://ibb.co/ZLG92r0
https://ibb.co/J32mR7T
https://ibb.co/h7JhP3N

Thanks for invaluable assistance provided so far by everyone.