During the Italian Renaissance, it was common practice among
the wealthy collectors who purchased full statues and plaques of
ancient Greek and Roman art to often replace the faces and heads
on the originals with commissioned likenesses of themselves and
their family.  Their attitude was "I can afford it -- it's mine --
I can do as I please".  They didn't realize (or perhaps acknowledge
the damage that they were doing to these extremely rare art treasures.

I see something like this happening, particularly among the refinishing
phase of automatic musical instruments of today, in the desire to
re-finish the instrument in a color or finish that "suits" the new
owner.  An example being the desire to change the Seeburg Silver Fox
finish into the widespread golden oak color/finish so popular among
modern antique collectors.  For that matter, I have seen oak finishes
that were originally dark and smoky (referred to as Mission Oak)
lightened up to meet this golden oak madness that has swept through
antiques in the last 30 years.

In my shop right now, I just finished the interior restoration of an
early Wurlitzer style A with flute pipes.  It originally was the famous
Wurlitzer black with silver filler (a finish Wurlitzer carried over
from Philipps).  But at some point in its life all the black was washed
out of the exterior; the sliver gray finish was removed and a crude
attempt at creating a golden oak that looks more like mud brown shoe
polish has resulted.  The owner does not want it restored to original
factory color because it would "clash with the colors of the room".

I shudder to think what has happened to instruments that were originally
finished in Wurlitzer's Flemish (a greenish cast) or olive wood cases.

Many of these are finishes that are not seen or used today -- I would
imagine this contributes to their uniqueness and value, in not only
terms of historical importance but in terms of enjoying the original
beauty of these instruments cases as the makers intended.

How about enjoying them for what they are?  The supplies and colors
are available from a variety of vendors.

Stephen Kent Goodman