Primarily Petroliana Shop Talk Forums Shop Talk Petroliana Forums General Petroliana Discussion Help with Mail Pouch Thermometer

Hello guys and gals. I recently purchased this Mail Pouch thermometer at a local auction. In true fashion I fell in love with the piece and overlooked it’s defects. Then I got it home. It appears as if someone attempted to repair the 2 areas of damage. With what exactly? Is that paint? Even worse is that body filler? Does anyone have any experience cleaning up pieces like this? How can I remove the paint/filler without damaging the piece? I don’t know why people think doing this stuff to old advertising pieces helps it. Just like with guns, leave it alone. It’s only original once.

It looks to be porcelain. I would try some goof off and small brush or scraper. Be sure not to scrape to hard.

It appears that there are layers of old paint stuck to the areas on the thermometer where the porcelain has chipped off.

Any paint stripper will remove this paint and should not affect the good porcelain.

Later . . .

Jim