After a clean, conditioning and a polishing with lambs wool the old leather case is reasonably presentable. It still retains the stains, burns and scuffs from a long hard life. Rusty, the retired saddle maker will have the straps done using the original brass buckles. They had previously been repaired and were beyond help.
Still contemplating the absent brass plaque, may have had the owners name.
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Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead, forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell and the profit and loss.
A current under sea picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell he passed the stages of his age and youth entering the whirlpool. Gentile or Jew O you who turn the wheel and look to windward, Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.
T.S. Eliot
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