TarheelRon

Check out Ian Atkinson's YouTube. He uses a heat gun and goes into a lot of detail. I have used it for Initials with the Tandy 1/4 inch alphabet set and other more complicated stamps and it works well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azyCKOpdSo0

These folks have certainly raised the bar to highest level of customer service. I bought a Tippmann Boss from Tandy Leather in Knoxville, Tennessee and after a few sessions with it, I had problems with the thread jamming up in the shuttle and the underside of the test pieces. After hours of frustration I called Tippmann and after just a short wait, the technician and I jumped on it. After telling him what was was going on, he said do this, take that off, do this and it will help you get it back on easier, adjust this. Before too long the problems was solved. There was never and indication in his voice that I was a dummy, and we carried on a cordial, un-rushed, informative, and even humorous at times conversation. He noticed a sound the Boss was making over the phone and says that doesn't sound quite right. let's do this. These folks are truly inspirational!!!

Fascinating piece for sure. For what it's worth, you might try contacting conservators at a state or federal historical museums; i.e., Smithsonian or National Park Service ( https://www.nps.gov/hfc/cfm/contact.cfm ) . Tennessee State Musuem has Andrew Jackson's leather hat box on public display and it still looks good.