Stain or leave it alone

[DwightT]

I made this leather panel some 30+ years ago for a briefcase that I used to carry.  The briefcase eventually fell apart, but I saved the panel.  A while back my wife pulled it out of my storage, and she thinks I should hang it on the wall in my work space.  I might do that, but since I tooled this way back before I knew anything about stains and antiquing, it's just plan with a little dye in the background.  Before I hang it I'm thinking that some antiquing might make it pop and maybe hide some of the stains and watermarks that it has acquired over the years.  Or maybe I should just leave it as is?  What are your thoughts?

    /dwight

[chuck123wapati]

It's a testament to how far you have come, leave it as is IMO. It looks just fine. 

[Gezzer]

I vote to leave it as is .

[Dwight]

That's three "leave it" votes . . . 

May God bless,

Dwight

[TonyV]

Make that 4 Leave It votes.  That old patina has its own quality that can't be reproduced.

[fredk]

Make that a 5 count

[BigBore]

Well I’ll be the oddball. I say, put a topcoat on it, and then antique it. 

[AlZilla]

 I don't see anything wrong with cleaning it and brightening it up. Museums do it to priceless oil paintings. It wouldn't change the actual work you did. Besides, water stains and grime aren't really historical artifacts.

Edited 22 hours ago by AlZilla

[badhatter1005]

Leave it.   For sure

[DwightT]

Well thanks all.  I decided against antiquing, but I cleaned it up a bit with some Fiebings cleaner/conditioner, mounted it on a backer board, and hung it over my workbench.  It looks good to me.