Bonnet House Museum- Lion

This poor Lion has been outside since 1920 something on display in the outdoor atrium of the Bonnet House in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They have some great antique Carousel pieces to see, about a dozen. The problem is that these animals are all rotting from the bottem up....from sitting in pooling water, and rain runnng down their sides. The Lion is almost ready for repainting, the paint on him was less than 10 years old, and did not hold up at all, the protective clear coating or varnish on most of these animals is dried out or is completely gone. Here are just a few photos showing how deep the wood decay on his face is....these pins are going in at least 1/2 inch deep into his face.