I kind of came into a project this past week. Long story, but I will be restoring a plaque from the 1940s that had name placards on it which appear to be made of mahogany r teak and the names are on it in gold lettering which I am sure is gilded rather than paint. This thing must have been hugely expensive at the time and the best thing to do would probably b to just replace them with engraved metal plates, but I feel very strongly about keeping it as original as I possibly can even to the point where I want to do my best to use all the original name placards that are remaining (it's missing a few and I will be doing some painstaking research this Summer to replace them).
I can do basic wood working and I have a brother who's an expert so that stuff will happen, but I have not a clue about gold leaf lettering and how to do it nor am I sure there are still people who do this. Trophies and plaques have become pretty much mass produced by computer now, engraving is no big deal. Anybody know how this is done?