Humpty Dumpty might have lived a long and happy life had he known Robert and Karin MacDowell. Sadly, he did not. Happily for the rest of the fragile world hundreds of beautiful but damaged porcelain and pottery treasures are sitting pretty today because their owners sent them for a visit to the MacDowell Restoration Studio in Waterford, Virginia.

The White House, the Smithsonian Institution and many important museums and collectors know precisely whom to call when they hear the unforgettable sound of china crashing to the floor or the gasp of someone saying, "Oh, I'm so sorry!" Whether it is Ming, Minton, Lennox or something precious your son made, these master restorers can turn the tragedy into a triumph.

"We never intended to be in this business," explained Robert MacDowell, a debonnaire and fascinating gentleman. "I learned a lot about china restoration watching my mother, Gladys. She loved to restore dolls and china, and she was a genius with an airbrush. She became a quite famous restoration expert. When we decided we really wanted to open our own business, she encouraged us to consider china restoration."

"I was very reluctant," Karin continued. "Gladys was a brilliant restorer and I was certain I could never meet her standards."

The extremely attractive couple's origins are quite different, but they complement each other beautifully in their restoration studio and in their life.

Bob is the studio's dedicated, meticulous engineer and Karin is the pretty and sublimely talented artist. But both share a dedication and sense of responsibility for their work that is built on a foundation of "only the best will do." If that means new adhesives must be created, Robert simply reaches back to his experience with technical adhesives (like those used on 747 windscreens) to create super strong and resilient bonding agents for the finest china and porcelain pieces.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Robert followed his father into electronics. Karin, who was born in Duesseldorf, Germany grew up in the very small village of Osterode.

"I still had two years of college to go," she said as she remembered coming to the Washington D.C. area. "My plan was to finish in linguistics at Georgetown and become a translator at the United Nations."

But she met Robert soon after her arrival and when he was transferred to Dallas, she followed her heart.

"My Dad was a brilliant electronic engineer," Robert told the Eccentric. "He was a real communications whiz. His first job was Communications Officer on the JP Morgan yacht. He had his ham radio license when he was ten. It took me until I was 12!

"After the war, we left Texas where he was working and moved to Panama. My Dad was helping Central American countries set up radio navigation systems and my mother was restoring dolls and china when she wasn't riding herd on my brother and me. While we were down there, my Dad and I built a radio to communicate with the U.S.A. on the amateur network, and often, I watched intently as my mother did such delicate, seemingly impossible work."

The MacDowell family moved back to the States when Robert's dad took command of a desk in Washington, D.C.

Bob wanted to work a bit before college and landed a really good job for a neighboring firm who was building flight simulators for the Air Force. "I worked in the model shop helping to build the most amazing pieces of electronics ever known to man, he said. "Somehow, I just never got around to a formal education."

Robert worked for Dave Shephard, founder of Intelligent Machine Research Corporation, was recruited to go to Farrington Electronics where he became a character recognition expert and quickly was named Technology Manager of their OCR (Optical Character Recognition) Division in London, England.

During this time, he and Karin and their three sons lived in London, while Robert flew, sometimes undercover, from country to country to help them build their new technology systems.

The MacDowells returned to the United States to Loudoun County where Robert was offered yet another "black" job for the military. At first they lived in Fairfax, but their boys were growing up and they wanted them to have lots of room and a home in the country.

They found the perfect place on Bull Run Mountain, eventually moved to a lovely home in Aldie, and then built their dream home in Waterford.

In 1970, Robert's employer decided to re-locate their offices. He and Karin really did not want to move. Although Karin had been investigating several kinds of businesses they could start and run themselves, the china restoration business kept creeping back into their planning sessions.

"Bob's mother was certain we would enjoy it and be very successful," Karin explained. "No matter how worried I was about being able to paint and airbrush as well as she, we decided to give it a try."

After much research through the International Institute for Conservation of Historic Works of Art, the American Institute of the same name and the Washington Restoration Guild, many professional meetings including private tutelage at Winterthur's on the stabilization of colors and paint, and weeks of research on new adhesives and materials they could create to bring the business up to modern standards, they were ready to begin in 1970.

The MacDowell Studio's reputation grew quickly. Within six months, a customer asked them to repair some porcelains that he had been told belonged to George Washington. Bob and Karin took them to the Smithsonian Institution's curator to inquire about their origin.

"The curator did validate their origin, and the owner was delighted," Karin said smiling.

"We were even more delighted when he asked if we would like to do restoration work for the Smithsonian," Bob emphasized.

Ethical restoration work is very important to the MacDowells. "We were once presented with a Meissen Bird that had an original firing crack in it. The client wanted us to hide the crack, and we refused the assignment. In situations when the piece has an original firing crack, it is simply unethical to hide the crack," Karin explained.

More and more people began to hear of their work, and many complained that when they telephoned the studio their children would forget to give them their message. So, they purchased an answering machine. The very first message recorded on it was from the White House. The curator there had asked J. Jefferson Miller III, the curator at the Smithsonian, to recommend a restorer, and he referred him to the MacDowells. They worked steadily for the White House until 1986.

"We are very proud of our work," Robert said. "And we have been very fortunate to have fabulous clients," Karin added.

Although they first learned the restoration arts from Bob's mother, he was determined to move forward from what he calls her "old fashioned ways."

Their coatings, potting compounds and adhesives have set new standards in restoration. For many years they offered classes and trained restoration artists from all over the world in intense two-day sessions.

"It was wonderful to meet them and help them evolve their art," Karin said. "We thoroughly enjoyed those classes, but it was very demanding to consistently meet our very high standards," she continued. "We simply had to stop enrollment, although it made us very sad to do so."

Many aspects of restoration are highly complex, but, generally speaking the process begins by taking apart a piece that has been repaired previously. Then, each piece must be surgically cleaned to be certain no adhesive remains, and then the restoration begins.

Bob is the chemist and engineer. According to Karin, he is unbelievably patient and often takes hours to polish a piece with graduated abrasive cloths that are covered with grit that are as fine as 12,000 grains per inch.

Among her favorite restorations, Karin says, are rare dolls. "We once had a French doll that was 36" tall. It was incredibly rare, and when its head cracked, someone poured concrete into it thinking it would stabilize the doll's head and simply stuck bits and pieces back on.

"Sadly," she continued, "concrete heats as it dries and expands. "You can imagine how difficult it was to get all the concrete out, clean the entire head and put her all back together again. It was very demanding and delicate, but she was extremely beautiful when we finished," she explained.

"My very favorite might be a fancy, prancing Percheron horse, a very valuable piece that needed repair to its braided mane. Three tiny knots had broken off. The owner had found two, but one needed to be re-constructed," Bob said. "I really loved re-creating that tiny piece and restoring that beautiful horse to its former glory."

There is absolutely no question that Humpty Dumpty would have been put back together again perfectly if he or his king's friends had known The MacDowell Restoration Studio. How sad that he did not.

If you would like a consultation with the MacDowells, please telephone 540 882 9000 or visit their website: www.macdowellrestorations.com.