>>On a lighter note, I still have one small leather suitcase here, which I bought back in 1979, made in Ceauşescu's Romania. And a trouser belt of the same age and origin survived until 2001. It was actually still usable, just started looking really ugly.

>One of my many interests over the years involved leatherwork. You can get leather dye for a few dollars at a shoe repair shop. It just swabs on. After it dries, just use regular shoe wax and it will look new, barring any gouges in the leather. Same for shoes, purses or coats.

I could have done that - but it had a bad buckle which eventually started cutting into the leather, so I just threw it away. Since it lasted 25 years, and I wasn't developing any emotional attachment to it... there it went.

Thanks for the advice, though - there may be other leather items I'd like to preserve.