Refinished dresser

I don't usually do repairs or restorations, but just did a little job this morning, & will post pics later. It was a nice little piece, and all that had to be done was to repair severe water damage on the top. Removed the shellac with metho, sanded, gave a light wb stain to match the rest, and re-finished. Cleaned up the rest of the job with Ubeaut polish reviver.

I have two questions:
1. The edge of the top & bottom seemed to be finished with heavily pigmented shellac. Was this normal in the mid 1940s, & if so, why was it done?
2. The maker has signed & dated the ply back in soft pencil. This has been wiped at some time, probably when the water was spilled, and the signature is smeared so it's not quite readable. I'd like to be able to read it, and if possible, restore it so it stays readable. I'm thinking of misting with water then lightly sanding, unless anyone has another suggestion. I'm hoping the water will raise the fibres around the writing, but not on the writing itself.

Pics now posted, minus drawers.

not sure why they pigmented shellac in most australian furniture from 20's to 50's
I suspect it was cause they wanted to pretend it was english oak or walnut:rolleyes:

Sometimes it's not pigmented but just darkened with age, The NC laccers are prone to this.
Decco furniture in melbourne at least, relied heavily on our beautiful timber for effect.
Unfortunatly the NC has usually gone baby poo brown.
It's OK to strip it and reveal the timber, I asked a Decco expert, proffessional type, dealer:D

That came up a treat Alex.:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Didn't realize they had adjustable shelves back then.

Wild outside chance - contact police public relations officer for name improvement work. Worst answer would be rejection.

soth