Apart from the 'leather' that never surrounded a cow, not all real leather is up to the old standards. Anthony Hussey, whose favourite family joke was "My father was a Hussey, and my mother was a Connolly, which is better than the other way around", had an excellent expression for the lower-quality stuff: "paint with a leather backing". Connolly always maintained its tradition of as natural a finish as possible. Sadly it exists no more.
