What are your thoughts on this 1970s leather briefcase? Restore or keep as is?

what do you mean by restore? how?

 

looks great to me. who made it?

Give it a nice conditioning job, and call it finished.

You can rub some lexol conditioner to help soften it up. As I'm looking at the top pic again, is that water stains I see on the bottom?

You buy a leather conditioner and follow the instructions, which usually consist of, "wipe onto surface of leather and wait". Lexol and Saphir Renovateur are the standard choices around here, either would be fine. Basically, you're replacing oils in the leather that may have dried out over time. It'll soften up the leather, and more importantly, keeps it from cracking. You may also notice darkening, especially if the leather really is dried out, since dried out leather tends to lighten. There are also good odds that you'll get a nice variation in tone, which is known as patina, and a big draw of non-black leather.

+1. I like as is.....depending on if the leather is cracking.

You're not gonna ruin leather by giving it a coat of conditioner. Just wet a rag, wipe it on, let it absorb. If it soaks in really quickly, do a second coat. Stuff like lexol is made specifically to preserve leather, you're not going to risk ruining it.

And it's worth what somebody wants to pay for a nice, but used, briefcase on e-bay. Look at completed listings, though I would keep it and use it for myself.

ebay is good advise to price the bag, good luck

Good at advice. This is all that's needed.