Looks great!
A classy way to display your treasures.
That is a very striking case. It has a tiger stripe, sunburst-like quality that really accentuates the insignia. Very smart, indeed.
Is the mounting material in the framed case made of foam?
You may want to be careful using porous material such as foam as it will degrade over time and will adhere to the badges making a very sticky mess. I have seen medal groupings that were packed in foam severely degraded after the foam melted and adhered to the planchets of the medals, so just a word of caution if the materials used to make the cases are not archival/artifact recommended...
The case looks very nice, however, as a museum conservator and curator I would be concerned about the off-gassing of the wood/stain/varnish as well as what the items are mounted on.
Just my humble thoughts..
Smitty
I'm glad for this response because this was a concern of mine! I already have the foam issue covered as I plan on using a felt backing eventually for that exact reason. To the point on the off gassing, perhaps you can add more insight on this! I have several cloth items I would also love to mount but will not go with the wood enclosure method because I am worried about its affects on the cloth. Because these items are metal (Zinc) how much of an impact would this wood enclosure have on them? In my mind i thought it would be a minimal risk especially since zinc is not particularly susceptible to corrosion. Thanks for any input on this!
Niiiice!
Bill
"Only a pimp in a Louisiana whore house carries a pearl handled revolver"
- General George Smith Patton Jr.
Any conservation and preventative measures that you take will help to reduce or stop whatever concern you have, be it with cloth and moths or silverfish, rust on metal, zinc pest (which really once it starts you can only take measures to stop it's spread and further damage).
I always encourage folks to think about the long term damage that they could unintentionally cause when handling items, one of the biggest being blades and edged weapons. I always encourage the wearing of gloves, nitrile or for those with latex allergies, cloth cotton gloves. The dirt and oils in your hands can have severe effects on those daggers if not cleaned off. You would not want your pristine SS dagger to degrade any due to mishandling..
There are many different methods (some well-known, others are more folk lore and myth) that work for conservation and preservation, so it is always, always encouraged to ask questions about proper handling, storage and above all ask before any type of cleaning is done.
I am happy to share what information I have regarding museum techniques for conservation/preservation of the numerous artifacts that we have in our holdings.
At this moment I am in-processing a new musuem employee, so this person will also bring some new techniques to the field.
I will be adding more information about conservation and preservation in discussions forum topics here from time to time.
Best regards.
Smitty
Looking forward to more preservation info! Thanks for your input on all this! Funny enough I am extremely careful with most of the items I own. I have archival safe boxes and sleeves for all of my collection and with the metal items I tried to resist the urge to research and ultimately find horror stories about non ideally storing these items. And I knew wood posed a risk to any item but I decided to go with "eh its metal, should be fine". Glad I looked into it a bit more. I did not realize the extent wood can cause issues with metal specifically.
Last edited by Crown; 02-13-2024 at 12:46 PM.
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