Labelling

Mark Vine <100436.3447 [at] compuserve__com> writes

>Several of the leather cricket balls are over 100 years
>old. The desired method would be to apply a couple of coatings of
>Acryloid (Paraloid) B72 reduced in a suitable solvent to the wood
>and leather....
>Can anyone suggest a means of applying the Acryloid that will not
>harm the varnish or alternatively suggest other means of applying a
>suitable catalogue inscription.

In the museum I work as as a volunteer the numbers are now being
inscribed on the objects between 2 layers of B72 in 50% IMS in
acetone.  It is a reversible process and I could not help wondering
why these inscription should be reversible? Are not accession
numbers there for ever? Even if the museum should deaccession an
object, its previous numbers are surely part of its history. and a
totally (engraved?) inscription would surely be more suitable. Am I
very wrong?

Dominique Rogers

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 9:60
                   Distributed: Monday, March 4, 1996
                        Message Id: cdl-9-60-008
                                  ***