Mold on color photographs

Michael Maggen <maggen [at] netvision__net__il> writes

>We received shipments of 24 color photographs titled "Ground Zero"
>made by the photographer Joel Meyerowitz. These large sizes
>photographs (120 X 90 cm.) were taken on the site of the Twins tower
>shortly after the disaster and during the work of rescue teams.
>
>Upon the opening of the shipment crates we noticed that many
>photographs were infected by mold characterized as many small groups
>of filaments (spores) of whitish colonies. ...

It seems these are contemporary prints that suffered damage during
shipping. I tend to think that in this case it might be best to have
the insurance company that covered their shipping claim them a total
loss due to mould growth that sounds serious, then have the
photographs reprinted and shipped by a company that pays more
attention to their packing and shipping procedures. This may seem a
little harsh, but these being very modern prints, it would seem to
make sense not to want to accept any flaws as fundamental as mould
damage upon purchase.

Martin Juergens
Photograph Conservator
Schmilinskystr. 19
20099 Hamburg, Germany
+49 40 2800 4785
Fax: +49 40 2805 6511


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:11
                  Distributed: Friday, August 2, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-16-11-009
                                  ***