Dragon's Blood

Norman Heckenberg <heckenbe [at] physics__uq__edu__au> writes

>Can any UK listmembers tell me where I might purchase some Dragon's
>Blood (for instrument lacquer colouring) over the counter in London
>or Cambridge when I travel there next week? My supply form Bizzari
>in Florence has run out.

Just a word of caution: There are something like 6 different resins
all called traditionally "Dragon's Blood" that you might end up with
if you aren't careful in specifying where you want it to come from.
Most are different enough in their composition to perhaps cause
problems in identification if you use just one as a "reference"
sample.  I think the "classic" examples are from Socotran Island.
For information on Dragon's Blood analyses, check out a paper on
Raman spectroscopic analysis by Howell G.M. Edwards of Bradford in
UK.  He provides some background on this and lists suppliers of the
raw material.

Dr. Gregory Dale Smith
Samuel Golden Research Fellow
National Gallery of Art
Scientific Research Department
Washington DC 20565
202-842-6762
Fax: 202-842-6886


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 16:65
                  Distributed: Monday, April 28, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-16-65-006
                                  ***