Handling materials on television

Can I add a plea to conservators and curators not to handle (or
insist that others handle) many classes of ancient and historic gold
objects and gilded objects with cotton gloves. In my experience it
is all too easy for delicate filigree, fractured sheet ends and so
forth to get hooked up in the linen.

Also, it is not usual for trapped fibres to supply considerable
information about original use, wrapping or containers and
particularly authenticity. It is annoying to be confronted by
endless little modern fibres when examining an object (surely this
applies to other classes of object as well?)

Jack Ogden


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:11
                  Distributed: Tuesday, July 15, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-11-008
                                  ***