Spot testing

Karin Abelskamp <k.abelskamp [at] archeologie__nl>

>I am looking for a spot test to demonstrate the presence of tin in
>an archaeological object made of a copper alloy object or a lead
>alloy. Does anyone know if such a test is commercially available? If
>so, where can I purchase it, preferably in the Netherlands?
>Furthermore, is such a test perhaps also available for zinc?

I very strongly recommend you get your hand on a copy of the book

    Nancy Odegaard, Scott Carroll, Werner S. Zimmt.
    Material Characterization Tests for Objects of Art and
    Archaeology, London 2000, Archetype publications.
    ISBN: 1873132123

        **** Moderator's comments: Thanks also to Goran Budija for
        recommending the same book

It is a compilation of several spot tests for metals, organic and
inorganic materials, and is invaluable in any conservation library.
More specifically, this book has two spot tests for tin and three
for zinc, with the recipes on how to make the reagents and the us
them.

Of course another way of analyzing your metal in a non destructive
way is to use a portable XRF unit. You might be able to borrow one
from a geology or environmental science department, they use it to
test soil samples.  It is very easy to use and will tell you the
percentage of each metal in your alloy.

Myriam Lavoie
Student at Queen's University,
Kingston, Canada


                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:23
                 Distributed: Friday, October 28, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-23-005
                                  ***