Repairing utilitarian objects

I am new to the DistList but have worked as the Curator of a
community history museum for the past several years.

We recently loaned another museum a World War I era ashtray from the
local Army training camp, Camp Grant. In the process of exhibiting
it, the borrower broke it cleanly in two. It is glazed and had a few
chips in it prior to the loan. Although it is the responsibility of
the borrower to fund its repair, I am uncertain that it makes sense
to send it to a conservator in that it is a very utilitarian piece.
That being said, my approach to collections management for years has
been that it was better not to treat at all than it was to use an
inappropriate treatment for something.

Are there any recommendations on how I could do an in-house
treatment correctly? I'm not sure what products are out there that
would be appropriate to the material, reversible, etc.

Laura Furman
Curator of Collections
Midway Village Museum
Rockford, Illinois, USA


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 24:36
                Distributed: Saturday, January 29, 2011
                       Message Id: cdl-24-36-022
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