Mercury

I have two questions in this post.  As with many museum collections
that focus on 18th century decorative arts we deal with antique
mirrors that were made with the tin-mercury amalgam process that are
now breaking down.  I have been trained in dealing with this issue
including collecting the spilled mercury with special sponges and
then backing mirrors so that future mercury that breaks down will
not escape the frame.  But now as I am attempting to resupply my
inventory of these special sponges I am finding that the EPA has
restricted their sale in the United States.  Grainger and Fisher
Scientific both show the sponges on their websites but say that they
are restricted items and cannot sell them.  Bearing this in mind is
there a new conservation approach to dealing with mercury that is
leaking from mirrors?  If the sponges are no longer available is
there another tool that is available for conservators to purchase?
Has anyone else encountered this problem?  I have not contacted the
EPA yet, but plan to in order to see what alternatives they have in
mind.  Perhaps it has to do with the kind of facility you have and
if it is licensed to have hazardous chemicals.  I still have mirrors
actively leaking mercury and I need to find out how to safely
collect it because until I do they remain hazardous to a degree.

My other question regards reporting of mercury spills.  Does your
museum, facility or school have a form that must be filled out if a
mercury spill is found?  Remember that in my case it would be an
amount of mercury less than what would be found from a broken
thermometer.  As of now we do not have any report, other than an
incident report, for these type of things.  Luckily the times that
something was found it was found by me rather than a
non-conservation staff member.  Any advice would be appreciated.

Richard Baker
Conservation Specialist
Tryon Palace
North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
252-639-3542


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 29:37
                 Distributed: Sunday, February 14, 2016
                       Message Id: cdl-29-37-017
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