Hidden Treasures

[Jana]

It's happened to all of us. We take apart a framed pic to refit, and we discover a hidden treasure.

Today we found a signed Frankie Avalon B & W autographed publicity shot.(And Diva will say, as did my daughter, "Who is Frankie Avalon, and if he was a 'Pop' singer I wouldn't want his autograph anyway?") I know it's not the Declaration of Independence, but it was a fun discovery. It's not even worth much. A color signed photo on ebay is about $25, but it was fun to find this bit of material culture!

What's the coolest thing you've ever found hidden in a frame, perhaps unbeknownst to the customer? Don't worry, we'll give this treasure back to the owner! The enjoyment was in the discovery of it.

[Framar]

We had a lady once who brought in a small photo frame with cracked glass and a thoroughly stuck photo. She was desperate about this situation and brought it to us because my partner restores photographs. This photo was so very ruined, but we assured her a spiffy new copy could be made and left, much relieved. I started taking the frame apart, prying to remove the easel when an envelope fell out. In the envelope was the NEGATIVE! I caught her just before she drove away, and boy, was she HAPPY!
Not that I would recommend storing negatives WITH the photos, but in this case it worked out great.
I ususally just find hundred year old newspapers, which are so fascinating to read, especially the advertisements and the PRICES! Anyone know why so many old framers put newspapers behind the artwork? Did they have some dim notion of protecting the artwork from the shingle-back?

[JRB]

In the really old days, newspapers where printed on rag or cotton pulp paper, it was acid free. Newspaper then wood was the common backing for professional framing. In later years when wood pulp was used in the making of newsprint paper, the tradition continued.

I pulled apart a framing job from the 1700s about 35 years ago. The frame had a wood backing with the old square hand made nails.

Behind the wood was a complete newspaper from the early 1700s from the northeastern part of the country. The wood had turned several pages pure black, a few more pages went from dark brown to light beige with the wood grain clearly showing and finally pristine white pages that looked like they were printed yesterday.

The paper was fascinating, however it did not have any advertising at all, just news.

The picture was in almost perfect condition except it had been directly against the glass, so there was slight damage from that.

The whole paper was about the equivalent of about 8 ply rag board with about less than 2 ply damaged from the acid in the wood. That was three hundred years of protection from the newspaper.

I returned it to the customer and watched as he tossed it into the back seat of his car. I think he did not believe me about the age of the paper due to the incredibly new look it had.

John

[Rebecca]

Once when unframing a beautiful still-life pastel prior to conservation treatment (stain reduction) I found a second pastel on the reverse by the sme artist. The pastels were on an acidic paperboard (about the thickness of 4-ply, but the board was not plyed). After talking it over with the client, we decided that I would split the board so she could frame them both. It took a full week of very concentrated, painstaking work to separate them. I didn't realize how tense and focused I was during the treatment until after it was completed - the whole experience was something like childbirth. I saw them later, after the framer was done with them (hand gilded, and they looked great.


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Rebecca

[RonEggers]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by JRB:
The frame had a wood backing with the old square hand made nails.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Does anyone know when "round" wire nails began to replace the old square nails? I wonder about this when I open a frame that has square nails, or a combination of square and round nails, for fitting.

[tgfu408]

Funny this thread should start now.

A few weeks ago, we took apart an old print for a lady and in the back was a high school diploma from the late 1800s on sheepskin. Still reasonably flat.

We gave it back to her when she picked the piece up. She didn't have a clue who it was until she asked her mother and it was from a long-lost relative.

She returned it in a few days and had us frame that too.

I just love it when we are able to revive history, or long-forgotten items.

Making people happy is just one part of this lovely profession

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Michael LeCompte CPF