Preservation Mystery-Opinions Please

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Kirstie

Kirstie

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Jan 16, 2007
Posts
8,395
Loc
Berkeley, CA
One of my staff members took on a clean out of our lost and found bin this afternoon. She found this sleeve with two Old World Prints colored etchings in it. We own them, and for some reason they were stashed with the lost and found. As you can see the print on the bottom has a dark damage mark top to bottom on the right side. It was sleeved behind the other print with the damaged section showing. It was not damaged three or so years ago when we bought them. The sleeves are from Presentation Systems in Richmond (double sided "archival") and this one was stored in an open fronted wood cabinet outside my office. It was behind some other sleeves with no light reaching it.

What happened here?
 

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If I had to hazard a guess (and thank god I don't) I would say that possibly it's a case of good paper/bad paper.

I'd also guess at the print that has oxidized is not on nice paper such as a true antique would be printed on a rag paper. I would suspect more of pulp and a knock-off.

But then, like I said.... I don't have to hazard a guess here.
 
Are both prints from the same source? The mystery is why the print in front wouldn't show discoloration too. You are sure this dark part wasn't there when the print was stored? It almost looks like smoke damage.
:shrug: Rick
 
The prints are both from Old World Prints, purchased at the same time. The paper looks the same. It's all academic as I own the prints which have no value anyway. Still an interesting mystery.
 
Here's my bet. The fact that the 2 pieces were staggered the back print was not against the sleeve. There was an air pocket that allowed for air flow in front of the print. I'm guessing the backside of that portion is not soiled.
 
Jeff Rodier said:
Here's my bet. The fact that the 2 pieces were staggered the back print was not against the sleeve. There was an air pocket that allowed for air flow in front of the print. I'm guessing the backside of that portion is not soiled.
Click to expand...

I'll double check tomorrow but I don't think so.
 
I'd be interested to hear what your staff member can remember about how the prints were arranged in folder (Jeff's thought is a good one) where the open end of the folder in relation to the damaged side of the print was, and what the open end was against ( wood, open end of case etc.)

These mysteries are so interesting to try and figure out aren't they!
 
Rebecca said:
I'd be interested to hear what your staff member can remember about how the prints were arranged in folder (Jeff's thought is a good one) where the open end of the folder in relation to the damaged side of the print was, and what the open end was against ( wood, open end of case etc.)

These mysteries are so interesting to try and figure out aren't they!
Click to expand...

The folder (sleeve) is top loading. The prints were positioned as seen except that I pulled the damaged one further out to photograph the damage. The sleeve was leaning against other sleeves. No other art in any other sleeve in the area shows signs of damage, including one other sleeve containing another piece of art from this publisher. The case has lots of air circulation and had no enclosure on the front. It is a catch all art storage area for lost and found sleeves and small frames, often ready mades, waiting for refits. The entrance to the cabinet is at waist level. The cabinet is on the mezzanine outside my office. Below the cabinet there is an open area above our back room. We use this area to turn length moulding in the back room.

Jeff's thoughts on a small air space creating some sort of reaction are certainly interesting.
 
When paper is left open to the air, it filters out pollution. If that air contains peroxides and wood acids, in addition to industrial pollutants and spikes of high humidity, oxidation discoloration is to be expected, even in good paper. Often this discoloration is only visible in UV and becomes normal light visible, only as it ages.This is exactly why paper and other sorbant materials should be enclosed.


Hugh
 
preservator said:
When paper is left open to the air, it filters out pollution. If that air contains peroxides and wood acids, in addition to industrial pollutants and spikes of high humidity, oxidation discoloration is to be expected, even in good paper. Often this discoloration is only visible in UV and becomes normal light visible, only as it ages.This is exactly why paper and other sorbant materials should be enclosed.


Hugh
Click to expand...

Spikes of humidity. Yes! There was a leak near that area from the garage above us. This is so interesting and even more curious that only the print sticking out to the side and below the one in the front of the sleeve was damaged.
 
I would have bet money it was a top opening sleeve. The print in front was protected because it was completely against the the sleeve so the air could not touch the surface. Bet it is heavy paper that left a gap to the back print.
 
Jeff Rodier said:
I would have bet money it was a top opening sleeve. The print in front was protected because it was completely against the the sleeve so the air could not touch the surface. Bet it is heavy paper that left a gap to the back print.
Click to expand...

Bumping this up again. I plan to show it to the printmaker's framing class I am about to teach as an example of how fast paper can be damaged with incorrect storage. Yes Jeff, the paper is fairly heavy. I think you and Hugh nailed it, but it is still the most bizarre example of paper damage that I have seen. Virtually no light exposure, and an "acid-free" sleeve, but a little air pocket, a certain type of paper, a wooden storage cabinet, a nearby leak, resulted in severe discoloration in just a few years.
 
It's very weird, for sure.

It makes me think that having an air pocket
can be a bad thing if it's in an acidic environment.
I wonder if the plastic offgassed in a way that reacted
with the air. Probably not likely, though. It really
does give food for thought. I've just always taken
for a given that air was better than having something
right up against a surface. In this case, it seems to
have been a danger.
 
As mysterious as this appears to be, other prints have been observed to discolor during storage in good conditions, as the oxidation initiating compounds that built up within them, during previous bad storage, suddenly go from colorless to colored,
as they age. Observation of discoloration in paper is one of the most critical parts of preservation education. Framers are ideally positioned to see what happens when things are not done right and to learn from that.


Hugh
 
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