Conservation around the Millennium (Hungarian National Museum, 2001)

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insects basically effected the condition of the object that had been kept until then in a museum and that had probably been in a satisfactory condition (Picture 1)

The lid of the case was very dirty and the surface was spotted by the holes left by woodworms. The paper maché shell fell apart, two third of the mould-made paper strips that constituted the walls were lost, and the glue that had kept the still surviving ones lost its binding force in consequence of the moist environment. One side of the top board was decomposed probably by micro-organisms. The leather-coated terminal of the tapering handle and the shorter spike and also a large part of the leather covering of the side walls were missing. One of the applications on the handle was lost, another one peeled off. The reddish brown colour of the mouldy leather on the rotting paper maché case turned into black.

The bottom of the case was even more damaged. The side of the woodworm-eaten paper maché shell was missing together with the covering paper. A part of the bottom board was decomposed by micro-organisms. The terminal of the handle and the shorter spike were lost, and the remaining part of the handle broke off at several places from the lobed section.

The defective covering paper was dirty, stained and mouldy.

1. Fragments of the case before restoration

ANALYSIS OF THE MATERIALS

Analysis of the leather cover

The leather cover found on the lid of the case was examined under stereo microscope in direct light magnified 120 times. The grain pattern implied goatskin.

To tell the tanning method I made colour reaction analysis. A drop of ferric(lll)chloride was dropped on a sample. The black discoloration suggested vegetal tanning substance.

Analysis of the top and bottom pasteboards and the side walls

From the paper sheets that compose the case, the top and the bottom pasteboards were dark grey of uneven thickness and fairly strongly decomposed (less glued, poorer fibre quality?).

The paper of the side walls was better preserved and lighter in colour. I put the samples in distilled water for 24 hours, stripped them to fibres then determined the fibre composition by colour reaction analysis.

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