Kristine,

I'm going to suggest an entirely different route.  Do you have any idea how long the medals have been attached to the velvet?  The dates on the medals may give some indication.  Has the glue stained the ribbon?  If not, and if the glue seems to have been applied many years ago, maybe it would be best to leave it alone.  Any attempts at glue removal might stain or damage the ribbons. 

If the velvet is in bad shape and you really want to get rid of it, perhaps carefully cutting the velvet away from the ribbon and medals can be done without vestiges of the velvet being seen from the front.  Or, if the ribbon is "shot", and there is no printing on the ribbon, maybe you can replace the ribbon with an identical piece without it being noticeable. 

Granted, this is not what you asked, but I'm reluctant to risk harm if unnecessary.  Maybe someone else will have a better answer.

-Jim


On Sat, Apr 12, 2014 at 6:43 PM, topladave . <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Kristine,

Unfortunately this is the sort of problem that calls for a conservator. You have two major issues with the same adhesive. The medals (bronze? silver? steel? copper? gold or gold plated?) are historic and have a patina. Much like coins any disruption of that patina will severely affect the value and the aesthetics of the medals. Even though an adhesive can be mechanically scraped and levered off the surface of a metal, it will most likely take the surface patina or plating right off with it. So I would approach that issue by determining what the adhesive is and how to soften and perhaps dissolve it. The ribbons present an even bigger conservation issue. The historic medals I have seen often have silk ribbons. Not only is silk fragile when fairly new, but given oxidation, being exposed to acidic materials, and light it can be extremely fragile. And what may soften or dissolve the adhesive may essentially dissolve any dyes in the ribbon. Finally, the fact that the textile ribbons are attached to the medals further complicates the entire thing. If the medal can be safely detached from the ribbon for the purpose of treatment, great, but usually that is not easily done with most historic medals I've seen. So, you really need a conservator to come in and do an examination and testing to determine what is safe and what is possible to do in this.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator & Museum Consultant
Los Angeles CA
www.cityofangelsconservation.weebly.com



On Sat, Apr 12, 2014 at 4:02 PM, Kristine Chase <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi all,
I am an Archives Technician within a university's Archives and Special Collections department.  I came across a framed piece (an old shadow box) which includes several achievement medals for swimming.  These medals which are attached to their original ribbons are all adhered to a black velvet backing by some kind of glue that is quite strong.  It doesn't appear to be Elmer's, rubber cement, or hot glue.  The ribbons are also attached by this glue.  Does anyone have any advice on how to remove these medals and their ribbons from the backing and glue?  

Thanks so much!

--
Kristi Chase

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