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Date: | Wed, 15 Feb 1995 07:32:14 -0800 |
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Iron meteorites have been driving everyone slightly crazy for years.
First warning: do NOT coat the surface with ANYTHING, no matter what
anyone tells you. There is a chapter in the Butterworths book on the
conservation of geological materials (ed. F. Howie) that deals with
meteorites. I recommend this highly.
I have been using anoxic micro-enclosures with good results, using
heat-seal anoxic film with packets of the oxygen scavenger Ageless. I can
send details to you off-list if you are interested. The size of the
meteorites and the degree of existing deterioration will affect the
design of this.
I find that meteorites which have been cut and polished to show the
Widmanstatten lines are very vulnerable to oxidation and need immediate
enclosure. Those that have been coated with shellac or something else
awful don't seem to show much slow-down of oxidation except in the driest
climates.
Good luck.
Sally Shelton
Director, Collections Care and Conservation
Post-graduate diploma, geological conservation, Cambridge U.
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