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Date: | Fri, 13 Mar 1998 19:14:38 GMT |
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I'm currently supervising the packing of the collections at a historic
house museum before they are transported to the store rooms at our central
museum (prior to massive refurbishment at the house).
Wolverhampton being a brewing town, our glass collection includes a lot of
beer bottles. Going through these in detail, I discovered that three are
still full of beer.
Should I empty them, or keep them full? All three have regular metal caps
(not screw caps) which appear to be securely in place. All are around
250ml (is that 9 fl oz?)
One is a Guiness bottle, looks to be from around the 1940s/50s. It is only
half full (has the rest evaporated?) and has solids sticking to the sides.
One is a 'stone' ale in an opaque glass (made to look like stone) bottle,
probably 1960s. It 'sloshes' but I can't tell anything else.
The third is a Banks' ale made to celebrate Princess Anne's (first) wedding
in 1973. It's full.
All are currently in a non-environmentally controlled room at the historic
house. Their journey to the stores will be around a mile, where they could
be stored in either a controlled or non-controlled (but stable) storeroom.
There are no plans to exhibit them in the near future.
So, what should I do? If I should empty them, is there a secret way or do
I just flip off the cap in the usual way (bending it in the process of
course). If I don't empty them should I wrap them in any special way? And
of course, the question all the wrapping team have been asking - can we
drink it? (does this count as deaccessioning?)
Any advice greatly appreciated. Please respond off-list as I only rarely
manage to read all my Museum-L.
Thanks!
Philippa Tinsley
Registrar
Wolverhampton Art Gallery & Museum, Wolverhampton, England
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