Eleanor’s Objects

Lincoln Royal Charter

Owner: Lincoln City Council

Object prior to Treatment

This Royal Charter dates back to the 24th November 1456 from Henry VI. It is kept at the Lincoln Guildhall (in Lincoln City centre, Lincolnshire) and is part of the Lincoln Royal Charter project, to conserve and re-display them to be enjoyed by the public and future generations. It is made from parchment and iron gall ink was most likely used for the writing. A wax royal seal from Henry VI is attached to the charter by plaited red and green threads.

Condition before Treatment

The charter was in fairly good condition as it had been safely stored in acid-free tissue paper in an archival box. The main issue with the charter was that it was folded up and the folds were stiff, which made it hard to open it up fully without risk of causing damaging. Another prominent issue was the surface dirt on the outside and edges of the charter. However, inside the charter, the surface was quite clean having been protected from light and dirt. This is the same reason why the ink was starting to fade on the outside of the charter, but the ink on the inside was in very good condition. The threads on the seal attachment were becoming unplaited and individual threads were coming loose. They had also faded and become duller due to dirt or light damage. The wax seal had previous conservation work carried out on it (the light brown areas of the seal shown in the photos). There was a small area of residue from the seal repair on the parchment. There was some wearing down of the detail on the seal.

Conservation Treatment

The charter was carefully opened up and was weighted down with small cotton bags filled with ball bearings. Dry, mechanical cleaning was used to remove dirt, and was observed through a microscope or a magnifying lamp. The areas of surface dirt that were in big blank areas were dry cleaned using smoke sponge and grated vinyl eraser. Around the areas of writing, a small piece of eraser clamped in tweezers was used to clean around the words. This did end up leaving a halo effect (lighter around the writing) which resulted in testing the use of smoke sponge lightly over the ink to remove the dirt and lessen the halo effect. The ink remained intact, so this method was used on the rest of the writing too. The seal was given a light clean with a brush and museum vacuum. The seal repair residue was removed as much as possible without harming the parchment, with a cocktail stick and a dental pick. The threads were cleaned with a museum vacuum with netting over the nozzle, a smoke sponge was used to try and remove stubborn dirt but unfortunately this did not work. Wet cleaning was not an option due to the metal coating around some of the threads. The threads were relaxed by using a humidifier and preservation pencil, so they could be repositioned and loose threads could be tucked back in with a dental pick and tweezers.

Object after Treatment

Set of Model Train Carriages

Owner: Corinna Reeves

University of Lincoln number: 19/067

Objects prior to Treatment

These model train carriages are each from different sets and companies, but research shows they do appear to be all from the same period of 1930’s to the 1960’s. They are made from a variety of metals, the highest percentage being: Iron, Lead and Tin. When analysed using X-ray Fluorescence, some carriages even showed traces of Silver and Arsenic.

Condition before Treatment

All the carriages were in quite poor condition as they belong to a private owner who revealed they had been left in a box in a dirty coach house, and in a damp cupboard under the stairs for many years. This had caused them all to become very dirty which contained dead leaves, dead spiders and other insects and cobwebs. There was a few areas of paint loss on the carriages especially on one of the coal carriages. Surface corrosion had caused most flaking paint and paint loss. Some of the carriages had bent parts, especially the carriage links. They were also missing some parts, for example the passenger carriage was missing a wheel and an axel.

Conservation Treatment

All of the carriages were given a dry clean using brushes, a museum vacuum, smoke sponges, Groomstick and cocktail sticks to remove most of the dirt. Some wet cleaning treatments were tested, to remove stubborn surface dirt, but they were deemed too harmful to carry out as a treatment, as they would cause further corrosion to the carriages or remove paint and varnishes. However, distilled water was used to clean the plastic wheels on one of the carriages, as it was not harmful to them. Flaking paint was consolidated using Paraloid B67 30% in white spirit. Some of the bent parts of the carriages were bent back into place using manual strength and pliers. An axel was made for the passenger carriage using a small steel rod and a lathe, which was carried out by a technician at the university. A wheel was made by making a mould in delft clay using another wheel from the passenger carriage. Pewter was then used to cast the mould of the wheel, which was then tidied up using a coping saw and a file. The new wheel was painted black using enamel model paint and distressed with sandpaper, so that it looked similar to the other wheels on the train.

Objects after Treatment

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