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<DIV>Hi Rhian,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Several questions first: </DIV>
<DIV>What colour is the oil / viscous fluid (also does it smell of mineral
oil)?</DIV>
<DIV>What sort of plastic were the vials and how long had the specimens bee
stored in them?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">With all good
wishes, Simon<BR><BR>Simon Moore MIScT, FLS, ACR,<BR>Conservator of Natural
Sciences and Cutlery Historian,<BR><BR> <A href="http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/">www.natural-history-conservation.com</A> <BR><A href="http://www.pocket-fruit-knives.info/">www.pocket-fruit-knives.info</A> <BR><BR><A href="http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve">http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve</A>
<BR>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>In a message dated 18/06/2012 22:09:00 GMT Daylight Time, janetw@rom.on.ca
writes:</DIV>
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<DIV>If anyone has a solution I'd be very interested to see it. I'd be very
worried that anything that will dissolve mineral oil will also dissolve
amber.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We have a considerable collection of amber from Cedar Lake, Manitoba,
that has been stored for several decades in glass vials
in mineral oil. I guess it was initially done to prevent oxidation
of the amber. In a few cases the amber appears to be slowly
disintegrating, although these may have been transferred to a different
medium.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I am not aware of any safe way to clean the mineral oil without damaging
the amber, especially as it has probably penetrated tiny cracks.
This can be a problem when the specimens are studied. It is common
practice to embed amber in epoxy resin so that it can be oriented to study the
inclusions. Grimaldi 1997 recounts an incident in which the oil reacted
with the epoxy and destroyed a type specimen. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">Grimaldi, David and Paul
Nascimbene.. “Appendix: Vacuum embedding and disintegration of the type of <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">Sphecomyrma freyi</I>.” In “New and
rediscovered primitive ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Cretaceous amber from
New Jersey, and their phylogenetic relationships,” by David Grimaldi, Donat
Agosti, And James M. Carpenter, 41-43. <I style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">American Museum Novitates</I> 3208
(1997):1-43.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">I have heard other
anecdotal accounts of epoxy resins reacting exothermically with silicone oil.
While one or two of our old specimens have been successfully embedded for
restudy, I would not allow the practice again, given this knowledge, if there
is any possibly it was ever stored in mineral oil.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">Thanks,</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ideograph-numeric" class=MsoNormal><FONT size=3 face="Times New Roman">Janet</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Janet Waddington<BR>Assistant Curator and Collection
Manager<BR>Department of Natural History - Palaeobiology<BR>Royal Ontario
Museum<BR>100 Queen's Park<BR>Toronto, ON<BR>Canada M5S 2C6<BR>Phone
(416) 586-5593 Fax (416) 586-5553<BR>Email
janetw@rom.on.ca>>> Rhian Russell <rhian.russell@gov.ab.ca>
6/18/2012 3:50 PM >>><BR></DIV>
<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal>Hey all,</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>We have some amber in our collection that was stored in
vials and immersed in some sort of oily liquid. We were thinking it may be
mineral oil? Whatever it is, it seems to have eaten through some of the
plastic vials, and it’s quite messy. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Has anyone experienced this, and have any idea how to clean
it off without damaging the amber? Should it even be removed?</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Cheers,</P>
<P class=MsoNormal> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang=EN-CA>Rhian
Russell</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" lang=EN-CA></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang=EN-CA>Conservation Technician</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" lang=EN-CA></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang=EN-CA>Royal
Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology,</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" lang=EN-CA></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang=EN-CA>Box
7500, Drumheller, Alberta T0J 0Y0</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" lang=EN-CA></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang=EN-CA>Phone:
(403) 823 7707 Ext. 3306</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" lang=EN-CA></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt" lang=EN-CA>E-mail: <A title=mailto:rhian.russell@gov.ab.ca href="mailto:rhian.russell@gov.ab.ca"><SPAN style="COLOR: blue">rhian.russell@gov.ab.ca</SPAN></A></SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt" lang=EN-CA></SPAN></P>
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