[Nhcoll-l] Cleaning amber

Tue Jun 19 04:31:35 EDT 2012

Hi Rhian,

Several questions first: 
What colour is the oil / viscous fluid (also does it smell of mineral  oil)?
What sort of plastic were the vials and how long had the specimens bee  
stored in them?

With all good  wishes, Simon

Simon Moore MIScT, FLS, ACR,
Conservator of Natural  Sciences and Cutlery Historian,

_www.natural-history-conservation.com_ 
(http://www.natural-history-conservation.com/)  
_www.pocket-fruit-knives.info_ (http://www.pocket-fruit-knives.info/)  

_http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve_ 
(http://uk.linkedin.com/in/naturalsciencespecimenconserve)   

In a message dated 18/06/2012 22:09:00 GMT Daylight Time, janetw at rom.on.ca  
writes:

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.

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.

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. 

Grimaldi, David and Paul  Nascimbene.. “Appendix: Vacuum embedding and 
disintegration of the type of Sphecomyrma freyi.” 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. American Museum Novitates 3208  (1997):1-43. 
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. 
Thanks, 
Janet

Janet Waddington
Assistant Curator and Collection  Manager
Department of Natural History - Palaeobiology
Royal Ontario  Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
Canada M5S 2C6
Phone   (416) 586-5593  Fax  (416) 586-5553
Email   janetw at rom.on.ca>>> Rhian Russell <rhian.russell at gov.ab.ca>  
6/18/2012 3:50 PM >>>

Hey all, 
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.  
Has anyone experienced this, and have any idea how to clean  it off without 
damaging the amber? Should it even be removed? 
Cheers, 
Rhian  Russell 
Conservation Technician 
Royal  Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, 
Box  7500, Drumheller, Alberta T0J 0Y0 
Phone:  (403) 823 7707 Ext. 3306 
E-mail: _rhian.russell at gov.ab.ca_ (mailto:rhian.russell at gov.ab.ca)  

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