[Nhcoll-l] Green bird skeleton

[Fabian Neisskenwirth]

Dear Jessica,

John's thought is pretty much the most plausible cause. Brass wires 
(containing copper) were used very commonly to suspend specimen or glass 
plates for mounts. It is actually quite common to find greenish stained 
specimen in different collections. This alteration is pretty much 
irreversible. In some way it also is a very interesting effect, since in 
whole specimens, only the bone and some fatty tissue is stained. In this 
sense it actually works a a great staining method. Even though I think 
that in most of the cases the staining is accidental.

Interesting tough, is that i've noticed that most of the older specimens 
that still are containing brass wires for mounting that is not corroded 
and therefore staining the specimens, are specimen preserved in high 
percentage ethanol solutions (very little water content). This could 
eventually help to know in what kind of preservation fluid it was kept 
in. Off course this is no certainty, but maybe some help for the 
documentation.

I really don't think that this has something to do with the mentioned 
arsenic based green pigment. This is more of an issue found on paper 
materials that were colored with this kind of pigments (Wallpaper, 
Books, Furniture, etc.). Besides that based from the time you told that 
the specimen was made, it was not a very common pigment used (it was 
banned in Germany for wallpapers use already in 1878). So you would find 
this mostly in object from the 19th century and not after.

Here is a good source about this pigment (in German, but you can use 
some translation tool): 
https://materialarchiv.ch/de/ma:material_954?type=all


Hope this solves the mystery!


All the best,



Am 24.09.25 um 20:57 schrieb John E Simmons:
> Jessica,
> Although arsenic exposure is a possibility, I think it is far more 
> likely that the fluid specimen was stored in a copper container. I 
> have seen the same color green in anuran skeletons stored in copper 
> containers. There were a number of substances added to fluid 
> preservatives that stained specimens green (e.g., alum).
>
> If you know anyone who has an arsenic test kit you could probably 
> confirm whether it is arsenic green. The test kits are relatively easy 
> to use.
>
> --John
>
> John E. Simmons
> Writer and Museum Consultant
> Museologica
> /and/
> Research Associate, Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery
> Penn State University
> /and/
> Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
> Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM Tir, Jessica K <jessica.tir at wsu.edu> 
> wrote:
>
>     Hi all,
>
>     There is a mint green razorbill skeleton in our collection. The
>     particular shade of green reminds me of arsenic-based pigments
>     like Paris/Scheele's green. I’m wondering if any of you have
>     encountered a green skeleton like this or have guesses about what
>     happened here?
>
>     This bird was collected in 1951 and preserved in fluid until 1968
>     when it was converted to a skeleton. I don’t have any other
>     information about what chemicals or treatments were applied to the
>     specimen.
>
>     Thoughts?
>
>     Best,
>     Jess
>
>     *Washington State University Logo: W, S, U, letters create a
>     cougar head.*
>
>     	
>
>     *Jessica Tir *(she/her)
>
>     Curator
>
>     Charles R. Conner Museum
>
>     School of Biological Sciences
>
>     Washington State University
>
>     Office: 509-335-3515
>
>     Email: _jessica.tir at wsu.edu_
>
>     _Conner Museum Website <https://sbs.wsu.edu/conner-museum/>_
>
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-- 
*Fabian Neisskenwirth*
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