Firemarks

Anna Stone <anna_stone [at] cgnu__net> writes

>I wonder if anyone out there can advise me on the best care for
>firemarks. These were signs put on buildings by insurance companies
>to indicate whether or not the owners were insured by them.

Your firemarks could be stored in transparent barrier envelopes with
an oxygen scavenger. This would prevent further deterioration
without the need for vaseline.

If you do remove them from their mounts, you could store them with a
combination oxygen and moisture scavenger (RP -A). If you choose to
keep them mounted, a moisture neutral oxygen scavenger could be
safely used.

Firemarks represent an interesting moment in insurance history: When
a building caught fire, fire crews from various insurance companies
would rush to the blaze, but only the crew belonging to the company
insuring the building would bother to put the flames out. (Hence the
importance of prominently showing the firemark) The other crews
would watch idly, or perhaps they used this opportunity to sell
policies to the neighbors.

Jerry Shiner
Keepsafe Systems
Micro-climate and Oxygen-free storage for Professional Conservators
800-683-4696
Fax: 416-703-5991


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 14:34
               Distributed: Wednesday, December 20, 2000
                       Message Id: cdl-14-34-001
                                  ***