6 CONCLUSION

THESE INITIAL RESULTS demonstrate the potential use of Laue back reflection X-ray diffraction in identifying electroformed microstructure. A further study comparing Laue patterns from cast and struck medals with reference to crystallographic orientation and grain deformation should help distinguish these methods of fabrication as well. With the current research at the Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Fogg Art Museum and the Technical Laboratory at the Freer Gallery of Art, this technique will no doubt find broader acceptance to the study of metallic works of art.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THIS RESEARCH WAS undertaken at the Center for Conservation and Technical Studies at the Fogg Art Museum, and supported by a grant from the National Museum Act. I would like to express gratitude to Eugene Farrell, Senior Conservation Scientist, and Arthur Beale, Director, of the Center for Conservation and Technical Studies for their continuous help with this project. Additional information was provided by Merton Fleming, Chairman of the Department of Material Science and Engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Lambertus van Zelst, Director, and Joan Mishara, Conservation Scientist, of the Conservation Analytical Laboratory of the Smithsonian Institution. I am grateful to David Farmer, Director of the University Museum at the University of California, Santa Barbara, for providing me the opportunity to examine the medals and plaquettes of the Sigmund Morgenroth Collection. I would also like to thank John Gebhart, Conservation Photographer of the Conservation Center at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, for reproducing the photographs included in this article.