Restoring Old Paper Money?

I recently purchased a bulk lot of notes and there were a couple of old 1800's treasury bonds in with them. These notes are fairly brittle and in fact, the edges have started to crumble away as if they were burned.

Is there anyway to condition them to prevent them from crumbing away entirely?

 

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I for one would be very interested in seeing the Bonds. I do not know for sure, but one would think that the paper used to make bonds may differ than that of banknotes. If anyone knows for sure, please chime in.
It is my understanding that there is a reference known as "The American Bond Detector" but I have no idea of how to get a copy or where it may be available from.

 

I would be extremely careful with these as the could vanish before your vary eyes, best
Advice is to handle them with care and try and put them in a protective covering and
Leave them alone!

 

DITTO !!!!! protect and leave them alone,only if it is acid paper that can be stopped from decoration by a professional paper conserver ,and only knowing the value measured against the price of conservation will determine that.

 

I'll try to take a couple of pics over the weekend and post them. I believe they are both dated 1887 and are state specific. One is a Mississippi bond.

I received an envelope containing around 20 notes and found some small pieces of paper that crumbled off the edges of these two notes/bonds. I'm really hoping to stop them from crumbing further.

 

They're ultimately bound for mylar sleeves, but I'm really worried they'll just crumble away if I simply store and leave them. They are very, very dry and/or possibly fire damaged.

As I mentioned in another post, I'll post a couple of pics and see if they are worth the cost of getting them professionally restored.

 

Cant wait to see them. I would do a search on paper types used to produce US Bonds of that time era.
Mylar will be your best bet until you can get additional information. Check with you local museum's archiving and conservation folks.

 

If you contact the following, they'll give you a list of conservators in your area, if your notes are deemed collectible/valuable:

The Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation (FAIC)
1156 15th Street, NW, Suite 320
Washington, D.C. 20005-1714
Telephone (202) 452-9545
FAX (202) 452-9328
E-mail: info@aic-faic.org
WWW: http://aic.stanford.edu/

 

That is some wonderful information. Thank you very much for sharing this with us.
I wonder if they have any publications for sale?

 

I don't know off hand. But it might be worth contacting them. If they don't they might be able to lead you in the right direction.

When I was with the museum, paper was one of the most delicate, most fragile items to handle. My job was to photograph and document them and a lot of the time, I couldn't even remove the document from it's box because it would crumble into dust. All paper was photographed or copied just to keep a record of it's existence. I've seen books' pages dissolve into nothing.

 

Thanks for the info. Would they have information on Canadian resources as well?

 

We kicked this topic around a little in these threads you might like to read through for ideas:

Cleaning/Conserving Paper Banknotes

and

$5 Gov. of Texas (real or fake)

 

There is a contact icon on this page so you can find out what conservator is closest to you. My guess would be Ottawa or Toronto:

http://www.cac-accr.ca/english/arg_04.asp

 

Aslanmia:

You may also find further resources on (general) paper conservation, archival methods of storage and care and those professionals who may be able to help you -or- help you find professionals in your vicintiy via the list serv at Philobiblon.com(free email subscription)

 

Thanks for the links krispy... I'll check them out!

 

Here are the notes, folks. Like I said... they're in hard shape.

 

Yowsa! Those are pretty far gone... probably need some serious deacidification treatment, if that would even be of any help... not sure what can be done beside gingerly placing them in acid-free papers that can (very slowly over many years) help pull some of the acid out of those notes. Looks like bug holes and various kinds of foxing issues going on too. I'm curious if the time, effort and expense to restore them isn't even worth it and the money better spent on acquiring more stable condition pieces instead...

 

Told ya.

I don't really collect any notes, but I got these on the cheap in a bulk lot. I was after a couple of Brazilian notes, and didn't even realize these were in the batch until I opened the envelope.

I don't have any idea of their value, especially in this condition, but unless someone comes back with some additional info I'll probably take your advice.

Thanks!

 

Well, if someone else can verify their authenticity they are worth preserving in some fashion, but I'd keep them apart from other delicate collectibles and papers in this current condition. They look very brittle. If so, I'd avoid handling them and keep them out of the light. Hope someone else can help you out more. Good luck with them.

 

Actually, I'm pretty sure these are replicas.

I found a site with an actual Mississippi note, and there is no red in my note.



Plus, both notes appear on this list.