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<p>[QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 2083611, member: 5833"]Marble is metamorphic limestone, so calcium carbonate based. (Geologists only apply the word 'alabaster' to the softer, gypsum-related material, not to the harder calcite type.) Under the right conditions it can develop an incrustation similar to the '<a href="https://cameotimes.com/index.php/reference/byne-s-disease" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://cameotimes.com/index.php/reference/byne-s-disease" rel="nofollow">Byne's Disease</a>' that can afflict sea- & eggshells.</p><p><br /></p><p>As the V&A article starts by saying, you have to decide the importance of the object & your own priorities before starting a cleaning treatment. Museum conservators are responsible for preserving items for generations to come; they don't like to lose a single molecule of something, so favor very conservative methods. There may not have been any overt bubbling, but an application of acetic acid & salt probably did the job by removing some of the marble too. I had a degree of success when I tried baking soda toothpaste on some patches of my sculpture, rubbed in with a finger, removed with a damp sponge. She's now under a loosely fitting dry cleaner bag to prevent picking up any further grunge.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don't know if she's looking at non-urgent e-mail right now, but Holly Trusted at the V&A has been very kind & generous to me. She would be someone to ask about any possible historical importance of these pieces.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Bronwen, post: 2083611, member: 5833"]Marble is metamorphic limestone, so calcium carbonate based. (Geologists only apply the word 'alabaster' to the softer, gypsum-related material, not to the harder calcite type.) Under the right conditions it can develop an incrustation similar to the '[URL='https://cameotimes.com/index.php/reference/byne-s-disease']Byne's Disease[/URL]' that can afflict sea- & eggshells. As the V&A article starts by saying, you have to decide the importance of the object & your own priorities before starting a cleaning treatment. Museum conservators are responsible for preserving items for generations to come; they don't like to lose a single molecule of something, so favor very conservative methods. There may not have been any overt bubbling, but an application of acetic acid & salt probably did the job by removing some of the marble too. I had a degree of success when I tried baking soda toothpaste on some patches of my sculpture, rubbed in with a finger, removed with a damp sponge. She's now under a loosely fitting dry cleaner bag to prevent picking up any further grunge. I don't know if she's looking at non-urgent e-mail right now, but Holly Trusted at the V&A has been very kind & generous to me. She would be someone to ask about any possible historical importance of these pieces.[/QUOTE]
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