What to do about people touching photos?

Was just at a flea market and bought an amazingly old cabinet photo of a sightseeing vehicle in my local city! No pictures yet but the person I bought it from was touching the actual photograph with their fingers! Several times actually, so my question is should I wipe the photo off with say a cotton ball? Or what?

 

Are you concerned about germs or smudges?

 

yes...soft cloth.....

 

finger oils....of fried chicken......or unsanitary bathroom practices...

 

Finger print smudges from oil that develop over time! It happens and I have seen many on old images...

 

I think a better answer for the finger oil concern would come from @Figtree3 . But I'm pretty sure she is away from home this week, so don't know if she will be able to see this question before she gets home.

 

or our new photog..... @Vintage Maven ......
but she's under the weather right now.....

 

See-through envelopes. They can handle the plastic all they want. That's how I often see anything good sold.

 

Yes, I am most certainly under the weather. I just awoke, and decided to log in. Do a digital scan of your old photo always (A good back-up). From all I know about Cabinet Card Photos, gently brushing them off with a super soft brush (ie: Camera lens brush), if you do this though, test on a small corner to see if you have any sort of brush streak, stop immediately if you do. If this photo is very valuable either fiduciary or personal, please take it to a photo restoration specialty through a local camera shop or more higher end photo processing shop. I hope this is helpful, now I must go and rest. ❤️Maven

 

I just bought a book titled "Preserving Your Family Photographs" from Gaylord Archival Supplies, to help residents who come to our local history museum with simple questions about that topic. Page 67 states: "Handling prints and negatives without gloves allows a thin layer of oils to build up on the surface. This moisture attracts dust and adheres to the surface...If your contemporary prints have been handled without gloves, gently clean off the surface using a lint free soft cloth."

The bibliography in the book lists a reference titled Fingerprints on Photographs, which will tell you more than you will want to know about the potential damage from the fingerprints on your photograph, but not much about cleaning them off the photograph.

 

I'm making things up. Do they still make that very thin paper that came in little sheets & is meant to carry with you to blot the shine off your nose? You just press it down, don't wipe, & it does suck up oil.

Corn starch allowed to sit a while, maybe very gently rubbed in, removed with Maven's very soft brush?

Neither method would sanitize it, but might mitigate the grime accumulation skin oils invite. Cameos get grubby the same way. Some are so bad, people must have been pressing them to their nose.

 

Finger oils....soft cloth...........& I didn't even need to read no book !!

 

Yes they do.

https://www.google.com/search?sourc...Fd98KHdl1AOoQ4dUDCAs&uact=5#spf=1581264627920

 

the problem isn't limited to grease/oil but also a problem of the acid that is in our natural sweat.

 

Hi, @spartcom5 -- You can be assured that many many people touched the photo before the dealer did. Cabinet photos are well over 100 years old.

I never clean the photos in my collection, although if you use information from a professional and reputable source, you could try it. I just try to preserve them for the present and future.

 

Thanks, @Bakersgma . You are correct, I was out of town last week. And then on the way back on Sunday, Chicago was struck by a storm. It turned out to not be a big deal type of storm but my flight was cancelled and I got home yesterday (Monday) about this time.

 

Glad you got home safe and sound, Fig!

 

Thank you, Bakersgma!