The Framers Forum

Hi,

So I've had an old frame in for re-mounting. (20 odd years old)

Its a large photo -24" x 32" drymounted in some fashion (I never fully opened the sandwich)

When I took off the backing board there were some beads of mercury in the frame rebate and appeared to be more inside the mount/glass sandwich.
I resealed the frame and popped it in a plastic bag, awaiting client to phone me back.

Has anyone come across this before ?

Any advise/info on how this may of happened ?

many thanks

Stephen

Somebody broke a thermometer into the picture (or indeed there are all sorts of other applications whence it may have come)? It's only twenty years old, it's not as though it was framed in the dark ages.

Maybe the frame was just one of those Terminator (hiding in plain sight) things we hear about, was the client called Sarah?

I've heard bad things about mercury, like not very good for you, health and safety isuues and all that. Years ago people used to handle the stuff with their bare hands as no one knew about the dangers then, but that's supposed to be a forbidden thing these days. Personally I would not be keen to have much to do with this frame just in case mercury is as nasty as I have heard.

Mercury was once used to make mirrors. I have opened several in the past from the late 18th - the early 19th century that had small droplets of mercury in the bottom rails. I put on nitrile gloves and removed the mercury.

http://www.conservation-wiki.com/wiki/T ... am_Mirrors