Coating brass mounts

[Benjamin Peters <bpeters@berkeley.edu>]

Hello,

What are people's thoughts and knowledge about the need to coat brass 
mounts.   For our last exhibit we decided to leave all our brass mounts 
their natural brass color rather than painting them with acrylics.  There 
was no direct contact between the mount and the artifacts.  We always use a 
barrier of either Polyolefin tubing, felt or Volara.  However, some people 
have expressed the concern that the mounts should still have at least been 
sealed with a clear coat of something like B-72.  Our thought had been that 
the reason we were using brass is for its high corrosion resistance and 
besides it darkening slightly from when it was first made it would pose no 
threat to the artifact.

We would like to continue to not have to paint the mounts if possible.  Any 
light on the subject would be helpful.

Thank you,
Ben




Benjamin Peters
Principal Museum Preparator
Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology
bpeters@berkeley.edu
510-643-1191 ext. 2
http://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu