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  Conserving John Young flown artifact displays

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Author Topic:   Conserving John Young flown artifact displays
SpaceAholic
Member

Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-11-2011 04:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In previous auctions, I've seen several framed John Young flown artifact presentations which all seem to have the same design - a black frame and gold background. One of these displays recently added to my collection, a group of items flown aboard Gemini 3 was initially offered as Heritage Lot 41097 during its April 2009 auction.

The display includes a couple of mechanical pencils, an Omega watch strap, compass, as yet unidentified plastic components and an unflown mission patch. It appears John Young (or an individual directly connected with him) assembled these displays.

The purpose of this entry is to alert other owners of the displays to issues with materials utilized to construct these presentations and (publicly) document my alterations for the the benefit of others in the cS community who may subsequently acquire this item and to support continuity of provenance.

Major concerns upon receipt - masking tape utilized to hold the backing to the frame, the gold felt matting was heavily out-gassing, artifacts were affixed to the matting with acidic adhesive and the glass was non-UV protective.

In addition (as can be seen in the second image), John Young's certification of flown status was on the back of the frame.

To prevent acidic damage to the textiles (i.e. mechanical pencil wrappings, patch) it was necessary to migrate the artifacts to a new home using archival grade materials (shown in third image). In the process, the John Young signature was brought forward and the watch strap was repositioned to reveal its unique Gemini part and serial number.

manilajim
Member

Posts: 256
From: Bergenfield, NJ USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 06-11-2011 04:52 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for manilajim   Click Here to Email manilajim     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Scott, your display looks very nice and should last much longer now. Great job.

Charlie16
Member

Posts: 494
From: Italy
Registered: Dec 2010

posted 06-11-2011 05:06 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Charlie16   Click Here to Email Charlie16     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great Scott.

rjurek349
Member

Posts: 1190
From: Northwest Indiana
Registered: Jan 2002

posted 06-11-2011 06:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for rjurek349   Click Here to Email rjurek349     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Scott -- well done. Nice color choice, too. That Omega strap is the closest anyone will probably get to owning a space flown Omega!

(I like that Eisele pen, too!)

freshspot
unregistered
posted 06-12-2011 01:36 AM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Excellent work Scott. I didn't know you were interested in these sorts small of astronaut-owned items!? I always thought you were exclusively a major hardware collector.

David Scott (not the astronaut)
www.apolloartifacts.com

SpaceAholic
Member

Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-12-2011 07:26 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by rjurek349:
Nice color choice, too. That Omega strap is the closest anyone will probably get to owning a space flown Omega!
First Omega's officially flown - right? Plus the strap comes with an added bonus of Young's sweat residue on the back for DNA certification.

MrSpace86
Member

Posts: 1618
From: Gardner, KS, USA
Registered: Feb 2003

posted 06-12-2011 09:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MrSpace86   Click Here to Email MrSpace86     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I really like what you did. Good job!

SkyMan1958
Member

Posts: 867
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 06-12-2011 01:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SkyMan1958   Click Here to Email SkyMan1958     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Excellent job! It's nice to see people taking care of these historic items.

The closest I've done to something like this is I purchased an Apollo 11 flown flag (ex: Buzz Aldrin). It was attached to a presentation soft cardboard item (here's a pic).

I noticed that the adhesive was some cheap two sided tape that was discoloring the flag. I contacted the De Young museum (a well known museum in San Francisco) and talked to their conservation department. They recommended a person in the Bay Area and that person removed the adhesive (both on the flag and the soft cardboard). She then re-hung the flag to the page using conservation techniques. After that I had the item framed using museum quality material.

Gilbert
Member

Posts: 1328
From: Carrollton, GA USA
Registered: Jan 2003

posted 06-12-2011 05:53 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Gilbert   Click Here to Email Gilbert     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Very nice, SkyMan.

freshspot
unregistered
posted 06-12-2011 06:39 PM           Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Ha. I wish I had a DSKY.

space1
Member

Posts: 853
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 06-15-2011 06:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for space1   Click Here to Email space1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
These look great. It's a good idea posting the documentation of the restoration work done. This will minimize any questions about the items in the future.

Philip
Member

Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 06-20-2011 10:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice display and a superb job Scott!!!

SkyMan1958
Member

Posts: 867
From: CA.
Registered: Jan 2011

posted 06-20-2011 01:55 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SkyMan1958   Click Here to Email SkyMan1958     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I just posted some "after" pics of the Apollo 11 flag (and a similarly conserved STS-1 flag) to this thread.

Again, I'd like to congratulate Scott on taking such good care of the Young items and preserving them for posterity.

All times are CT (US)

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