New Post: "I Do Listen to the Experts. Do YOU?"

[proto57]

fresh ink can look old if it is skillfully discolored.

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Yes! Here are a couple of points, which I am not sure were mentioned:

1) It has been suggested that the faded yellow ink may be of organic origins, and therefore could be C14 dated. Unlikely, though, that there would be enough. Also, it could have been added later... so if that ink were old, it proves old; but if new, doesn't prove new.

2) According to McCrone's analysis, the binder used over the ink was "not in [their] library". That is, they could NOT identify it. It was not Gum Arabic. They suggested it be further tested, and I agree.

Well, it is a far longer discussion about all this, but, in effect, I think myself and many others would hope for many more tests that could be performed... further C14, further spectrographic, multi-spectral, DNA even. But money, and concerns of damage, all valid, make this difficult and unlikely... for the time being.

Rich