Help, yellow spot stain on print

[AndreasT]

Hi,
need help.
I made a print send it to the US (I am in Germany) now there a yellow spot on the print.
Does anybody know what it could be. Or is there a way to get rid of it?

 

[AndreasT]

This is Ilford FB paper, wet mounted on aluminium. I suppose it is about 3-5 mm long.
I was thinking about trying to remove it with alcohol or distilled water.

 

[AndreasT]

Nobody?

 

[eddie]

I've seen similar when a print is dried, face down, on a contaminated screen. Usually, though, it will be a cross-hatch stain. Sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

[cliveh]

Try refixing it for longer and washing it for longer.

 

[MartinP]

Was the package opened by customs? It looks slightly like the mark from one of the "pens" containing a detector solution for some sort of contraband. There have been many instances of all sorts of innocent materials being soaked in solutions of a drug, dried out, shipped and then washed again to retrieve the illicit material.

Unfortunately, if that's the case, time to make another print I think.

 

[Ian Grant]

It's colloidal silver/sulphur issue and an artefact from inadequate fixing/washing. Books say treat with a Permanganate blech, but I think it's better to just reprint.

Ian

 

[AndreasT]

Thanks all, I can't reprint it.
It is in Georgia, USA and I am in Berlin. The print is 220x120cm large so nothing can be done quickly.
I am sure it was fixed well and washed well.
The restorers in the museum are checking into it.
For me it looks like a drop of coffee, like someone told me maybe the customs guy inspecting it was drinking coffee at the time.
That would actually be rather funny.

 

[hacked - sepiareverb]

Fixer perhaps? Hard to say. Kodak did some analysis of a print of mine that was showing staining/spots and tracked it down to iron. I investigated my darkroom and found a screw in a plumbing bracket that was rusting. I replaced the screw with a stainless one and never had the issue reappear. Could be rust in your water that day, could be improper handling, could be some fixer that splashed onto your squeegee and has stained. Could be something rusting in the paper factory or rust in their water. Impossible to know for sure without analysis of the actual stain.