Old prints

Fellow Apuggers,
I have a load of old prints made back in the '70s. They were less than perfectly fixed and washed but have (so far) kept in good condition. Is it wise after all these years to attempt re-fixing and rewashing (hypo clear etc) and will this extend their life. Are there any precautions I should take. Many thanks, BLIGHTY

You don't say if they are fibre based but I guess they are. If they have lasted well so far then a quick refix, wash and selenium toning will help extend their life. But only the images that are really worth keeping, and do a quick test on a couple of images you'd discard first.

Back in the 70's I did a lot of remedial work on very seriously deteriorating silver gelatin images dating back to the very early 1900's, talking mold & viscous emulsion in the worst cases, as long as your careful further deterioration can be halted or rather postponed . . .

Ian

Thanks Ian,
They are indeed FB prints. Mainly Kodak Bromide and Bromesko (remember that!).

Usually modern conservation work tries to avoid wet processing on old materials. If there are plenty of unimportant images to discard, you can test your refix, toning and washing process. But be prepared to see unpredictable hue shift in the image, as the reaction of the toner depends on the paper emulsion and how the image was developed first.

If all these sound too much work, you can make duplication prints (perhaps digitally) for display and keep the original in low humidity dark storage. If the humidity is kept low, a bit of residual fixer does not do as much harm.

Another option is Fuji AG Guard. It may not be sold in your area, but it is an excellent image protecting agent like polysulfide toners and gold toners.