I use archival, acid-free tape for repairs of tears, fold splits and
crossfold holes. (Lineco Document Repair Tape) It's thin, matte tissue paper
with adhesive, so it's practically invisible and removable should you need
to eventually have the poster linen-backed. I apply the tape to prevent
further damage and to improve its appearance from the front. If you have
say, a 1 inch tear in the border at the end of a fold line, without a repair
to reinforce the border, it's too easy to accidentally tear the fold line
even further into the art during normal handling.
Tape applied front or back (old or archival) should be disclosed in a sale.
Especially the old tapes, because they're full of acid and even though they
may not be bleeding through to the front today, there's a good chance they
will in future. I think the length and amount of applied tape is also
important to disclose, but a rough estimate should provide enough
information to the buyer. Over the years, I've received a few posters where
every fold line was completely covered in tape on the back, and this wasn't
disclosed by the seller--needless to say, I was very disappointed.
BTW, I would rather own an unrestored, unbacked poster that had archival
tape on the back (even relatively large amounts) than a completely flat,
linen-backed poster with no restoration. I'm one of those who prefers the
foldlines, since for posters pre-70s, this is part of their true character
and more accurately preserves how they were displayed in theaters back then.
Now, if the linen-backers could de-acidify and back posters, then fold the
linen to bring the fold lines back, I would consider that option!
-_David
on 7/16/08 4:51 AM, Bruce Hershenson at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I was perusing Sean's fine listings Sunday, and I placed a bunch of bids,
but lost them all (shouldn't I have won some since the economy is down?).
But I noticed that on one card Sean wrote, "It is completely unrestored" and
later noted, "There are two small tape repairs on the back".
This might have simply been a mistake on Sean's part (easy to make when
selling so much), but I wondered if he (and the rest of you) possibly don't
consider clear tape on the back of a card (which may well have been put
there decades ago) to be "restoration".
And (in the spirit of the great buyers premium debate), does it matter if
there is a single piece of tape, or many? Does the kind of tape used matter?
Does it matter if it has yellowed? Does it matter if it has bled through to
the front, even the littlest bit? Does it matter if it is brown paper tape,
which was not put for any restoration purpose (many exchanges and theaters
used to turn four cards of a lobby set in one direction and four in the
other direction and then use paper tape to hold all eight together, so that
two cards would each have two pieces of brown paper tape on the back).
And most importantly of all, does size matter (does it matter if the tape is
say, 6 inches or 9 inches in length)?
Bruce
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