Warning To All Collectors-Please Read-Very Important Info

[Steve Valentine]

Hey guys, I don't how many of you have collections of Bone and Shell items but if you do you need to heed this warning.

If you have Bone and Shell items in trays using the colored foam backing that comes in all different colors then get them out of there ASAP. I just found out the hard way that this foam eventually starts to deteriorate and as it does it adheres itself to the Bone and Shell artifacts. I was going to rearrange one of my older trays of Ft Ancient pieces from a site I haven't been able to hunt since 1996 because of a change in ownership and as I was trying to take things out to rearrange them the foam was ripping and coming up with the artifacts. I haven't taken everything out so far so I really don't know the extent of the damage and I hope beyond all hope that this stuff comes off these pieces without damaging them. I'm not sure about how it reacts with flint items, but I am going to check all of those trays as well and see how they look. I bought some nice red material from WalMart and I am going to change out the foam in every tray that has any Bone or Shell items and everyone else should do the same before this happens to you.

This is the tray I'm refering too and as you can see there are some really nice pieces in there. Wish me luck. I hope everything is okay. I would be seriously bummed if any of these peices are permanently damaged.

Steve if it doesnt come off just send them to me so you dont have to throw them away. Hopefully they will be alright.

[Steve Valentine]

Good news. I managed to get everything out of the tray and get all of the foam off of all the pieces, but it was definitely stuck to them pretty good. It took me almost 2 hours to get everything out, cleaned off, and then back in the tray with the red material. I guess I'll have to go through all my trays and do this, but seeing how this the first tray of Bone and Shell I ever put together in the early 90's the others probably and hopefully won't be as bad.

Seriously though, if you have Bone and Shell displayed on any of the foam that goes in these trays then remove it immediately or you will end up with the same problem I just had.

[Bobby]

Steve glad everything turned out alright. I would hate to see those great artifacts ruined after being recovered and taken care of.
My cases have foam in them but they also have felt over the foam and I have never had that problem. I also rotate my points on a regular basis because every time I get back from digging I always put the better (if I find one that is) in a certain frame and what comes out may go in a different frame. Besides I like to handle my points quite often.
Thanks for the warning though ,I am sure there are others that are making the same mistake.

[Mud Hawk]

Wow Steve, what a nightmare! Glad nothing was damaged although I am sure the extra work was no fun AT ALL. You think moisture slowly settled in and made the bone adhere to the foam?

[Marshall Ellis]

What did you use to clean the foam off. I had the same problem with some equipment here at work and we used tap water and it amazingly cleaned right up. We all need to know what you used. Thanks

[Mud Hawk]

I was just thinking along the "Is it bone?" relic test which usually involves sticking your tongue on it and if it kinda sticks, it's bone. I would imagine distilled water would be the safest way to go to avoid any of the minerals/chlorine found in tap water.

[DesertWalker]

I have had that happen with foam with some of my military relics. The foam breaks down after a period of time.

[rmartin]

I'm glad everything came out okay. Now there will be a shortage of red felt if you change 'em all, Ray

[Steve Valentine]

Thanks guys. I was really worried about these pieces last night. It seemed to stick to the Bone and Antler pieces worse than the Shell. As far as how I got it off, it basically just came right off by rubbing it lighlty with my fingers. I didn't have to use anything else.

Also, just to clear something up, I'm not referring to the thick pieces of foam that come with the trays to hold things in tight. It's the thin pieces of the colored foam that is used for a background color. I have always used the red but will from now on buy the red felt like material from Wally World and use that instead. I checked some trays today that had Flint pieces only and they don't seem to be doing this, at least not yet. Some of these have had this foam in there longer than that tray pictured above so maybe it's just the Bone and Shell itmes that cause this to happen. I'm still going to try to replace them all, but it's going to take a while since I have well over 100 trays.