For your fav restoration detector..

[murph0]

I know someone was looking around for handy restoration detection kits. This light combo looks like it could be real handy.

 

Brian

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

That combo just looks like a blacklight with a flashlight on top...

 

I really have no idea how to look for restoration like color touches, tear seals, or the like. Is a blacklight all you need? If so, then why not just buy a blacklight bulb for less than a buck?

[Aces]

I got a black light at Wal-Mart for $12.99 + tax.

[seank]

That combo just looks like a blacklight with a flashlight on top...

 

I really have no idea how to look for restoration like color touches, tear seals, or the like. Is a blacklight all you need? If so, then why not just buy a blacklight bulb for less than a buck?

 

Check out the extensive thread on detecting restoration in the Grading and Restoration section. Lots of great information there.

[fantastic_four]

I got a black light at Wal-Mart for $12.99 + tax.

 

Try buying some acrylic paint, applying it to a cheapie comic, and shining your black light on it. If your light is like the Wal-Mart black light bulb I bought, the color touch won't look different than the rest of the art. I don't exactly know what the differences are amongst the different types of black lights, but I strongly suspect the frequency and wavelength of the light makes the difference and that some lamps have the right combinations of those two attributes and others don't. It is also my hypothesis that a lamp which allows you to control these two attributes by increasing or decreasing each of them might be the ideal restoration detection tool, but I could easily be wrong; I've not bought a lamp like that yet to experiment with it.

 

The person selling this black light is Tracey Heft, who is a conservation professional and, in my experience, a really great guy. I don't understand the part of the auction description which says the normal light on top "swivels a full 900 making this perfect for shining light through a suspected restored item". What is 900 a measure of? I would have expected this measurement to be in degrees, but 900 degrees means it can spin fully around somewhere between 2 and 3 times. Does it mean the top light can flip over and shine down on the same object the black light is illuminating? That sounds like more of a 90 degree flip to me; maybe he typed an extra 0 by mistake?

 

I'll ask him this question, along with info about what makes the two-in-one function truly useful, and post his response if it's a good one.

[joe_collector]

I don't understand the part of the auction description which says the normal light on top "swivels a full 900 making this perfect for shining light through a suspected restored item". What is 900 a measure of?

 

I assume it's 90 degrees, or a typo of 90º.

[Aces]

Try buying some acrylic paint, applying it to a cheapie comic, and shining your black light on it. If your light is like the Wal-Mart black light bulb I bought, the color touch won't look different than the rest of the art. I don't exactly know what the differences are amongst the different types of black lights, but I strongly suspect the frequency and wavelength of the light makes the difference and that some lamps have the right combinations of those two attributes and others don't. It is also my hypothesis that a lamp which allows you to control these two attributes by increasing or decreasing each of them might be the ideal restoration detection tool, but I could easily be wrong; I've not bought a lamp like that yet to experiment with it.

 

 

I better buy a cheap PLOD off eBay and test my light...

[FlComicFan]

the light he sells works quite well. You can spot color touch, japan paper, tear seals very easily Works best in very low light, most work will light up like a Christmas tree in low light

[fantastic_four]

I better buy a cheap PLOD off eBay and test my light...

 

I also bought one of those 3 or 4 foot long black lights that are meant for a similar, entertainment-related purpose to the bulb you bought...I bought it just to see how it did with restoration detection. It did nothing at all useful, but it's kinda fun to turn off all the lights sometimes and watch your socks and white clothes glow!

[DiceX]

I better buy a cheap PLOD off eBay and test my light...

 

I also bought one of those 3 or 4 foot long black lights that are meant for a similar, entertainment-related purpose to the bulb you bought...I bought it just to see how it did with restoration detection. It did nothing at all useful, but it's kinda fun to turn off all the lights sometimes and watch your socks and white clothes glow!

 

Your socks are restored?