Thursday, October 21, 2010

Selecting for the Accession

My sister Jamie and I selected approximately 80 items from the June and Art collection to bring to the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts to get a professional opinion on their condition.

At the Conservation Center, we call it an "accession" when a client brings material to the Center for a preliminary examination.  You schedule these sessions in advance via a phone call.  I scheduled a week in advance of my accession.

Accessions usually result in either 1) recommendations on how to care for the items or 2) leaving the items for the conservators to prepare a full condition report, treatment plan,
and cost estimate.  At the Conservation Center, the cost for a condition report/treatment plan for one item (or several items if they can be grouped) is $100.

The night before the accession, my sister and I combed through the June and Art material looking for items that were either of particular personal value to us or that appeared to be in unusually fragile condition.  The items we selected included art on tissue paper, pencil sketches, charcoal drawings, watercolors, photos of all kinds, and one of the love letters.

© 2010 Lee Price

1 comment:

  1. Sandra Simmons-HerronOctober 31, 2010 at 12:37 AM

    This was so exciting for me to see. I grew up in Southampton, NY, on Halsey Avenue, down the street from your parents store, Art's Market. I made a lot of visits to that store buying candy, ice cream, 25 cents worth of spice ham and those ever famous hero sandwiches to name a few. Didn't recognize your mothers photo, but that picture of your Dad, very distinctive. I recognized him the minute I saw him. So happy you have those letters, now that both of your parents are deceased. Those are Priceless! No pun intended. Haven't seen you, nor your sister, probably since your teen years. All I can say is WOW!!!

    ReplyDelete