Re: The Vinland Map's Ink

On Sun, 03 Apr 2005 21:32:48 -0500, Tom McDonald
<tmcdonald2672@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

>Eric Stevens wrote:
>> On Mon, 4 Apr 2005 01:06:48 +0200, "Alaca" <P.Alaca@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Steve Marcus wrote: nMZ3e.74333$7z6.33400@lakeread04,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>3) Properly formulated iron gall ink will darken to an extent even
>>>>before applied to the substrate. See the quotation above from the
>>>>linked source.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Some days ago I quoted this:
>>>"" Oak gall ink takes time to reach its optimum state.
>>> Over the course of six months, this ink will gradually
>>> darken.
>>> It continues to darken after applied to vellum
>>> or paper, and may appear faint when first applied. ""
>>>http://tinyurl.com/5lqw3 (manuscriptarts.net)
>>
>>
>> Which is why, if the VM was originally drawn with faulty ink, the
>> scribe may not have known that the ink was faulty for several days.
>
> Which lands us in the re-inking situation you have been talking
>about as being difficult to the point of impossibility.

First, it is doing it undetectably which I regard as next to
impossible.

Second, that has been reinked is only a hypothesis. Another
possibility is that a yet as unidentified ink was used which separated
into two phases on the paper. The first phase left the yellow
(possibly gelatin based) stain in the paper and the second formed a
black layer on top. The black layer was improperly fused to the lower
layer and has since flaked away. This is not an altogether unknown
behaviour for carbon based inks.

Before you say that the two-phase deposit is ridiculous you should
remember that this is exactly what McCrone suggested to explain the
presence of the anatase, except that he hypothesised a modern
UV-setting printing ink which had never been set. I believe the recent
identification of what isn't in the black pigment now makes McCrone's
particular suggestion improbable.



Eric Stevens

.

Relevant Pages

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