This March we undertook an interesting commission for the HSBC banking museum.
This involved the conservation of a collection of banknote printing plates including a plate for a hundred pound note. In addition to these we also treated safe badges and bank signage. The banknote plates were coated in degraded waxes and had areas of tarnish build up and as a result were very disfigured and difficult to read. After the removal of degraded coatings and cleaning with gels, the fine detail of the engraving was made legible by the addition of lamp black pigment bound in micro-crystalline wax.
After treatment the plates became rather lovely objects in their own right as well as a tangible record of bygone banking!
