Condition reporting

A condition report is a short, dated statement of what the specimen looks like now: stable or not, what cracks and fills exist, where the restoration is, any active decay, and photographs that show it. Museums make one on every loan in and out; dealers make one on every consignment; collectors should make one at acquisition and on inspection.

The vocabulary is small. State: stable, at risk, active deterioration. Structure: intact, repaired (where), restored (where, what percentage), composite. Surface: original, consolidated (what), coated, polished. Risks: pyrite, Byne's, salt efflorescence, flaking consolidant, light-sensitive (amber, some minerals), friable. Each note is one line and a photograph.

Photograph under the same light each time — a flat, even set-up and a raking-light set-up — with the scale bar and the accession number in frame. Consistency is what makes the sequence readable.

Inspect on a schedule: pyrite and marcasite twice a year, shells in wooden storage once a year, everything else on a rotation. The Condition card on the record holds the state, the risks and the last-inspected date, and the Needs attention shelf lists what is overdue.

When a specimen goes out — loan, consignment, sale, shipping — the report and its photographs go with it and a copy stays. Carriers and insurers settle on the difference between the report before and the report after.