Red rot in historic leather

摘要

Acid-deterioration (commonly known as red-rot in leather) occurs in vegetable tanned leathers that were predominantly manufactured from the mid-19th Century onwards1, and is observed in a variety of historic leather artefacts, such as bookbinding leather, gilt leather, screens, wall hangings, upholstery and luggage. Acid-deteriorated leathers are acidic (pH>3.0)2 and show a lower shrinkage temperature {Ts), which may be as low as 30°C3. The visible changes in the deteriorated leather usually include fine cracking, a powdery surface with complete or partial loss of the grain layer (shown in Figure 1).