Research on Corrosion of Lead Printing Letters from the Museum Plantin-Moretus, Antwerp

A number of lead alloyed printing letters in the collection of the Museum Plantin-Moretus show corrosion problems. A research project was set up to tackle the reasons for the corrosion issues. This first phase of the project was designed to evaluate a number of facts which can be related to the metal problems and to evaluate how and which analytical techniques are the most appropriate to perform sequel research. Microscopy, XRF, SEM-EDX, XRD and electrolytic techniques were used in combination with an adapted Oddy test. Corrosion with an exceptional high volume increase is reported on lead-antimony alloys.