I am sure no one got up this morning and asked themselves how do you carry out non-destructive analysis on a rare and fragile material? The conservation specialists in the Te Papa Collection Care Practice team have.

They are now the proud owners of a Bruker Tracer 5g XRF or X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. This is a handheld and portable version of an energy-dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectrometer (EDXRF). This instrument is capable of providing elemental composition data from a small spot sample. Put simply it analyses material without destruction of the same.

Elemental analysis through XRF is one of the most widely used analytical techniques for identifying pigments and materials in cultural heritage fields. For those of you who attended Hae Min Park’s conservation lecture concentrating on Emily Karaka’s painting Ka Awatea (a February Friends event) you would have witnessed the powers of this instrument in the conservation process.

The Friends did not purchase the instrument but we did contribute to it being part of the Care Practice toolkit. Our contribution was by funding a portion of the import tax and other associated costs. The Bruker Tracer is currently being tested and the staff trained on its various applications. Once it’s up and running the Collection Care Practice team have kindly offered to show us it in action.

Supporting Te Papa is the Friends main reason for being. We do this by specific fund raising events and donating on an annual basis. Obviously the amount of the donation is dependent on our financial wellness. I would like to encourage you to think about donations. It allows us to do more and you are welcome to target your donation towards a specific department, object or project. The Friends are here to help you broker purchases with Te Papa. Donations can also be made to the Friends for their projects and I am thinking of the IT overhaul as I write. If you would like to help us make this the best booking and information experience please contact me. A donation of $500 towards the build would make all the difference to our bottom line. Remember we are a registered charity, every donation over $5.00 receives a tax rebate certificate.

Want to know more?
Please email or call me to discuss further.