Had an old Roman pottery sherd crumble on me during cleaning last week

I was trying to gently brush a 1st century terra sigillata piece I found in a field near Bath, and it just fell apart in my hands, so now I'm only using distilled water and a soft sponge on fragile finds has anyone else had a piece disintegrate on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylorellis25d agoMost Upvoted

oh totally been there (heartbreaking isn't it) I had a piece of Roman samian ware basically turn to dust in my hand last summer after I'd already spent ages labeling it. now I just leave really fragile stuff bone dry and only touch it with gloves on my worst moments.

murphy.abby24d ago

Started doing the same thing after I ruined a glazed sherd that had been sitting in a bag too long. @taylorellis I feel your pain with the samian ware, that's just brutal. What finally worked for me was switching to distilled water instead of tap for soaking the crumbly stuff. Tap water has minerals that can mess with the fragile bits and make them fall apart even faster. I also started using those little plastic mesh bags from the dollar store to hold the really delicate pieces while they soak, so I'm not actually touching them until they're ready. Takes some getting used to but way less heartbreak in the long run.

clark.alex24d ago

Snapped a handle right off a medieval jug once while I was just rinsing it under the tap. Felt like an absolute fool standing there holding a broken piece. Now I let anything that looks even a bit crumbly sit for a day or two in a bucket of rainwater before I even TOUCH it.