High Priced Cels With Vinegar Syndrome

[Matt]

Hi,

I have been seeing cels sell for hundreds of dollars recently that clearly have sever vinegar syndrome. Has a "cure" been found for vinegar syndrome? Why are so many people spending so much money on cels that are disintegrating? Any thoughts are much appreciated. Thank you.

[kizu]

I think most research concluded that there is no "cure" for vinegar syndrome. All cels will end up this way, it just depends on the history of the cel how long it will last (our lifetime or the next lifetime). But there is a way to stabilize it so that it doesn't degrade exponentially, meaning significantly slow down the degradation. Generally the stabilization process will remove the acetic smell but it will not remove the shrinkage and blooming that happens. So if a cel is degrading and it's not yet too bad, the general recommendation from what I've read is 1) remove from the rest of the collection 2) improve the storage situation 3) store a heavily degraded VS cel at lower temperatures temporarily until it can be stabilized usually by a conservator.