Subject: Exhibition case fixtures (fwd)

From: Page Thomas <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 3 May 1996 14:42:44 -0500 (CDT)

Can anyone out there help this library find the brackets they are 
looking for?  Respond directly to ALexandra Mason.  Thanks, Page

Nearly 30 years ago, when the Spencer Library opened, our four main exhibition
cases (wall cases 4 ft high, 8 ft wide) were constructed with pegboard backs.
The inside of the cases were painted black and we had a supply of thin, strong,
black shelves and black supporting brackets.  As time has passed we have moved
away from plain black backgrounds for exhibitions to colored backgrounds made
by, so to speak, wallpapering the case backs.  The black shelves
have become battered and the brackets have lost their black coating.  We have
added individual book holders made of plexiglas.  The present situation is one
of mixed hanging devices, mostly pretty worn and tacky.  We wish to retain the
pegboard since it permits a very flexible installation.  We'd like to replace
the black shelves with plexiglas shelves, which we can do fairly easily.  We
also need to replace the hanging brackets and here we have a problem.  We can
probably find a supplier of metal brackets, shiny metal-finished, which will
look just as bad as what we have.  We'd like to do better than that.

My question to Exlibris: does anybody know where we can find strong, stable
brackets which are not shiny metal?  I can imagine metallic bronze finish
or mat black finish being acceptable but I have no idea whether such exist
or, if so, where.   HELP, PLEASE!

Alexandra Mason, Spencer Research Library, U of KS <[email-masked]>

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From: "Paul C. Sperbeck" <[email-masked]>
Date: 05 May 96 15:03:05 EDT

I do not have a source for the black hardware that you require, but if you can
find the brackets that you need in chrome plated condition, you have the option
of stripping the chrome off.
>From there you could have them painted or color them with gun bluing. Not being
at all familiar with the brackets that you can get, I would hesitate to use a
heating process to effect the coloration that you desire.
If you elect to remove the chrome plating I suggest that you talk to a plating
shop to have the plating removed safely.
All the foregoing aside, Have you tried to contact the manufacturer and see if
they will supply the brackets to you before the plating process takes place?
What can it hurt to ask...

Paul Sperbeck
Waukesha, WI
A proud member of:
UMBA, ABANA,SOFA,BAM... no particular order of preference

Heard at every public Demo: "My grandfather was a blacksmith"
	Well, my grandfather was a blacksmith... and it didn't do me one damn bit
of good.