Light damaging

[Hitman]

Hey, i have a display cabinet with a flag hanging in it and a few medals aswell.

My question is that there is a spot light in it about 8 inchs away from my stuff and was wondering if the light may damage anything, eg. fade the fag or ribbons over time or mabey the heat cause any problems if its been on a while.
I have never use the light yet but i would like to if it doesnt cause any problems

Thanks for and Help

Sean

[Paul R.]

Sean
Don't put any light in any display case if you really care about your items. Lights in cases are a disaster to clothing, paper etc.
This has been a topic of a lot of controversy. Several collectors on several forums including this one do not feel that light is that big of an issue. As a conservator that is far from the truth.All light in time will fade objects period. You don't really need to be any rocket scientist to figure that out.

Even if a light source is 2 inches away from an item or 15 feet. Even low emitting UV lights will fade objects over time. Some newer LG lights also fade as well. Go to any large museum in your area. Observe when entering a museum gallery. If light didn’t fade items museums would not have lights on sensors that signal the light to go on when people enter a gallery. Yes there are filter to put over your lights be these may be only for the short term use. Remember older light also generate heat as well. Lights in cases are a disaster to clothing, paper etc.
Of course these are your item to do with you see fit.

[LandZack2013]

Paul makes a good case against not lighting your collection. However, I do use low UV emmitting LED stick ups. I only use them for about an hour/2 at a time in the evening, or even every other evening. I do not think that this much exposure would hurt, but I may be wrong. If you want to light for long times, well... just be carefull.

Evenings only is my opinion.

[Erich B.]

Do those small LEDs throw off enough light to be worthwhile? I know they don't emit UV but I'm still leery about any light in a case.
Erich

[Hitman]

Thanks for the comments guys, and thanks paul for your opinion on this.

Im going to stay away form the whole light thing, it would of been nice to light up my display but i dont want to risk any damage to me items.

Thanks all

Sean

[Paul R.]

Your welcome Sean, Glad to help out. Paul

[LandZack2013]

Erich,

Yes, they throw off enough for my purpose. They work very well on daggers. The way that white light hits the blade.. wow. No one in my house looks at my beloved collection anyway.

I use shelfs, not cases, so they do work quite well.

[bobcam1]

One type of light that will much more popular, when the prices come down, are fiber optic lights. A company called NoUVIR makes a line that many museums are starting to use.

They throw a full color spectrum with NO (yes, ZERO) ultraviolet or infra-red. They come very close to reproducing sunlight rating, at between 5400-5800K without the harmful effects that sunlight produces.

Once these are made affordable to the average collector, there will be NO reason not to highlight your items with pinpoint accuracy, and show them to their best advantage. They're not OVERLY expensive, but it would cost a lot to light most entire collections. I think I will be getting a few by summer, just to illuminate a few choice items.

Extensive and thorough testing has been done for years on many types of fiber lighting, and they will cause absolutely ZERO harm to medals, cloth, documents or anything else that you would care to light with them....I can't wait...

Cheers,
Bob.