Laundry house of horrors.

[TWP]

Guys, I realise that there are worse things that are happening in the wolrd right now than my slight problem, such as the tragic events in the Indian ocean for all of us in the world, but please hear me out and please give me some advice.

I have a waffen ss EM's M43 field blouse. It has infantry shoulderboards. After reading a recent post wherein the advice was to dry clean uniforms because moth eggs are still damaging the material after all these years, I decided to go to my local dry cleaners. I must tell you that on one of my shoulderboards, the previous owner or someone else, decided to spill some glue on one of the shouldboards. The glue has really hardened the eyelet part of the shoulderboards and so it was cracking a bit and I have always taken real care whenever I needed to take the shoulderboard off of the button on the jacket.
Well, when I went to my local dry cleaners, I was explaining to the lady that there was a very brittle part on the shoulderboard and as I was explaining it to her, I was trying to take the shoulderboard off extremely cautiously myself. Well, this very pushy old hag of a lady grabbed the jacket from my hands and tried to take it off herself. I protested and asked her to let me handle it. She didn't, but proceeded to try it herself. Well, guess what? She tried to take it off so fast that the hardened and brittle eyelet part completely ripped off and I looked at the whole thing with horror. I was devastated to say the least. my poor poor baby. Ughhh....
I started a 45 minute harangue that would have done Il Duce proud, but understandably I was a bit nonplussed and still am right now. So I need to ask you guys some questions. Any random thoughts regarding this whole issue would be very greatful. Anything from how to deal with the strap to how I can deal with any legal issues?

She took the whole thing lightly, as she doesnt know the intrinsic value as well as the market value of this Waffen SS Infantry EM's shoulderboard. She said that she would sew around the hardened part and put it back together. When I told her how valuable it was, she brazenly told me to sue her....I left it at her store, because I at least wanted her to "fix it". I must admit that I had a bit of a koniption fit, but that jacket was my pride and joy. And I was so carefully trying to take the shoulderstrap off myself, when this pushy old hag took it out of my hands and tried it herself.
What are my options?

1)What shall I do with the shoulderstrap? Let her sew around the hardened glued area and put it back together like humpty?
2) Do I have any legal rights? I think not...
3)How should I deal with her? My anger has ceased any rational thinking. I would love to sew her eyes shut with her own needle...I actually toyed with the idea of toying with her store.
4)Will this shoulderboard lose quite a lot of value now? Not that I want to sell it...
5)Do I set fire to her store?

In all seriousness, as this has been a traumatic and frustrating event for me, what shall I do with the shoulderstrap and what can I do about any fees?
I am so upset I cannot think straight. Plus the fact that I a went out drinking with some friends afterwards...So any advice and any suggestions that I have not been able to think about, in terms of care, my anguish and indingation at her scoffing reaction, as well as any retribution would be most greatful. Anything you guys can think of. What pisses me off the most is that I was handling it ever so carefully in front of her, yet this pushy witch grabbed it out of my hands and then ripped it off.

[Lasse L]

Shouldent you be able to get any kind of law against her? She did destroy something really expensive, if you would have said "Sure, you can take it off" then I dont think you would have been able to do anything, but now in this case when she actually took it from your hands, even that you protested and destroyed it, well then its her fault! If they got a security camera in the store you probebly will have some evidence against her there so.

Otherwise: Matches and gasoline!

[bnz. 42]

Every time I deal with Dry Cleaners, I get upset. From my experience, I understood - never give them any valuable thing. Because they will destroy it.
The last time, they destroyed my wife's $600 jacket and when we asked them "What's going on?", they simply said "It was like that when you brought it".

As one good Russian writer (Anton Chehov) said a long time ago: "If you lost your hand, be happy that you didn't lost your head." At least, they didn't destroy your tunic.

[Rich Moran]

Get the name and contact info of her biz insurance carrier , 3 prices for a replacement board and submit it to her insurance company.

I would have NOT left the collectible with her, as she is apt to do somthing crazy in spite of the first event. And she can, just because, she can.

If the insuirance company will not settle due to the fact that this item is indeed a collectible, sue her in small claims court. She'll be forced to pay by a judgement.

Its going to cost you time and effort though.

I'd not ever let a dry cleaner touch anything in my collection, unless you knew the person well. Museums can and will do these things with the right chemicals too.

Modern day cleaners are not set up to handle these artifacts. If there is no museum to get to, putting the jacket or item into a box with a few mothballs in a paper sack with pin holes to allow the gas to escape will do the job when the larvae hatches. Plus you can do this a few times without fear of having a strange careless persons hands on your collectible.

I'd get back to the cleaner in a New York minute, get it back, call her a few choice names AFTER getting the insurance companies name.

Is she the owner? If she is, report it to the Better Business Bureau as well, as she deserves to loose a LOT of biz due to recklessness on her part.

If you have pics of the tunic with the boards, that will certainly help in reocvery as well. The insurer is interested in making it right in these cases, and in the end, she'll end up paying for it by having to pay more for coverage.

[Fritz]

Well this is a sad storry!....

As for moth eggs: Put the item into a plastic bag, close the bag properly and store it in the ice box for some hours. That will kill them!

The shoulder board itself isn't such an expensive item but I understand that it has been a part of the set....So actualy she did damage to the set! As Lasse said they might have a camera in the shop and taped the "crime". But you should not go there and ask for it without support. Make sure you go there soon the more time they have the better it will be for them.

Cheers

Fritz

[oli4vercammen]

Laundry house of horrors.

Couldn't you got a local police men do a report of what hapened there? It always can help when you're going to take further steps.

In the Brussels KLM-MRA ( www.klm-mra.be ) they have since a few years an woman who was teached how clothes are treated and she explaned to us that first every piece is vacuum-cleaned, then put in a plastic bag wich is then sucked vacuum and that piece is going to the freezer for 3 days. After the three days beeing in -60°C (if I can remember correctly) the egs are destroyed! Then they put some wooden "hockey pucks" in some cloth protective bags against the next possible moth atacks (preventive) which they put in some bags of the costume.

I have also such a horror thale from a fiends friend. (yes, I know how it sounds , but anyway...) They both collect USAAF and RAF flying gear and they sometimes go to the shoe maker to fix some damaged leather. My friend has a verry good one becouse the wife of the shoe maker does the job and she find it's exithing becouse it's an old and stange stitching!
Now the other one went to his (ex now) shoe maker with a damaged USAAF irvin and that stupid man couldn't find any matching leather, so he fixed it wit the wrong coloured leather an then PAINTED the whole jacked in a terrible red looking brown! TRUE HORROR!!!

Olivier Vercammen
Flanders

[Gesetz]

Moral of the story---Stay the hell away from pushy old hags! Dry cleaners or not, they're all dangerous!!! I had the same problem when I brought one of my dress uniforms (not German, but a very very old Canadian ceremonial dress) and the stupid girl lost one of the gold buttons. God did I ever make a scene!!!

[TWP]

You guys have been helpful and I have been given advice that never occured to me on my own. For that I thank you guys and I will tell you what happens soon.

Thanks again and have a Happy New Year.
TW

[Bill D.]

I agree with the advice that Rich gave above.

I'm really sorry that this happened to you.

I learned a lesson myself a awhile back. I took a Soviet uniform to the dry cleaners that I regularly use. They have cleaned uniforms for me before, so they know what is going on. This Soviet uniform was a parade uniform for an honor guard at Lenin's tomb. It had a parade aguilete actually sewn underneath the sew-in shoulder board. I was asking one of the female employees if it would be possible to clean the tunic with this aguilette sewn under the board. Without saying anything she reached for a sharp stitch remover and was about to quickly cut the stitiching around the shoulder board so that she could remove the aguilette. I was able to stop her, but I realized then that if you are going to use a dry cleaner, there are some that are certified for handling old and historic objects. Those are the ones to try to find.

[Donald Abenheim]

Preservation

I agree with the advice that Rich gave above.

I'm really sorry that this happened to you.

I learned a lesson myself a awhile back. I took a Soviet uniform to the dry cleaners that I regularly use. They have cleaned uniforms for me before, so they know what is going on. This Soviet uniform was a parade uniform for an honor guard at Lenin's tomb. It had a parade aguilete actually sewn underneath the sew-in shoulder board. I was asking one of the female employees if it would be possible to clean the tunic with this aguilette sewn under the board. Without saying anything she reached for a sharp stitch remover and was about to quickly cut the stitiching around the shoulder board so that she could remove the aguilette. I was able to stop her, but I realized then that if you are going to use a dry cleaner, there are some that are certified for handling old and historic objects. Those are the ones to try to find.

Is not John Casino expert in restoration and care of textiles? Does he post here? He has written on these issues on the German Dagger forum with great insight or did I miss something because I am new here. I was an archivist at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where I am now a Research Fellow and I would consult with the trained people in these kinds of places nearby. I had avoided any cleaning of rare material out of utter panic at irreversible damage. The colleague has my complete sympathy. The fragile nature of all these things is very sobering and argues for a very conservative, non-intrusive approach.

[Bill D.]

I believe that John has indeed written here, but is primarily found moderating on the GDC Forum. John is, in my opinion, one of the treasures of this hobby. He is a trained conservator, an expert on cloth and textiles, and he gives his expert advice freely and willingly. As a matter of fact, I emailed John about the exact incident I described above, and John told me how to select a dry cleaner, and how to wrap the aguilette so that it could remain on the tunic but allow the tunic to be cleaned. I also give John's opinions exceptional weight on the subject of originality of cloth, uniforms, whether insignia has been replaced, and so on.

John regularly sets up at the Meadowlands show. If you have a chance to meet him and talk to him, take advantage of the opportunity to meet a great and knoeledgable guy!

[InfanterieSammler]

First, I want to say to TWP you have my sympathies, this is truly unfortunate. Personally, I wouldn't trust anyone with my stuff, alone in a room, at the dry cleaner's, etc. I am in the process of framing of several rare original photo's, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave them at the framing store. Instead, I gave them all the dimensions of the photo's and how I wanted the matting done, and I am picking up the materials myself when they are ready. There are so many obstacles to building a quality collection; money, original items, proper conservation, theft, etc. A collector always needs to be on guard and unfortunately this hobby is not forgiving of mistakes. Truly the only one responsible for a collection is the collector himself...Good luck to all. John

[oli4vercammen]

dry cleaning

hello,
I forgot to mention that modern dry cleaning is done with chemicals which is also not very good for your historical cloths.
Olivier

[nutmeg]

I am told by clothing conservators and museum professionals that dry cleaning is not good for old clothing as it makes it more brittle. They never use it .Years ago I did some military uniforms that way and they were quite different afterwards. They say it removes the natural oils from the wool.

[TWP]

Well, I am glad I found out through this forum that it is not a good idea to dry clean my uniform. I will take the advice mentioned above and put my uniform in my frisdge to kill the lice eggs.
Thanks for all the advice as given above regarding my experiences.