Costs of making reproductions of paper structure with various techniques

Backlight

Estimation by VladAtanasiu, MartinHaltrich

This gives an estimate of the effort involved to produce a catalogue of papers from 600 documents.

• Selection of pages for reproduction > 1 h / document
• Imaging 30 pages > 2 h / document

• 3 h / 1 document
• 6 h / day > 2 document
• 20 days / month > 40 documents / month
• 15 months / 600 documents / 1 person
• 7,5 months / 600 documents / 2 person

Rubbing

Estimation by GerardVanThienen

Working in one library an average of 40 rubbings / day is possible.
One week, 5 days, in 3 libraries in Palma de Mallorca, March 2004: 170 rubbings.

Electron-radiography

Estimation by GerardVanThienen

The best images of watermarks are made by beta radiography and electron radiography. Because of the slowness of beta radiography - a single image can take hours to capture - electron radiography is preferable. This method was developed almost twenty years ago by Schnitger, Ziesche and Mundry in Berlin and has been adopted in The Hague in cooperation with the Röntgen Technische Dienst (RTD) in Rotterdam. It is now possible to make 250 to 300 Röntgen negatives of watermarks from forty incunables in four hours in the basement of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek. See http://watermark.kb.nl/introWM.html [GerardVanThienen 15:04 31/10/2005]

Costs of Rotterdam company Roentgen Technische Dienst 'Making the invisible visible': 30.000 euros per week, two man, one van.

Beta-radiography

Based on a discussion of VladAtanasiu with AloisHaidinger and MariaStieglecker (OEAW), August 2005

Personel costs

1. Examination of the document where the papers are conserved
2. Produce rubbings
3. Make a choice of papers to reproduce
4. Radiography
   1. Exposure
      • 3-8 hours / radioactive plate / 2 pages to reproduce
      • commonly 9 exposures / day; maximal 18
   2. Developping
   3. Rechecking for good quality the reproductioon of some papers might be redone
5. Digitizing of paper reproduction
   (the following information on hardware supplies is supplied by GeorgDietz)
   • scanning of hardcopy radiography films by professional firms: c. 3-11 euros
   • mid-range Umax scanner: 2500 euros
   • professional Ronetgenfilm scanner 'Cobra scan': > 12.000 euros
6. Description of paper features
   principally watermark description, measurement and classification, not including measurement of other paper features
   • 20 minutes / paper
   • approx. 3 papers / hour
   • approx. 25 papers / day
7. Make or install a database for archiving and describing the papers

Mean production: 300 papers / 1 person / 1 month work

Material costs

1 - Radioactive plates: 5000 euros / plate (only produced to special request at the present time)

• • Costs of Rotterdam company Roentgen Technische Dienst 'Making the invisible visible': 30.000 per week, two man, one van

2 - Film:

• • 4 euros / slide
  • 0 euros developpment (agreement with a hospital to develop the films at their facility)

Mean montly costs

euros
1.200 - films for 300 papers (development not included)
1.700 - personel (1 person)
- - -
3.000 - per month / 300 papers

10.000 - initial investement in plates (2 plates)

-- VladAtanasiu - 09 Jun 2007