Museum Putty

Description

[QuakeHold! by Trevco, San Marcos, CA] A brand name for a soft, sticky creme-colored putty used for positioning and earthquake stabilization of small objects. QuakeHold! Museum Putty™ is composed of calcium carbonate (75-85%), polyisobutylene (5-15%) and paraffin oil (5-10%). Museum Putty is designed to temporarily secure the object for later, proper bonding.

Other QuakeHold products include Museum Wax and Museum Gel.

Risks

• Nontoxic
• Can damage or stain porous surfaces
• Not for use on heavy objects, freshly painted surfaces, felt or textiles.
• Quakehold: SDS

Resources and Citations

• AIC Distlist: Discussion Accessed June 2025
• Quakehold: Museum Putty
• DISTLIST 18:51-Sasha Stollman - gives as polyisobutylene based resin from website at www.quakehold.com (Note: as of 2020 the website no longer gives composition information)
• Neeha Velagapudi, Emily Fryer, Sarah Murray, Kristen Ramsdale, Sebastian Denize, Sam Adshead, 'Finding a Temporary Adhesive for Securing Objects for Display in Earthquake-prone Regions' Studies in Conservation, 68(1), 36-42, 2023 link