MUSEUM WAX

I have a new neighbor. She is walking around on eggshells expecting her first California earthquake. I wanted to explain our approaching Santa Anna winds and fire season are more important but she looks nervous enough. It did remind me of a product I used well before the big box retailers 'thought of it' after telling me I was FOS and post Northridge earthquake.
Museum wax, or now popularly 'earthquake' is a clean, non marring adhesive that allow for easy removal with a gentle twist but will keep delicate items safe on display. I used it curating invaluable Kachina dolls at the old SOUTHWEST MUSEUM.
If your pretty cologne bottles are in danger of elbows, pets, weather events or visiting relatives it's cheap insurance.

Kachina are not dolls, they are spirit figures. My Native American friends bristle at Kachina's being called dolls.

Doc, I am well aware of the 'doll' offense. I attended the Pima reservation school kindergarden as I am on the Choctaw rolls and hold a MA in Archaeology from UCB. Common, and often derogatory language is endemic in our language and I use it unthinking, or should I say the vulgar vernacular so people understand what the hell I'm talking about. You can lose an audience stumbling over first peoples ,native americans or Dine' when people only recognize Navajo. for what it's worth, in my environmeddler younger days I was a
rider with the BLACK MESA DEFENSE packing supplies to holdout grandmothers on muleback by night between packing Japanese and Iowan down the Grand Canyon.

I knew about museum wax, but did not realize that it was easily accessible to the general public. That is a great idea, KAV! QuakeHOLD has a variety of such products. I live in a region with earthquake faults, and was told by a picture framer to use non-glass and non-metal frames (avoids shattered glass and slashed pictures). It makes sense to extend this to other valuables. Those with shaving mug collections would do well to heed your advice iMHO. Aftershaves, colognes, etc. can be replaced, but it might be both difficult and expensive to do this with more valuable collectibles.

There is another company that sells museum grade products which I learned about working on vintage firearms. The company is Picreator Enterprises, based on London.

Their wax product is Renaissance Wax. A lot of straight razor folks use it.

They also have Pre-Lim Metal burnisher. It's great stuff. It does have a very small abrasive in it, a little bigger than tooth paste, though not much.

The true gem in their offering is Vulpex Liquid Soap. It probably isn't soap by the chemical definition. It has enzymes that emulsify dirt, grease, etc... No scrubbing is needed. This is great stuff for vintage razors. Also, many straight razors have gold etched onto the blade which is very fragile. A soft toothbrush with soap will remove etching on vintage blades and this soap works like a charm.

One of my straights is new and has the gold etching. In the same way gunk builds up on a safety razor, it does so on a straight blade as well. The Vulpex is perfect for this as it removes the gunk without hurting the etching.

All of these products are easily available via the Internet.

My sweet wife is an interior decorator. Museum wax has been in her toolkit for years. And we don't live over a fault line!

Biggest recorded earthquake in U.S history was NOT here. Between fracking, noisy upstairs neighbors lifting weights it's cheap insurance.