29 June 2026
Foil bite after a Bangkok rainy season
Foil on an Iron Man helmet plate is a thin metal skin glued to paper. Bangkok’s rainy season tests that glue. We do not panic at the calendar; we look at the bite — the crispness of the foil edge against the inked red of the faceplate — after the lot has rested in the cabinet.
A plate that shows micro-lifting at the temple of the helmet is noted in the lot PDF even if the drawing still photographs well. Collectors who only see a scan will miss it. That is one reason we prefer a table sitting before a reserve. The side light on the Bangkok bench is cheap. Replacing a lifted foil is not something we offer.
Storage is silica, not folklore. Cabinets are checked after storms when the shophouse roof has leaked in past years. If a lot was moved to a dry box, the handling log says so. If we ever skipped a check, we would rather you heard that from us than from a later conservator.
Visitors sometimes ask us to wipe foil with a cloth they brought. We refuse. Dry lifting of dust is done with our own tools, and only if the lot notes already allow it. A well-meant handkerchief is how a gold highlight becomes a smear.
If you are timing a trip to Thailand around a viewing, late dry season is kinder to foil than the heart of the rains. We still host sittings in September. We simply put fewer foil-heavy plates on that afternoon’s list.