Verdmont is a early-18th-century pre-Georgian-style mansion house in Bermuda owned by the Bermuda National Trust. A thorough search of the original board walls in the southeast Parlor revealed numerous wallpaper fragments adhered under the windowsills. One fragment was coated with a discolored yellow distemper paint. Results of PLM analysis indicated that the paper consisted of flax fibers alone. Flax was a common paper fiber until is was replaced by pulped wood in the 1860s to 1880s. One of the two pigments found in the yellow paint was chrome yellow. Although the element chromium was known in the 18th century, the pigment chrome yellow was not known until 1809 and not commercially available until ca. 1812. This means that the wallpaper is probably from the early-to-mid-19th century, rather than the 18th century. Continue to Verdmont Page 2 to view photomicrographs and descriptions
of the wallpaper fragment, fibers and pigment particles.
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