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Dear Alison

A lot will depend on what material the plaques are made from, as the price of scrap varies greatly depending on this.

Brass or bronze would be an open invitation to theft as the current scrap prices for these metals are in the region of £4,000 per ton ( about £4 per kilogramme), and a brass or bronze plaque of any size is going to weigh several kilogrammes. On the other hand at £4,000 per tonne a 10 kg bronze plaque is only worth £40 in scrap, so its not going to be a terribly attractive target for a theif.

Using Aluminium would be a better bet as the scrap price is less, and also an aluminum plaque is about 65% lighter than a bronze plaque of the same size.

If you can design the plaques so that there are no obvious fixings, and if possible have them recessed into the surrounding masonry so that there's no purchase for a crowbar, so much the better. Thieves are basically lazy so-and-sos, and if you can make thievery hard work they'll look elsewhere.

Hope this helps

Cheers




Richard







Richard Ellam
L M Interactive
Science Shows and Hands-On Stuff
tel/fax 01761 412 797

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On 26 Mar 2008, at 23:38, alison cooper wrote:
Dear GEM group

I am currently working with a charity who have funding
to install metal plaques with etchings of the
Rochdale's local history.  Unfortunately as the price
of scrap metal is high there have been frequent
incidents of metal work being stolen and weighed in at
scrap yards for cash.

The plaques are to be installed outside a community
centre.

Does anyone have experience of this or have any
solutions to make plaques and similar work less
vulnerable?

Any replies would be greatly received.

Thanks 

Alison Cooper

Arts, Heritage and Education


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