Almost every paper-covered globe was varnished at manufacture, to protect a printed surface that would otherwise be destroyed by handling. The varnish does its work and then becomes the problem: it yellows, it contracts, and it cracks into the fine network that dealers call crazing. No trade body has published a scale for varnish condition, and it is described in sale catalogues by adjective. The Brennholt Institute of Applied Taxonomy records it in five states, V-1 to V-5, reported alongside the six-state condition grade and never merged into it.
| State | Name | Defining condition | In sample |
|---|---|---|---|
| V-1 | Clear | Continuous, no crazing visible at arm's length, no perceptible yellowing | 2 of 48 |
| V-2 | Toned | Continuous, yellowed, no crazing | 9 of 48 |
| V-3 | Crazed | Network of cracks in the varnish; printed surface intact beneath | 24 of 48 |
| V-4 | Lifting | Varnish detaching in flakes, carrying ink where it lifts | 7 of 48 |
| V-5 | Absent or renewed | Stripped, or recoated at any date after manufacture | 6 of 48 |
V-3 is the ordinary state of a globe of any age, which is why it carries no penalty in the condition grade: a globe at G-2 Sound is expected to be crazed. Crazing is a state of the varnish, not damage to the globe, and the distinction is the reason the two scales are kept apart. The line that matters is between V-3 and V-4, because at V-4 the varnish has begun to take the printed surface with it, and the loss is permanent.
Natural resin varnishes yellow by oxidation, continuously and irreversibly, and faster under light. The effect is not uniform across the sphere: the side that faced a window darkens ahead of the side that faced a wall. The Institute has recorded this asymmetry on 14 of the 40 globes in the sample retaining original varnish, and treats it as evidence of display orientation rather than of age. A globe with an evenly toned sphere has most often been stored, not displayed.
Darkening changes what the map appears to show. Blue water reads green, fine hachuring closes up, and pale territorial tints converge. Institute practice is to record political geography from the least-darkened quadrant where the evidence is being used for dating, and to state which quadrant was used.
The varnish film contracts as it ages while the sphere beneath does not, and the film fails in tension. Three things govern where and how badly:
A globe that has been revarnished is V-5, and if any printed surface was replaced or retouched in the process it is also G-5 Restored. The Institute is told regularly that this is harsh on a competent job. The position is deliberate and it is the same position taken throughout the Institute's scales: a scale that grades the quality of the intervention is grading the restorer. What the Institute records is whether the surface is original, and after recoating the answer is no.
The practical consequence for a buyer is that V-5 conceals what the other four states disclose. A fresh coat hides crazing, hides lifting, and hides retouching beneath it. The Institute's review panel has proposed splitting V-5 into stripped and recoated on the ground that they disclose different amounts. The proposal is unresolved and has stood since April 2026.