The shrinkage temperature of skin and leather is a valuable indicator of the hydrothermal stability of collagen. Visual determination of the shrinkage temperature by the hot table method has several advantages when applied to historical leather. The equipment is rather simple, and the sample size is only 1-2 mg. The technique allows measurement of the shrinkage temperature on samples consisting of a few fibres or even a single fibre. Further more, the hot table method provides the provides the opportunity to obtain very detailed information on the stability, and thereby the state of deterioration of individual fibres.