Thursday, November 1, 2012

Treasure Chest Thursday - The Brane Family Bible

Back in February I wrote this post regarding the Brane Family Bible that had come into my possession.

This past spring/summer I took the plunge and had the bible restored.  It wasn't cheap but the finished restoration is priceless!

When I received the bible the spine was missing.  Sections of the bible were no longer attached and most were in the wrong order.  Because the pages were flaking off I didn't try reconstructing the correct order.

When the bible was restored it was put back into the correct order and it was discovered that the first 16 pages were missing entirely.  This means I don't know exactly when the bible was printed or when it came into the family.  However, the front inside cover does show this:


It's a clue that as early as 1907 it was in the Brane family possession.

The before and after is just amazing.


Before
After
After
 Before
After
 Before
After

What was once a family treasure hidden away is now one that can be enjoyed by all the Brane family descendants for many generations to come.

Restoration work completed by:
Etherington Conservation Services
1010 North Sycamore Street
North Manchester, IN  46962
1-800-334-3628

6 comments:

  1. Aside from having all those important names and dates, it's fun seeing a drawing of a goose and a little math problem in Maccabees. Is this a Catholic family?

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  2. What an amazing before and after picture! How did you decide on a restoration company? I love seeing success stories like this one.
    Liz

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  3. I read about them in our newspaper, Liz. They restored some old church records for one of your historical congregations here in South Bend.

    No, Wendy, not a Catholic family! I thought the same thing!

    Lisa

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  4. Hi Lisa, do you think you'll include a picture of what the old cover and documents looked like in the restored Bible... so future family can get the full effect of how old this beautiful Bible is, and how much it's been through?

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