Muddyhandz
Bronze Member
- Jul 1, 2012
- 1,226
- 1,955
- Detector(s) used
- Fisher's 1266X, 1270X & 1280X
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Birds don't care about religion! Whatsit I.D.
One of the book dealers that I scout for gave me a freebee and I'll try my hand at making an eye-pleasing repair.
The leather front board is loose as are a few engraved plates but the main issue is the bird shirt!
I assume this bible sat in a barn or attic where a bird must have "christened" it.
I remember my neighbor (who is a bodyman) telling me years ago, to always wash bird shirt off your car immediately because of the acidity eating away the paint.
That's what happened here on the leather and I'll never be able remove those stains.
So now that I got your attention regarding that heathen bird, I want to touch on the "Whatsit I.D." part.
For years as a relic hunter, there's been numerous Victorian (or older) decorative pieces (often fragments) that I couldn't quite wrap my head around I.D.'ing.
I would make a general assumption that they were from some type of furniture or wooden box.
It wasn't until I started dealing in books, that a good box full of my metal detecting finds became identified.
Unfortunately, books have passed through my hands and other than the bible, I only have this one other example to show you at the moment.
It's good one as it shows the large decorative pieces that aren't obvious clasps, hinges, or corner guards.
I've found several large complete pieces over the years like wreaths, flowers, two different "flowing hair" ladies, and religious scenes.
It wasn't until seeing a book similar to this that it all made sense.
I'm sure if you search on the internet, there should be many examples to look at.
This is no breaking news to those who frequent the whatsit forum but thought it might help someone passing through this post.
The bible is not dated but estimate it from 1860 to 1880's. It's pretty big at 13 x 10 and has over 1100 pages.
Funny thing, I was just wondering how much a fancy leather bible like that would of cost back in the day, especially with it being packed full of colour plates, engravings, etc.
Then I flipped the next title page and looked at the publisher.......
and his name says it all.
If anyone is interested I could take a picture of all the metal book decorations, clasps/hinges, and corner pieces that I've dug up over the years.
Cheers,
Dave.
One of the book dealers that I scout for gave me a freebee and I'll try my hand at making an eye-pleasing repair.
The leather front board is loose as are a few engraved plates but the main issue is the bird shirt!
I assume this bible sat in a barn or attic where a bird must have "christened" it.
I remember my neighbor (who is a bodyman) telling me years ago, to always wash bird shirt off your car immediately because of the acidity eating away the paint.
That's what happened here on the leather and I'll never be able remove those stains.
So now that I got your attention regarding that heathen bird, I want to touch on the "Whatsit I.D." part.
For years as a relic hunter, there's been numerous Victorian (or older) decorative pieces (often fragments) that I couldn't quite wrap my head around I.D.'ing.
I would make a general assumption that they were from some type of furniture or wooden box.
It wasn't until I started dealing in books, that a good box full of my metal detecting finds became identified.
Unfortunately, books have passed through my hands and other than the bible, I only have this one other example to show you at the moment.
It's good one as it shows the large decorative pieces that aren't obvious clasps, hinges, or corner guards.
I've found several large complete pieces over the years like wreaths, flowers, two different "flowing hair" ladies, and religious scenes.
It wasn't until seeing a book similar to this that it all made sense.
I'm sure if you search on the internet, there should be many examples to look at.
This is no breaking news to those who frequent the whatsit forum but thought it might help someone passing through this post.
The bible is not dated but estimate it from 1860 to 1880's. It's pretty big at 13 x 10 and has over 1100 pages.
Funny thing, I was just wondering how much a fancy leather bible like that would of cost back in the day, especially with it being packed full of colour plates, engravings, etc.
Then I flipped the next title page and looked at the publisher.......
and his name says it all.
If anyone is interested I could take a picture of all the metal book decorations, clasps/hinges, and corner pieces that I've dug up over the years.
Cheers,
Dave.
