It was warm and sunny this morning, so Mimi's map and I took a confusing drive to
ICA Art Conservation on Detroit Ave. Between heavy traffic even though it was technically after rush hour, it's a good thing I left 25 minutes early. I arrived with time to spare, and a (or possibly the) paper restorer spread the map on the table and was kind enough to say it was in really amazing shape. Apparently a missing bottom dowel and some small tears are minimal damaged--the restorer said that most maps they see are absolutely trashed and that my grandmother must have taken good care of her things. The copyright date on the map is 1895, and Dad was right, it was made by Rand-McNally.
Although I had joked about paying anything under 5 figures, it turns out that to have the map cleaned, restored and custom-framed would in fact cost about $10,000.00. When I said that was not in my budget, they said for about $2,000 they can repair the small tears and encase it in Mylar, which can then be attached to the old case. So I left the map with them for a full exam and quote, and got to drive along the Shoreway on a sunny day, looking a blue skies and a lake still
almost completely iced up.
Then I took Mucinex for the chest cold which is trying to develop and took a nap.
Oh, and of course I now have a picture of the map:
2 comments:
I can't wait to see it!
I can't wait to show it to you!
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