The New York Times has published a front page article, “Cunning, Care and Sheer Luck Save Rare Map” , about the conservation of a fortuitously discovered copy of an extremely rare map among the holdings of the Brooklyn Historical Society. When discovered, the “Plan of the City of New York” (which was drawn by a British Lieutenant, Bernard Ratzer in 1769 and first published in 1770), was coated with shellac, backed with linen, and cut into long strips. The article discusses the treatment carried out by conservator Jonathan P. Derow and mentions that he charged a reduced rate of $5,000 for his work. As the article makes no mention of what the usual fee would have been or how many hours Mr. Derow worked on the piece, an opportunity was lost to educate the public on the time consuming nature and cost of conservation work.
A section of the map before and after treatment