Hi All,

On the heels of the "custom card" craziness and the pastiche cuts etc., I was wondering about your thoughts on this potential course of action.

I have a book - a 1913 edition of The Truth About Titanic by Col. Archibald Gracie. In it, placed there by my friend (not the guy in the photo) who worked the exhibition of "The Big Piece," is a very rare fragment of horsehair insulation from when the piece was displayed in Boston and Atlantic City. The "Big Piece" was spotted in 1994, raised and dropped in 1996, and finally raised in 1997. I saw it in Atlantic City, before it was cleaned and cut in two. A large 20' x 26'  section of two First Class C Deck cabins and a partition from D Deck, this section weighs about 15 tons. The D Deck partition had a perfectly intact length of white paint. The rusticles and some remaining wood paneling and insulation were removed by a 3,000-psi water jet, with the remnants being discarded. This bit was saved.

I am debating adding to the book an equal sized fragment of rusted metal from this same "Big Piece", and a fragment of coal dumped from her boilers and deposited in the debris field. What is especially attractive to me is that the "Big Piece" was part of Cabin C-79 and C-81 (unoccupied). Col. Gracie was just a few doors down (about 35 ft) in C-51, so this little collection is well placed in this first person account.

I think it best to place the 2 new additions on the lower right and left, with a similar approach, if a little neater, as far as execution and printing. The rust has papers and was collected in Atlantic City (like the insulation), and the coal was recovered in 1994. What do you think? I am unaware of any books that have all three materials represented. A wood fragment would be great but I can't find anything authentic at this point. The notion of adding the last item shown has crossed my mind...it is unique.