I returned from my trip to Iowa with a few new-to-me treasures.

Abbie's Box

First is this jewelry or trinket box that belonged to my grandmother Abbie Webber Smith Brender. I have no memory of this particular box, but it looks as though it was well loved/used. It is about 5x7x1.5 inches and made of a lightweight wood. It is covered by a thin veneer or paper with a hand-painted design (you can feel the texture of the paint). The bottom of the box says “MADE IN JAPAN.” Grandma wrote her name and address inside, so maybe she took it with her somewhere and wanted to be sure it would be returned to her if lost. If anyone in the family recognizes this box, I hope you will leave a comment to tell me more about it. Or if anyone can help me date it, that would be nice to know as well.

Secondly, Dad(Jerry) gave me this Bible that he said also belonged to Grandma Abbie.

One of Abbie's Bibles

It is a Golden Book Edition of the King James Bible. I am familiar with Golden Books for children, but was unaware that they also published bibles. Distributed throughout the book are four-page spreads  – usually a summary of a story, a 2-page picture, and an informational list (the story of the first miracle of Jesus, a depiction of the story and a list of the miracles of Jesus, for example). Some of the pictures are artist illustrations, others are photographs.

Unfortunately, this is not a Bible that contains family records and I don’t know if this was given to her or if she purchased it for herself. I know she used it because she left a folded paper towel between the pages here, a bookmark there, a scrap of paper to mark her place in the J’s in “The Bible in Alphabet” section and this little folded and typed paper tucked between the pages of Zechariah and Malachi…

If you plan to enter a Bible trivia contest, you might want to study the first half of the above.