Most strikingly, she said, the casts represent an accurate depiction of the original at the time the cast was made, minus the decay of the last 120 years. "The Cornell casts show objects in a state of preservation of the later 19th century; some of these originals are now lost or substantially altered due to wear, weathering, etc. In this case the casts bear more information than the original," making the copy more valuable than the original.
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