Had the same horrible circumstance of my “life” being lost in a move. Everything! It made getting my VA driver’s license a lot of fun, having to get not only my out-of- state BC, but also marriage license and another doc (I think SS card).
I would guess you had a certified copy of your original. Originals are kept at the office handling vital records in the relevant jurisdictions. It may be that your family was sent a copy once your birth cert was recorded. That courtesy probably varies from venue to venue.
The 40+ year old BC I’d had was that negative photo effect from microfiche, with the certification at the bottom as to its being a true copy of the original.
When I had to get the new copy in ‘10, it had less info, only what was critical, and it was printed on a newer paper, with a certification that it was an abstract of the original document.
My initial request for my kids’ BC’s, when I had to register them for Social Security in the late 80s, produced a card the size of a SS card, and with about as much info as is on the COLB put out by BHO in ‘08. We were able to use those to register the kids for school, scouts, college and even get passports, and one case, to join the U.S. Army. This year when my sons had to replace their BCs, they were given long forms without asking, and told that’s all that is issued now by DC. Of course, neither aspires to be POTUS.
It was not that horrible at all, I am just relating it as to how I remember having one for years and years.
I got an identical copy from the Buffalo City Hall records department a year later.
I need my BC all the time for doing contract work where I am hired on W-2. I must have had to show it about 20 times in the last 20 years.
Speak of that... what did the president use to fill out his W-2 paperwork for his government job?