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The Mysterious Map

It was June of last year, a little over three months after we had moved from our first location. At this point we were doing our first advertisements for the appraisal business. We weren't sure initially if it would take off. Often times, because people expected antiques dealers to be of a certain age, they often expected that unless a person was of that certain age, they would not be knowledgable. Sometimes, we had to tell stories of all the different things we had appraised before the customer would agree to hire us for the job. 

 

Based on a customer referral, a young lady from the Vilas neighborhood walked into the store with an item that she needed help on knowing the value of. Her first question was, "Can you tell me what this is?" She had received it as part of an estate.  My brother and I split the items in my parents home. I picked this map and my brother picked another one. I wonder if I did the right thing." She asked with a slight errant wonder about her split second decision.  "I had always meant to check this out, but didn't know where to go." I assured her that she had come to the right place. For the very reason that we would get to the bottom of the matter. I didn't guarantee how long it would take. "We charge a flat fee no matter how long it takes us to solve this, you pay the same amount.  So I said, " Let's take a look." 

A small wild goose chase

I began by taking a good look at the original and verifying the age of the map.  I am able to determine the age by pinpointing the age of the paper. Since paper making changed with each century, one can identify the age of the origin by the process, weight of the paper, and wether there is foxing present. She stated that the person who sold her parents the map indicated that the map maker was the French name on the back of the map. There was a year date on the map of 1631.  The paper turned out to be of the right era of the 17th century. The aging (or foxing) that was present on the map was consistent with a map from the 17th Century. The overall condition of the  of the map was was very good. However, the Frenchman's name on the obverse was not a map maker within the top 100 map makers listed in the world at that time. The information she was given was incorrect. That meant that I had to figure out the value of the map without knowing where it was published, and by whom.

Basic Instinct

As I examined the map, I wondered if I was beyond my depth. 

 

I went to people who were purported to be map experts. Indeed, at that time, their map collection was formidable. The first person told me that he did not know who the map maker was. What I may have left out was that within the map, the cartouche which normally has the map makers name, had the usual information but did not have the map maker's name. The map was in Dutch, the map maker's name buffed out of the plate. It normally would show up in the cartouche. Without the name, it as a mystery. Hence, the idea that I should tap into someone who may have more knowledge than myself.

 

The second gentleman said that he had no idea. Therefore, the only option was to lean on my instincts which were based on all the 17th century maps I had examined in the past. The waves were the detail that was the most distinctive, they resembled Mercatur.  Mercatur has the distinctive waves, usually impregnated with massive sea monsters about to devour small ships with sailors inside. The sailors' faces have the look of fear and shock as they are about to be eaten. In this case, the waves were undulating, and completely filled the map. Yet, the map was a few years too late to be Mercatur.  It led me to examine the comrades of Mercatur. The map makers of that time were Ortelius and Hondius. Ortelius preceded Mercatur, however, it is controversial as to whom was first. Hondius was not considered in the same realm of importance.

 

Minus the data necessary, our task was to dig deeper. As I went online, there were no images to match. The task at hand was to obtain an exact match- pixel for pixel. So, minus a sales result that matched from Christie's of Sotheby's or Swann, I went to the New York Public Library Website. Deep in the archives, I sought out the exact match. After three months of searching, I found the map. It was a pixel for pixel match. It was by Hondius. But why didn't it have his name on it. It turns out that his son kept the plates, and printed a few more series on the plates in the time honored tradition of a "different language every year" as were done in those years. It explained why the year was three years off from the English printing. It was Hondious' son. Yet, the value was not strongly diminished  by this fact. 

 

Further Digging

Researching Hondious'  legacy, I discovered a recent development in cartography. According to the Map Maker's Society's published research, Hondius' contribution to the "Mercatur Projection" was not attributed to him as it should have been. In 2007, the society found that Hondius was responsible for helping Mercatur. This was information previously not known before. It makes a difference in the values for Hondius. Instead of being in the top 10, he moves to the top three. Being up there with Mercatur and Ortelius, caused the value of the maps to go up by 30%. Factoring this into the appraisal, the young lady's map was valued at more than $8,000

             

When I finally delivered the news, the young lady said, "Oh my God, I did the right thing!"