Holy shit! (1 Viewer)

[chronic]

I've had this antique (1740) Italian world atlas for about about 10 years and just discovered that it's worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000 to $25,000. It's titled Atlante novissimo che contiene tutte le parti del mondo. It is a leather bound elephant folio made up of copper engravings with hand-colored cartouches and illustrations. There are around 75 maps in the book and I found several of those selling for $500-$1450 each. Just an uncolored title page (the two in my copy are beautifully colored - there are two volumes bound into one folio) sold for over $100 at auction.I had searched online several years ago and could find no info, but decided to look tonight and, well, shit!

It's also pretty cool that California is shown as an island and the northwestern North America just has blank space (it was still unexplored at the time).

Needless to say, I'm kinda jazzed about this. What ought I to do with such a thing? Any offers?

Here's an example of one of the maps and here's the map of No. America.

 

[Hosh]

My advice: Find 2 fabulously wealthy collectors who have a grudge against each other & let them bid it through the stratosphere!

Wow--congrats man. I honestly have no earthly idea what to do with the book...

 

[poptop]

chronic,

That's quite a find - good for you - but a little out of my league price-wise, as I hustle pennies down the avenue of the dead. If you want to sell it here you might have better luck if you refer to it as (cough) Maptotum or Cartouches on Rye. ;)

 

[bospress.net]

Chris;
Did you use ebay sales or just online listings and that abe listing? I have no doubt that it is valuable and individual maps would sell well on places like ebay (the California island map would do very well). The problem is that this abe seller may be spot on pricewise, or could be out of his mind.

I see pages from what may be this book on ebay for $49.99 BIN, and others for $900 BIN.

If it were mine, and I was interested in selling it, I would put it on ebay for a starting price of $15,000 (more than you would get from a dealer, if it is worth $25,000) and see what happens.

Bill

 

[Rekrab]

I had an atlas from the 1860s, American, that I thought nothing much about, and one day looked it up. It was listed for $1500 on ABE. My copy was missing the most important map, Oregon/California, but I still sold it for $900 on Ebay. Seems mine was the rarer leather binding although most copies have a cloth binding.

 

[roni]

wow great!

how about a mix of Hoshs and Pops suggestions:
name it Maptotum and offer it to stn* and Mull* and see what happens.

 

[mjp]

After a certain point (and $20k - $25k is certainly past the point) I would hand it over to a professional and let them take a cut for selling it. Either an auction house that deals with this kind of item, or a retail shop that caters to the map world (no pun intended).

Those kind of places have access to a lot more buyers than you would be able to find on your own, which makes their commission worth paying.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

I know there's a part of you that is thinking it could go up.

 

[planahea]

...Chris, you are ready for The Antiques Roadshow !!! :D

 

[chronic]

Chris;
Did you use ebay sales or just online listings and that abe listing? I have no doubt that it is valuable and individual maps would sell well on places like ebay (the California island map would do very well). The problem is that this abe seller may be spot on pricewise, or could be out of his mind.

I used the ABE listing as well as some old auction results that I was able to find. I realize that $20-25,000 may be way beyond what I can expect to get for it, but in my initial "yippee!" phase I allowed my self to imagine the best.

I see pages from what may be this book on ebay for $49.99 BIN, and others for $900 BIN.

If it were mine, and I was interested in selling it, I would put it on ebay for a starting price of $15,000 (more than you would get from a dealer, if it is worth $25,000) and see what happens.

I've found nothing in the current or recently ended ebay listings for this book. I'm not planning to list it on ebay, though if I have a hard time getting it appraised I may list it with a high reserve and see what kind of nibbles it gets.

After a certain point (and $20k - $25k is certainly past the point) I would hand it over to a professional and let them take a cut for selling it. Either an auction house that deals with this kind of item, or a retail shop that caters to the map world (no pun intended).

Those kind of places have access to a lot more buyers than you would be able to find on your own, which makes their commission worth paying.

Agreed. In fact, I've already sent an email with a detailed description of the book to an auction house that specializes in maps. Waiting to hear back from them.

...Chris, you are ready for The Antiques Roadshow !!! :D

Ha! Y'know, that was the first thing that I thought of. Apparently old maps and atlases can be quite valuable.

 

[bospress.net]

Agreed. In fact, I've already sent an email with a detailed description of the book to an auction house that specializes in maps. Waiting to hear back from them.

There is a guy in Baltimore who is an authority... I forget his name, but a Google search under "Maps BAltimore" would probably bring him up...

Bill

 

[Purple Stickpin]

My advice would be: Screw ebay, first and foremost. You don't want to take a chance on getting not enough back. And a high list price would probably even scare stN off.

PBA auctions or a private auction house would be far better. This is a treasure, Chris; get everything you can. Maybe hold it for 6 months or a year until the market opens up a bit. That'd be how long I would research auction houses anyway.

Think of how many King Crimson discs you could buy...

 

[chronic]

... or how many bills I could pay.

I got some info back from the auction house. There have been 2 copies auctioned in the last couple of years and both sold for just short of $10,000. $20,000 would have been twice as nice, but hell, I got the book for free so I'm not complaining. I mean, what's that make my profit margin?

I put some photos of it up at http://collectingbukowski.com/atlasweb/ if anyone's interested.

 

[LickTheStar]

That's a pretty nice atlas. And a damn good price right there. I'm gonna keep my eyes open from now on for cheap, old maps...

 

[bospress.net]

amazing....

Bill

 

[hoochmonkey9]

that's just beautiful.

 

[Father Luke]

I've had this antique (1740) Italian world atlas for about about 10 years and just discovered that it's worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000 to $25,000.

Seriously, I could live for ten years on
that kind of money.

What I haven't been able to figure out
is where you originally got it.

And, yeah. It's really a beautiful book.

Oh yeah. And are you going to buy cirerita's
Bukowski folders with the profit ? ;)

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Thank you for taking all the photos. I would think if those maps are worth $500 each then a complete bound set is worth much more. Someone will see the value in that.

 

[mjp]

There have been 2 copies auctioned in the last couple of years and both sold for just short of $10,000. $20,000 would have been twice as nice, but hell, I got the book for free so I'm not complaining.

Well, even $10k is a nice piece of cake to come into, especially out of something you have no investment in. These kinds of stories are great to hear.

 

[chronic]

I heard back again from the auction house and he said that, after looking at the photos, he thinks it would bring $6,000-7,000 at auction. I contacted a rare map dealer in San Diego and, based on the photos and my description, he offered me $10,000 (subject to inspection). He said he would have it restored and sell it for $17,000-20,000 though it might take a year for him to move it. I liked that he was very straightforward about how much he could sell it for so I'm express mailing it down to him tomorrow to have a look.

What I haven't been able to figure out
is where you originally got it.

And, yeah. It's really a beautiful book.

Oh yeah. And are you going to buy cirerita's
Bukowski folders with the profit ? ;)

My mother-in-law gave me 3 or 4 boxes of old books several years ago when she was cleaning out her garage. It was part of a container full of antiques from England that she and her husband had bought in the 1960s. She knew I was into books and gave them to me knowing that some of them were probably valuable. This is the only one that's worth more than $100 or so, even though some of them are considerably older.

And no, I'm not going to buy cirerita's binders. I'm going to pay off some bills and maybe have a nice dinner with my mother-in-law.

Well, even $10k is a nice piece of cake to come into, especially out of something you have no investment in. These kinds of stories are great to hear.

Yep, this is probably the nicest score of my life.

 

[Father Luke]

Well, it's all very exciting.

Thanks for sharing.