The Goodyear Tire folks of Akron, in the mid 1980’s decided, under the direction of Janet Schirn of Chicago, a past president of the American Society of Interior Designers, to build a collection of antique maps that would reflect the company’s global perspective. The collection was two years in the making and has since remained on the walls of the company headquarters increasingly as a time capsule of what was thought important mid-way through the Reagan presidency. It was an odd approach to building a collection but the thinking today is that the ensuing thirty years have probably moved values well beyond what they they paid for the maps and framing. We'll soon know as the material will be sold at Rachel Davis Fine Arts on the 21st [links at the end of this article].
It is not entirely surprising that an interior designer curated the collection. Maps fall on both sides of the decorator – collectors divide, a reason that prices for collectible maps have been perennially strong.
Good sports that they are, Goodyear is selling this collection of 118 map lots with, in some cases high estimates, but in all cases without reserves. Only a few percent of all lots offered at auction in the collectible paper category each year are sold naked. These lots are in that special group. They also fall into the smaller subgroup of unreserved sales, the announced unreserved sale. Most unreserved lots are never announced. These have been and this should make for an active sale. Unreserved sales, which often provide bargains to lucky bidders, generally overall bring stronger realizations for consignors.
A hopeful sign to bidders may be the organization of the sale that provides no index, begins the first maps at lot 371 [and continuing to 488]. On the Davis site use the link provided at the end of this article and the term map in the keyword field to uncover the map lots. There are also other Goodyear lots outside of the map category included in the sale.
Here is a brief list of some of the map lots:
Lot 371. Cartographer: Hartmann Schedel . Das ander and alter der werlt. Subject: the world. Nuremberg, 1493. Estimated $15,000 to $20,000
Lot 372. Cartographer: Frederick de Wit. : [Map 1] Nova Orbis Tabula, in Lucem Edita [in a set with Map 2] Nova Totius Europae [and Map 3] Nova Totius Asiae [and Map 4] Nova Totius Africa [and Map 5] Nova Totius Americae Descriptio. Date: c. 1660-70. Original hand color. Subjects: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, the World. Estimated $30,000 to $50,000.
Lot 381. Cartographer: Claes Jansz. Visscher. Comitatus Flandriae Summa Cura Recens Delineatus Per N. I. Visscherum. Amsterdam, 1656. An extremely rare description of Flanders, Visscher’s carte-à-figures is lavishly illustrated at the left and right borders with fourteen insets corresponding in both subject and style to the grand tradition of Flemish landscape painting that developed during the seventeenth century. Subject: Belgium. Amsterdam, 1656. Estimated $20,000 to $40,000
Lot 384. Cartographer: Jean Baptiste Nolin. Le Canal Royal de Languedoc, pour la Jonction de l’Ocean et de la Mer Mediterranee. Subject: France. Paris, 1697. Estimated $12,000 to $18,000
Lot 415. Cartographer: Gerard van Keulen. Nieuwe Afteekening van het Eyland en Koninkryk Sicilia Vertoonende alle desselfs Zee Havenen Anker Plaetsen Riviere Dieptens Klippen Steeden en Vastigheeden. Subject: Sicily. Amsterdam, c. 1710. Estimated $3,000 to $5,000
Lot 423. Cartographer: Nicholaos Sophianos. Descriptio Nova Totius Graeciae per Nicolaum Sophianum. Basel, 1601. Sophianos’s woodcut map of Greece, the first of its kind in the Modern era, encompasses the Aegean Islands as well as the historically Hellenistic western portion of Turkey. Subject: Greece. Basel, c. 1601. Estimated $50,000 to $100,000
Lot 426. Cartographer: Robert Walton. A New, Plaine & Exact Map of Africa Described by: N:I: Visscher and Done into English, Enlarged and Corrected According to: I: Blaeu… The subject: Africa. London, 1673. Estimated $5,000 to $7,000
Lot 427. Jan. Huygen van Linschoten. Exacta & Accurata Delineatio cum Orarum Maritimarum tum etiam Locorum Terrestrium quae in Regionibus China, Cauchinchina, Camboja sive Champa, Syao, Malacca, Arracan & Pegu... The subject: China and Southeast Asia. Amsterdam, 1595. Estimated $8,000 to $12,000
Lot 430. Cartographer: Sir Robert Dudley. Asia Carta Diciasete piu Modern. Subject: Japan. Florence, 1646. Estimated $3,000 to $5,000
Lot 433. Cartographer: Pierre Mortier. Les Deux Poles Arcticque ou Septentrional, et Antarcticque ou Meridional, ou Description des Terres Arctiques et Antarctiques, et des Pays circomvoisins jusques aux 45. Degres de Latitude. The Subject: Asia, China, India, Middle East. Amsterdam, 1720. Estimated $6,000 to $8,000
Lot 437. Cartographer: A. Thevet. Quarte Partie Du Monde.. Subject: America. Published c. 1575-1581. Estimated $7,000 to $10,000
Lot 439. Cartographer: De Leth [Family]. Carte Nouvelle de la Mer du Sud..Subject: Western Hemisphere, America, Africa, Pacific Ocean. Amsterdam, c. 1740. Estimated $6,000 to $8,000
Lot 440. Cartographer: Gerard de Jode. Brasilia et Peruvia. Subject: South America. Antwerp, 1593. Estimated $10,000 to $15,000
Lot 456. Cartographer: Sebastian Munster. Novae Insulae XXVI Nova Tabula. Subject: America. Basel, 1545. Estimates $5,000 to $7,000
Lot 457. Cartographer: Vicenzo Maria Coronelli. America Settentrional Colle Nuoue Scoperte fin all’Anno 1688. Subject: North America. Venice, 1688. Estimated $10,000 to $15,000
Lot 461. Cartographer: Matthaus Seutter. Accurata delineatio celeberrimae Regionis Ludovicianae vel Gallice Louisiane ol Canadae et Floridae adpellatione in Septemtrionali America descripta quae hodie nomine fluminis Mississippi vel St. Louis… Subject: North America. Augsburg, c. 1740. Estimated $2,000 to $3,000
Lot 462. Cartographer: Theodore de Bry. Americae Pars, Nunc Virginia Dicta, Primum ab Anglis Inventa Sumtibus Dn. Walteri Raleigh Equestris Ordinis Viri Anno Dni. M.DLXXXV .... Subject: America. Frankfurt, 1590. Estimated $15,000 to $25,000
Lot 463. Cartographer: Samuel de Champlain. Port Fortune [Stage Harbor, Chatham, Massachusetts]. Subject: America. 1613. Paris, 1613. Estimated $2,000 to $3,000
Lot 464. Cartographer: Samuel de Champlain. Port St. Louis [Plymouth Colony]. Subject: America. Paris, 1613. Estimated $3,000 to $5,000
Lot 467. Cartographer: Pieter van der Aa. Nouvelle Hollande (à présent Nouvelle York) Nouvelle-Angleterre et une partie de la Virginie. Subject: America. Leiden, 1714. Estimated $1,000 to $2,000
Lot 472. Cartographers: George Louis Le Rouge. Remarques Sur la Navigation de Terre-Nueve a New York afin d’eviter les Courrants et les bas-fonds au Sud de Nantucket et du Banc de George . . . [Benjamin Franklin’s Chart of the Gulf Stream]. Subject: America and Atlantic Ocean. Paris, 1782. Estimated $20,000 to $30,000
Lot 473. Cartographer: Guillaume Delisle. Carte du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France et des Decouvertes qui y ont eté Faites Dressee sur Plusieurs Observations … Subject: Canada. Paris, 1703. Estimated $8,000 to $12,000
Lot 477. Cartographer: Oronce Fine. Nova, et Integra Universi Orbis Descriptio. Subject: the world. Paris, 1531-1540. Estimated $20,000 to $40,000
Lot 480. Cartographer: Henricus Hondius. Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula. Subject: the world. Amsterdam, 1630. Estimated $4,000 to $6,000
Lot 481. Cartographer: W. Blaeu. Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica Ac Hydrographica Tabula. Subject: the world. Amsterdam, c. 1631. Estimated $15,000 to $20,000
Lot 482. Cartographer: John Speed. A New and Accurat Map of the World Drawne According to ye Truest Descriptions Latest Discoveries & Best Observations yt have beene Made by English or Strangers. 1651. Subject: the world. London, 1651. Estimated $15,000 to $20,000
Lot 483. Cartographer: Claes Jansz. Visscher. Nova Totius Terrarum Orbis Geographica ac Hydrographica Tabula. Auctore N. I. Piscator. Subject: the world. Published , 1652. Estimated $8,000 to $12,000
Lot 484. Cartographer: John Overton. A New and Accurat Map of the World Drawne According to the Best and Late Discoveries Anno Dom 1670. Subject: the world. London, 1670. Estimated $15,000 to $20,000
Lot 486. Cartographer: H-tan (Japanese, 1654–1738). Nansenbushu Bankoku Shoka no Zu [Map Of All The Countries In Jambudvipa]. Subject: the world. Kyoto, 1710. Estimated $7,000 to $10,000
Lot 487. Cartographer: Nicholas de Fer. Carte de la Mer du Sud, et des Costes d’Amerique et d’Asie, Situees sur cette Mer .... [in set with] Carte de la Mer du Nord, et des Costes d’Amerique, d'Europe et d’Afrique, Situees sur cette Mer ... 1713. Subject, the world, northern and southern hemispheres. Paris, 1713. Estimated $20,000 to $40,000
Lot 488. Cartographer: Pieter (Pierre) Van der Aa. Planisphere Terrestre, Suivant les Nouvelles Observations des Astronomes. Dressee Presente au Roy Tres Chretien par Mr. Cassini le Fils, de l’Academie Royale des Sciences. A Leide Chez Pierre Vander Aa. Avec Privilege. Subject the world. Leyden, c. 1713. Estimated $8,000 to $12,000
This is a wide variety of material. The lots identified in this story are the more and most expensive ones. More than 50 other lots are estimated under $1,000 so there are plenty of reasons to look this sale over carefully.
The Date: September 21st
The Time: 9:30 am EST
Location: in the rooms at Rachel Davis Fine Art
1301 West 79th Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44102
Phone 216-939-1190
Email: info@racheldavisfinearts.com
On the Rachel Davis site -
www.racheldavisfinearts.com/auctionitems.aspx
A link to the sale at Live Auctioneers
