Herman Moll Map of North America, ca. 1715
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GUEST:
Well, about four or five years ago I saw it in a gallery in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And I thought it was very interesting, so I went home and told my wife about it, and she seemed quite interested. And I said, "Well, I'll go back and snap a photo of it, and show it to you." So I went back and the owner of the gallery said, "Well, it's sold, sorry."
(laughing)
APPRAISER:
Oh, no.
GUEST:
So I didn't think much of it. Well, my birthday came around, and I received that. My wife had called down and we know the owner of the gallery, and she said, "I want that." So...
APPRAISER:
That is such a great story.
GUEST:
Yeah.
APPRAISER:
It's a map of North America by Herman Moll. He was of German origin, but he lived in London, and he was very prolific. There were many editions made of this map. You happen to have an early edition, which you can tell from the address of where Herman Moll was making the map. So I'm going to date your map from around 1715. And it has a very special nickname. I don't know if you know the nickname.
GUEST:
No.
APPRAISER:
It's called "the cod map."
GUEST:
Oh really?
APPRAISER:
And the reason that it's called that-- well, there are many reasons. But the first reason is there are all kinds of salted cod laid out for drying.
GUEST:
Oh, my gosh.
APPRAISER:
Did you notice that?
GUEST:
No, I didn't. I didn't know what they were.
APPRAISER:
Salt cod was the preferred food of the British fleet. It literally fueled the British Empire. And so it's a great visualization of the cod fishing industry. It shows you British dominance of the sea at this time. There's so many indications of this. Over here, you see the "Sea of the British Empire." It's original outline color, colonies in red represent England. Colonies in yellow represent Spain. Colonies in green represent France. Because Herman Moll's working out of London, he's printing these maps for a British audience. It's meant to show how prominent Britain was over in North America. There's ten inset maps here showing safe soundings for harbors. So it's meant to be an invitational map to show you how easy it was to come to the New World and colonize. There's "parts unknown"; it's a very big map for the period. It was very technically hard to make something like this. And it also shows other aspects of commerce here. Those are tobacco rolls. There's just an endless source of wealth available for settlers who want to come to the New World. Do you have any idea what your wife paid for it?
GUEST:
I think she paid about $5,000 for it.
APPRAISER:
$5,000, okay. That's a wonderful birthday gift. In today's market, the retail value would be between $7,000 and $9,000.
GUEST:
That's good. Okay. So I wasn't interested in the value, I was more interested in whether it was authentic or not.
APPRAISER:
Oh, yes, it's very authentic in every way.
GUEST:
Oh, that's wonderful.
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