1835 John Farmer "City of Detroit" Map
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GUEST:
There was an estate sale right down the street from where I live, happened to like the frame, thought my friend might like the map, and so I bought it.
APPRAISER:
All right. And what did you pay for it?
GUEST:
$100, because I thought the frame was definitely worth $100.
APPRAISER:
The publishing information is right up here. 1835, by John Farmer. And John Farmer came out to Michigan with the opening of the Erie Canal. He thought that the Erie Canal would bring a lot of people to the Midwest, which, of course, it did. And he thought this was a good opportunity. And he started map publishing and map making in Michigan. He did some very, very important maps, including this seminal map of Detroit. It is original. There actually are under ten known copies of this map.
GUEST:
Oh, my goodness.
APPRAISER:
And the condition of this kind of shows you why. It's a large map. It was printed on four sheets. And you could buy them separately, but they were generally joined together, and this one was joined together and mounted on linen. Up in here, it's starting to flake away, and you can see the linen underneath. And that's why this one survived, because the linen is what protected it. These things were made to be used. The fact that it's a very early map of Detroit by the important John Farmer and that it's so rare gives it quite a bit of value. Now, you paid $100, but you said it was for the frame.
GUEST:
Right.
APPRAISER:
What do you think it's worth? What would you guess?
GUEST:
Well, if it's one of ten, maybe, like, $1,000?
APPRAISER:
Even in this condition, which is not in good condition, if it was being sold by a retail shop, they'd probably be asking about $5,000 for it.
GUEST:
Oh, that's a little more.
APPRAISER:
Yeah, it is a little...
GUEST:
(laughter) Oh, my, okay, that's good.
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