Why Experts Don’t Believe This Is a Rare First Map of America
Why Experts Don’t Believe This Is a Rare First Map of America
When Mr. Clausen contacted him in early November with concerns, Mr. Wilson said in an interview
that he had remained confident because, among other things, the paper and the Bavarian map’s long provenance seemed solid evidence that the map he was bringing to market was indeed an original.
Designed to be cut out and pasted around a sphere, these creations of Waldseemüller are thought to
be the first printed globes ever made, as well as the first maps ever to use the name “America.”
Christie’s, the auction house, estimated the new find would fetch from $800,000
to $1.2 million when it went on the block Dec. 13 at its London salesroom.
An original map, one that came directly off the woodblock, would not have replicated that tear, which happened later, Mr. Wilding said.
In naming this new place, Waldseemüller and Ringmann passed over Columbus, who had first reached the New World in 1492,
but only set foot on the mainland in 1498, in favor of Vespucci, who said he had landed there in 1497.
The experts — including Mr. Clausen’s employer, Barry Ruderman of Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps,
and Michal Peichl, a Houston-based paper restorer — had many concerns about the map.
When Mr. Clausen contacted him in early November with concerns, Mr. Wilson said in an interview
that he had remained confident because, among other things, the paper and the Bavarian map’s long provenance seemed solid evidence that the map he was bringing to market was indeed an original.
Designed to be cut out and pasted around a sphere, these creations of Waldseemüller are thought to
be the first printed globes ever made, as well as the first maps ever to use the name “America.”
Christie’s, the auction house, estimated the new find would fetch from $800,000
to $1.2 million when it went on the block Dec. 13 at its London salesroom.
An original map, one that came directly off the woodblock, would not have replicated that tear, which happened later, Mr. Wilding said.
In naming this new place, Waldseemüller and Ringmann passed over Columbus, who had first reached the New World in 1492,
but only set foot on the mainland in 1498, in favor of Vespucci, who said he had landed there in 1497.
The experts — including Mr. Clausen’s employer, Barry Ruderman of Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps,
and Michal Peichl, a Houston-based paper restorer — had many concerns about the map.