How to Start a Map Collection
Many people are just happy to buy a map of their home area, or maybe the town where they were born, or where the family emigrated from, or even someplace where they may have taken holidays. They buy one or two maps and leave it at that. They have a decorative piece of art for their walls and that suffices. But most people that buy one or two maps tend to come back after a while, and are looking for information on ways to start a collection.
How to Begin
A map collection can be started on a reasonably small budget, buying small at first, and then slowly working up to bigger items, and eventually a few Trophy Pieces .
The rudiments of starting a map collection are fairly simple and as always, it is completely up to the individual's budget and of course taste. The old rule of 'buy what you like' - not because you think it's the latest trend or that you can make a quick buck, but buy because you like it, because it appeals to you. There is nothing as bad as buying something that gives you blood pressure every time you see it.
Maps available in the marketplace today date from the advent of paper making. This broad range of ages is great news for the new collector. It means that some old maps are very rare and precious, and some are much newer and less expensive but may be almost as attractive to the right collector.
You can view some of the more modestly priced maps available on this site using the links below:
Maps Priced: Under €200 | €200 - €400 | €400 - €800
Choosing a Theme
Rather than taking a scatter gun approach, and trying to buy everything that comes in front of you that you can afford, it is better to decide from the beginning what the aim of the collection is to be.
Most collections are arranged around a theme. Examples of themes, would be geographic area, (say your home county, the town a certain person was born in, the country of your mother's birth etc.). Others are by period, by cartographer, or simply by appearance alone.
Some people focus on certain features that a map should possess such as ships, monsters, mythological beings or cherubs. Others like railway maps, canal maps or battle plans. Some people prefer road maps, while yet others can not let a sea chart or star chart pass through their hands. Some people prefer large wall maps, while others will only collect miniature maps. The list of choices is endless, it is entirely up to the individual's taste and pocket.
The most common theme or category is of course to collect by area. An obvious choice you might say, and also the most popular. But because of it's popularity, new collectors have been looking to other categories of late, especially if the geographic area chosen is already a popular one. This is mainly due to the growing scarcity of top quality examples available for purchase and the attendant price increases.
Irish Themes
Here in Ireland, the obvious first choice is for most people is to begin with maps of the entire country. The range of prices start at about €40-€50 for a small late 19th century or early 20th century map and can go all the way up to some where near €12,000 for a fine example of say a Boazio map. But as you can see there is scope for every budget within that range.
Other Irish themes are county maps, town plans, province maps and Irish language maps. Another Irish theme is a period theme, whereby some collectors will only collect early Dutch examples of maps relating to Ireland. So they would have maps by Mercator, Ortelius, Hondius, Jansson, Blaeu in their collections.
This is also a theme which suits all pockets, as all these cartographers produced small atlases, the range of prices would go from around €250 up to about €5,000, depending on the map and the cartographer, and of course condition.
It is up to you to decide which area you would like to concentrate on. But what ever that area is, the general rule is that you should buy the oldest map in the best condition that you can afford. These are the maps that are likely to be the least obtainable in the future.
The older and rarer a map is, the more forgiving you should be about condition.
