Auction of famous antique map collection

Antique map by Munster, Sebastian.
Europa/das ein Drietheil der Erden

MapAction ambassador Farhad Vladi is a world-renowned collector of antique maps. Over many years, he has travelled the world, seeking out the finest, rarest, and most beautiful examples of early cartography.

Now he is putting this incredible collection up for auction, with a percentage of the proceeds benefiting the work of MapAction.

Included in the sale is the first map to be printed from woodblock (Magna Germania, created by Ptolemäus in 1486), marking the start of modern map making, as well as maps from the world’s most noted cartographers, including Gerard Mercator, Willem Jansz Blaeu, Abraham Ortelius, Johann Baptist Homann, Sebastian Münster, and Matthäus Seutter. 

MapAction Past & Future auction lot

Bidders can also purchase one of the first three MapAction Past & Future Packages. This will enable them to select a map from a back-catalogue of thousands of maps, each of which tells its own story. The map will be a framed, printed version, signed (where possible) by one or more of the team members that attended that emergency and made that map. MapAction will also provide a short description of the purpose and situation for which the map was made.

In buying a map from a past emergency, they will also be helping to fund MapAction’s ability to support future emergencies. To recognise that, the winning bidders can choose any map that appears in our online map library arising from a future response, and MapAction will send a digital copy of that map, along with a sincere message of thanks.

The auction takes place on 23 September 2020 at 12:00pm EST and is open to all. It will be hosted on Liveauctioneers.comInvaluable.com, and Bidsquare.com. Bidders can participate online, through absentee bidding, or phone bidding. 

Page from antique atlas by Ortelius, Abraham. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (atlas)