Why do antique maps continue to be a top collectible investment? There are at least three reasons:
(a) The principal sources of antique maps - atlases or books of maps - are rising rapidly in value. Since 1946, atlases have increased in value by 250 per cent every 10 years, compounded. From the late fifteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries, only small quantities of atlases were printed as they w
ere expensive to produce and buy. More than a few hundred copies of individual editions were rarely published. (b) University libraries and other institutions collect individual maps because they are important historical documents. And the budgets of these institutions are increasing as the economies in many countries in Eastern Europe and the Far East continue to grow. This means antique maps in general are continuously becoming scarcer and more valuable, in spite of tough economic conditions. (c) An investment in antique maps is also secure because maps are cultural icons that have never been out of fashion. Individually, each and every map since the 15th century to the present day represents society's impelling need for more accurate maps. And owning an antique map collection has another bonus; most collectors display them as framed objets d'art.
