Antiques Roadshow

APPRAISER

And you brought us this folding map--"Wyld's New Map of the United States"--and let's open it up and see what we've got here. It's a folding map that's backed onto canvas and cut into pieces so that you could unfold it like this. And you can see here the title says "Wyld's Military Map of the United States The Northern and the Southern Confederate States" and the date--which is down here at the bottom--1861. Tell me how you got this map.

GUEST

Well, I was looking through an antique magazine in England. I was stationed in England in 1961 and I saw this map advertised of the Northern and Southern states and so I wrote the address and asked the gentleman how much he wanted for it, and he wrote back told me he wanted about three pounds, which is about $12. I sent him the $12, and he sent me the map. I sort of fell in love with it. I'm from the South, and it interested me. I also went to the Citadel and it has an insert of, uh, Charleston.

APPRAISER

Right down here is a inset map of Charleston and the harbor and the Citadel actually appears on that map, doesn't it?

GUEST

Yes, it does.

APPRAISER

I gather your wife is not quite as keen on the map as you are.

GUEST

Well, no, she's not but I think I've made my point, thanks to you.

APPRAISER

Uh-huh. Any map of the United States during the Civil War is interesting--especially one that highlights the North and the South. And here it has the label that says the slave states are bordered by blue--and they're indicated here--which is essentially the Confederacy although Kentucky never joined the Confederacy. But what's particularly interesting is that this is a London map and the English were very interested in the Civil War. You know, a lot of the cotton came from the South and went to England and so they were making a lot of money on it so they were very concerned about the economy. Now, they never recognized the Confederacy which is why they still call it the "Southern states" as part of the United States; but they were very interested. They had all these economic ties so the English were interested in having a map like this. So this map was made and sold and looked at in London--not in the United States--and that makes it particularly interesting historically as well as all the information that it contains about the insets of Washington, D.C. of Charleston.

GUEST

My wife, Janet, says it ought to have at least doubled that and so it should be worth about $24.

APPRAISER

Well, it's worth more than that. A map like this, done in London of the United States at a historically interesting period--especially a separately issued map like this--is quite popular now on the market. We would sell a map like this for right around $1,000 to $1,100. I hope maybe your wife will like it a little more now.

GUEST

Maybe she will. Maybe I'll will it to her. ( both laugh )