Old maps,once given away to junk dealers for free,are finding buyers and art dealers How would you like to ride with the Huns,discover astrology with Greek gods and lay a plan for the famous Battle of Plassey? We are not talking about a time-machine. Delhis aesthetes have been finding a way back to history through ancient maps for some time now. A smorgasbord of maps from all time-lines,sizes,some originals and reproductions,can be found in shops tucked away in various nooks and corners in the Capital. Maps are gaining popularity as art pieces,as is apparent from the rise in their sales at auctions and in shops. Sumer Seth,from New York,who has been collecting antique maps,says I collect antique maps from the colonial era. Obviously,they wont serve any navigation purposes,but I recognise their value as a collectors item. In Cottage of Arts and Jewels,a tiny basement shop in Hauz Khas Village,one can find bits and pieces from the past decades like jewellery,old Hindi film posters,along with the largest private collection of old maps,the number going into hundreds. This is Kusum Jains 25-year-old shop that has maps ranging from the early 6th Century to the late 1960s. She stocks maps collected by her late grandfather,Kishan Lal Goyal,along with facsimiles and ripped pages from old atlases. My grandfather had a shop inside the Red Fort in the 20s,where some British regiments used to be posted. They were his chief source of maps, says Jain,63. The gem of her collection is an original Greek astrological map,etched by hand on a metal sheet. Its a facsimile,made during the early 17th century,priced (approximately) at Rs 13,000. The original maps and old reproductions fetch the highest price, says Jain,adding that until a decade ago,she used to sell only 10 to 15 maps. Now the sales have doubled. In an upcoming auction,Bangalore-based Bid and Hammer,one of the major auction houses in India,has decided to auction rare and antique maps with other antiquities. The maps,priced between Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh,have been sourced from private collectors and will go under the hammer on October 22. One of the latest entrants in the antique map market is Delhi-based Indian Popular Art owned by Balkishan. He keeps maps that have been sourced from various collectors and date back to the early 19th century. At his store in Hauz Khas,prices of the maps range from Rs 1,200 to Rs 9,000. Interestingly,some Open Series maps that fall under the non-classified category of National Map Policy,are also available for download for a premium on the Survey of India website.
