Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
thirteen-inch globes. Most are antiques, but one is from the 1998 World Cup and plays the
anthem of each competing nation when you press its corresponding flag.
“I've never seen that before,” says Phil Simon, pointing at a strangely elliptical globe on
alowershelf.Phil,aretiredUnitedpilot,isthepresidentoftheCaliforniaMapSocietyand
has come with me to take a look at his friend's collection. In his sixties, he's a grandfath-
erly man with bushy black eyebrows and a penchant for sweater-vests.
Leonard is delighted to have the oddity noticed. “You know what that is? It's an ostrich
egg!”
“That's a beauty! Who made it?”
“Who made it? The ostrich made it.”
WesitonLeonard'sterrace,whichgivesusabreathtakingthree-hundred-degreeviewof
SanFranciscoonacloudlessday,fromtheGoldenGateBridgeinthenorthwestalltheway
around to the Bay Bridge eastward. We're on top of the tallest building on one of the city's
highest hills, which might make us the uppermost people in the city right now. (I can't tell
if we're quite higher than the tip of the Trans-america Pyramid or not.) When I mention
thistoLeonard,hepointsoutthatthere'sactually apenthouseaboveus;hisupstairsneigh-
bor is no less than George Shultz, longtime secretary of state under Reagan. “And his deck
keeps leaking onto our ceiling!” he complains.
Yes, this is what even the middle tier of serious map collecting looks like: an elite world
wherethemostseriousannoyancesaretheleakyhottubsofformerCabinetofficials.There
may still be entry-level maps around, but, by and large, soaring prices have made this a
hobby for the affluent. But Phil and Leonard still get moony when they talk about the
real
never
amass a collection like Wendt's,” sighs Phil. “This man is
extremely
wealthy. One of
his maps, there's only five of them in the world.”
MapshavebeenluxuryitemseversincetheRenaissance,whentherearethefirstrecords
of people collecting them. It was fashionable at the time for wealthy Dutch burghers, Ger-
man nobles, and Italian merchants alike to keep “cabinets of curiosities”—little home mu-
timewassonovelthatyouweren'tnecessarilyacollector
of
anythingspecific,likecoinsor
seashells or porcelain. You were just
a collector,
full stop. You wanted it all, and the world
was still limited enough for that to be a reasonable goal. Surviving inventories of such
chambers reveal
an amazing hodgepodge
made possible by the new age of exploration:
beltsofBraziliancannibalsembellishedwiththeteethoftheirdevouredvictims,rhinoceros
horns encrusted with rubies, books from Malabar printed on palm leaves, stuffed pelicans,
“eighty faces carved on a cherry stone,” “an instrument used by the Jews in circumcision.”
Maps and globes were nearly always part of the display, both to provide context for the
wide-ranging collection and because they were valuable items in and of themselves.
