What is an antique map/print/ What is a vintage map/print?

Antique maps and prints were printed, engraved or drawn at least 100 years ago. We consider that vintage maps and prints were printed, engraved or drawn between 50 and 100 years ago. We sell both antique and vintage items, and a small number of items which we printed more recently than 50 years ago where we find them to be particularly interesting.

As a rule, antique items are generally more valuable than more recently published vintage items because they are scarcer, however there has been an increase in buyer interest in early/mid 20th century vintage maps in recent years, and certain vintage maps are very collectible. Many vintage maps and prints have the attraction of representing a place as it was during living memory, which can make them interesting and personalised gifts.

Maps and prints published before the introduction of steel engraving in about 1815 tend to be scarcer than (and hence more valuable than) later maps, because steel allowed for many more impressions (ie copies) to be printed from the same plate before the quality of each impression diminished due to wear to the plate.