Antiquarian Threads Jewelry line

ANTIQUARIAN THREADS


Inspiration comes from many sources. I have spent
my life in constant overwhelming wonder of of our natural history, wanderlust, culture, art, history, great literature, and the pure line of an engraving...the
gleam of silver and gold....and true craft. They all
seem to tie back together in the big picture and I
can't wait for you to see it.
I am working on a line of jewelry pieces combining
all of these. I can see many directions my art can take me and I guess it might surprise and delight most .

The line encompasses a few different collections.

Compass Rose a collection of pieces made from the beautiful compass roses found on maps & charts, both colorful and graphic.
Botanica A selection of botanical images and
images from cultivation

Historie Naturelle My never-ending love of nature in all its glory.
Home a group of maps of where we are "from" or where we spent our childhood, grouped with found objects and the like. What brings you back to Home.
Wanderlust a collection of
things collected from my travels and yours.

This line is supposed to speak to you or someone
you love. It is supposed to make you want to interact
or be apart of it I have designed or vision you the
wearer to inspire me. Let me know where Home is to you or what piece of nature inspires you. Let me see
if I can create a piece of Home for you!





C A R O L I N A
ANTIQUE MAPS & PRINTS
91 CHURCH STREET
CHARLESTON, S.C.,29401
(843) 722-4773
LVARDELL@EARTHLINK.NET
*

Terrified!

I tried to Login the other day and was unable to access the Blog.I was frantic. You know with my ADHD and all my responsibilities, The phone would ring, I would remember I had to pay a bill, some paperwork needed to be filed, customers coming in and checking on what next step needed to be done with the jewelry pieces. I wasn't sure what I would or could do.
Well it is launched!
My ANTIQUARIAN THREADS line of Jewelry is Launched. I set up a web site to lead it to my Gallery site. They can be purchased on line as well as commissioned.

Long time gone..

" I am a long time in answering your letter my dear Harriet,"
"but you must remember that it is an equally long time
since I received it so that makes us even,
& nobody to blame on either side."
Mark Twain

It has been a while hasn't it! I have been working on too many projects ....some productive others not so. The gallery has slowed again and I have been busy updating my website with new inventory as well as getting ready for our Trip to Italy with the gang next month.
I am excited to say that in the coming months I will be producing a new line of jewelry... a long time in the coming. The last true line of pieces was so many years ago. It has been so long that I don't have photos of them in the computer. The first line was never photographed, though I have one or two pieces from the collection "Hugo Wear" the proceeds sent me to Europe twice . The confluence of the three, travel & jewelry and my true love of the engraved line. Hopefully my initial investment will sell as well as that first line. I have now the ability to sell it on my web site as well in the shop to see personally how well it works.

Newly founded Charles Town

John Speed's important 1676 map of the Carolina colony. Heavily based upon the explorations of John Lederer and Ogilby's Lords Proprietor's Map of 1674. This seminal map represents one of the earliest attempts to map the Carolina interior.This map is the first map to show the position of Charles Town on the map with North oriented West, the map covers from the Spanish colony of St. Augustine, Florida, north to Jamestown, Virginia. Extends inland as far as the Appellation (Appalachian) Mountains.

By the middle of the 17th century the coast of Carolina had been fairly well mapped , St. Augustine, Port Royal, Charleston (Charles Town), Cape Fear, Cape Lookout, Cape Hatteras, Roanoke, Cape Henry and the James River are all shown with a fair approximation of accuracy. We see ample evidence of the Lords Proprietors including Albemarle County, Clarendon County, Berkley County, Craven County, etc. This map also incorporates numerous elements from earlier maps including Lake Sarrope, which was identified by the De Bry - Le Moyne map of 1565 and most likely represents Lake Okeechobee. Also shows the River May (historically either the St. John's River or the Savannah River, depending on the map).

Where this map really gets interesting is the interior, which is heavily based upon the explorations of John Lederer in the 1670s. Lederer, a German physician who had moved to the colony several years before was commissioned by the Lord Proprietor, Anthony Ashley Cooper (Earl of Shaftesbury), to explore the interior in search of a pass beyond the mountains to the Pacific. As the time it was commonly assumed that the mainland of North America was a relatively narrow strip of land that could be traversed swiftly easily to access the rich trade opportunities of the Pacific. Though Lederer never managed to cross the Appellations, he did undertake three voyages which significantly impacted cartography in this region for several hundred years.

Today Lederer is highly criticized for fabricating much of his journey and a cursory examination of the map will reveal what might seem to be several gross cartographic errors, including a great savanna in the Piedmont, the "Deserta Arensa", and Ashley Lake in the north. Lederer's route is roughly traced on this map as he heads almost directly west from the Falls of the James River before turning southwest at the Mahock village (near Richmond). Keeping to a southwesterly course, Lederer passes a great savanna on his right and ultimately finds himself on the shores of Ashley Lake (which he calls Ushery and which on our map corresponds with the Great Freshwater Lake of the American Southwest popularized by the 1606 Mercator - Hondius Map). At this point Lederer returns along a parallel but more easterly course passing through a great sandy desert, the Deserta Arenosa, before returning to known lands.

Many scholars have argued that Lederer simply lied about many of his findings, but we find that much of what he said, when taken in the context of lonely explorer traversing an unknown land several hundred years ago, has merit.

Lederer's desert, the Arenosa, probably corresponds the Sand Hills region, though he does slightly exaggerate the scope. Some scholars criticize the desert as, according to his narrative Lederer spent several days on the desert before encountering water. Given the geography of the Sand Hills as we know it, it would seem likely that he would have such difficulty finding water, but his placement of the desert compared with the actual placement of the Sand Hills remains convincing.

The savanna in the piedmont region is non-existent today, though something very much like this may have existed in Lederer's day. Lederer describes this savanna as "marish grounds at the foot of the Apalataei." Cumming notes that "It is certainly probable that before the forest land was denuded and the top soil washed away, the piedmont may have had marshy sections, which have since largely disappeared". That Lederer expands this to a vast region is understandable given the somewhat limited scope of his investigations and his dependence upon Native American guides with whom he could only communicate via sign language.

The third anomalous element on this map is the great Lake Ashley. This lake, the source of the May River, had appeared on maps of this region since the mid 16th century Le Moyne-De Bry map. Lederer would have no doubt been familiar with later incarnations of this lake as popularized by Mercator and Hondius. Lederer claims to have found the lake and even to have sampled its waters. Some scholars have claimed that Lederer fabricated this discovery to add legitimacy to his explorations. Indeed, the lake had been around on maps for a hundred years and, had he not come across it, many of his other discoveries would have been thrown into doubt. Cummings suggests that Lederer may have turned back somewhat earlier than he claimed and simply added the lake having misunderstood the American Indian sign language describing the wave-like undulations of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Another scholar, Lyman Carrier, suggests that Lederer has actually stumbled across the Catawba Valley where "had the rivers been obstructed by beaver dames or debris, or had the channels through some of their gorges not been cut to their present levels, large areas of flooded land would have resulted."

After Lederer, nearly twenty five years would pass before another European explorer documented this region and consequently it is conceivable that whatever he actually saw, much may have changed. All in all this is a stunning map of seminal importance and a must have for any serious Carolina collection. Engraved by Francis Lamb and published in Richard Chiswell's 1674 edition of John Speed's Theatre of the Empire of Great Britain

1676

Source: Speed, J., The Theater of the Empire of Great Britian, 1676. Also in, Speed, J., A Prospect of the Most Famous Parts of the World…, 1676.

Investing in this time of Market Ups & Downs

You know growing up, My Father use to preach of saving for a rainy day. That the the wealthy invested money .....not spent it. Real-estate, rugs, art, gold, diamonds..... And to prove it right, I have seen the prices of investment quality maps stay strong in price while the decorative pieces are just holding their own. I have been taking in some incredible pieces for sale almost daily so I you have if any money to invest you might think of coming over here for a visit. For your information and perfect pieces for the start of a collection :I have the most beautiful copy of a 1st edition, 1775 Henry Mouzon's Map of North & South Carolina, a copy of "An Exact Prospect of CHARLES TOWN, the Metropolis of the Province of SOUTH CAROLINA. Printed by Bishop Roberts and Engraved by William Henri Toms Engraved for the London Magazine 1762.

Holiday Stressers

Happy Holidays! I do wish I had an unlimited inventory of pre 1800 maps of Charleston for under $400.00. I'm afraid most people don't have any idea how much maps cost. I do have many really beautiful ones $ 800.00 + and many funny and strange natural history prints. Why not give your love a butterfly or a small bird?
Blessings on everyone in this hard economy and best wishes for a strong and safe new year. Please help those I love find jobs to get thru these hard times and open our eyes to new creative avenues on how to create more for ourselves and others.
Laura

COSTA RICAN ADVENTURES

Well I’m back, and as always I had a FAB time. I’m not sure why it takes so long between trips. I should make myself go more often. I am a better person for it. I forget that there is a whole world out there other than this small world here in Charleston. I do have the financial responsibilities of the shop and worrying about who will take care of things at home. But hey no one else worries. It must be nice....

As I explained to the youngest of our travel party (nine total- spanning a 40 year age difference)
We had the Whole Package Tour! both good and bad. It was wonderful hearing her explain to her mother the concept of the Whole Package Tour. That in her getting bitten by fire ants made everything else better or more an adventure. We did get the Whole Package Tour. Incredible vistas, unbelievable flowers and plants, wonderful people, great food and cold cold cerveza! Then the not so nice, Worst roads I have ever seen, fire ants, bad water pressure, no hot water, loss of power for over 12 hours....(I will say it was in the other house not the guest house I was staying in)
More than one mishap with Europcar Rentals in San Jose... The other car , The one we rented from Europcar lost its brakes as we were going over the continental divide, yes, the car with the children in it... I hate to say say it but in the future I would tell everyone to avoid Europcar Rentals. One mishap is OK but the the whole trip it was one thing after another, no apologies, no explanations. I can go on and will if needed. Then as reported this morning ( some of the party is still there) There was a snake incident.

I can say I had some of the best laughs I have had in quite a long time and if you know me I love meeting new people so I was in my element. I do wish we could have found a Map shop or an Antiquarian Book Shop.
It is remarkable to think that so much of what we saw was illustrated here in my little print shop. Illustrated in the hundreds of Natural History engravings and lithographs, painted and printed over a hundred years ago by earlier eyes... eyes like ours seeing these plants and animals for the first time in life.....
The whole expedition, left to right- Steve, Tom, Alex, Julia, Laura
(Lisa's Sister), Maddy, Lisa, and Myself. I know I look out of sorts & mad. I wasn't .....just very hot. I have no idea where Sally, my sister was ...she was supposed to be in the picture. I'll see if anyone else took a better picture and post that one.