Evaluate
In our ever-faster global world with its ever-changing short-term trends, Federico Fellini’s maxim makes us pause to reflect. Constant and rapid change alters our perceptions, our sense of time, our emotional worlds and our civilisations.
And what about our hunting instinct? Does ambitious collecting have a place in this day and age? Do we devalue the everyday marvels that we perceive because we don’t often find the time to enjoy them? We long for calculable, stable and lasting values. But are we aware that both our values and ourselves are transient?
Let our collection take you on an interesting journey through time that will enchant you!
Discover extraordinary treasures and wonders of past eras. Art, craftsmanship and knowledge from seemingly forgotten times – genuine, timeless, weathered by the scars of our history, irrevocably and guaranteed out of the ordinary.
Our insiders’ tip:
EARLY PRINTS AND MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE PERIODS
FASCINATING
Early works from the Gothic and Renaissance periods enthral us not only because of their historical, aesthetic and technical attributes, but also because they are the foundations and the conveyors of human knowledge upon which today’s society is based. Knowledge has been ‘stored’ in books since the invention of printing in the mid 15th century and distributed in its entirety throughout the world. Books provided the ideas and the architecture behind the cabinets of curiosities and wonders.
RARE
These treasures have become rare! Editions of early printed books were limited to a few hundred copies. The effects of wars, censors and climatic conditions have decimated the collections over the centuries. Most of the surviving examples of early prints and manuscripts that remain today are housed in museums as well as municipal and state libraries. Only very few are in private possession.
IMPOSSIBLE TO FORGE
Unlike almost all other valuable pieces of art and collectables, manuscripts and early prints are, and always have been, impossible to forge. You can be absolutely certain of owning an original. The old, original deckle-edged paper was (and still is) too precious. The natural ageing of the animal skin is too complicated to recreate; a watermark is technically too difficult to reproduce. Gothic printing and writing techniques are too labour-intensive.
RICH IN IMAGES
Books or manuscripts can frequently be seen in the hands or in the direct vicinity of great figures of the past in portraits. Proximity to these was considered a symbol of knowledge, wealth and power; they were status symbols which befitted an affluent figure with an elevated social status. Nowadays these cimelia represent luxury for the few who know that they still exist at all. They are en vogue and at the same time a personal secret.
UNDERPERFORMING
This “new-German” term is, in our opinion, absolutely appropriate. In our digital age, the medium of printed and handwritten words has acquired the diagnosis of “seemingly dead” – plain old and stuffy. If you look at worldwide performance of trend-driven hypes, in the case of pieces from the Modernist period and contemporary art it would seem that historical, timeless, cultural artefacts have hit rock bottom from a psychological and mercantile perspective. Therefore they also currently make a very attractive investment proposition.
Browse through 700 years of cultural history and judge for yourself!