Collecting maps is just the same as collecting any other antiques; it is a matter of personal taste and preferences and how much one is prepared to spend. The excitement and adventure of antique collecting involves owning something that has been produced by individual craftsmen whose love for the finished item is greater than its possible value.
What is it? Chances are you and most of your neighbors have a vexillum in your home...better yet, if you studied its history that alone might qualify you as a 'Vexillologist.'
The French named it and the Chinese do it; well maybe not exclusively, but the many small factories at least in Beijing attest to the Chinese influence in a form of enameling called Cloisonné.
"I thought water marks were stains made by rain drops, splashing water or worse yet the remnants of an accidentally tipped-over glass of water which made paper brittle, smelly, and ruinous."
