Tried out Alexander and the Pirate Republic and upgraded Charlotte Amalie to a city.
I had thought that when Alexander upgraded to a city the name would be replaced by one of his historic real-life Alexandrias.
I picked up this old shipping guide from 1915 (published in Chicago in Dec 1914) at a used bookstore yesterday. It predates the United States’ entry into WWI but is from after Japan entered the war. Does anyone know anything about it? Does it have any value? It’s chock full of old ads and timetables as well as two different fold-out maps.
Other than a few minor signs of wear on the cover, it’s in remarkable condition given its age.
I found an antique Hokusai print for sale at my local antique store, and the shopkeeper and I were unsure if it was an original Hokusai or a reprint. It seems to check all of the boxes for “original” that I read about online (a bleed-out of the image on the reverse that matches what would be expected of a woodblock print, minimal margin, washi paper, no pixelation when viewed with a magnifying glass) but it lacks the cartouche with the title. According to the shopkeeper, the only other cartouche-less edition of that piece that he could find while researching it was one sold at Sotheby’s, and that was a first state print.
The piece is in what the shopkeeper presumes to be the original Western frame, and there’s a newspaper dating from the 1880s in the frame serving as extra “protection”, so we think it’s at least that old. There is a small red circular stamp on the bottom left of the backside of the print. The shopkeeper obtained it from a late gentleman who had a large collection of East Asian, Indian, and Persian art, so the shopkeeper feels like it’s an authentic piece at least (ie it’s not a modern forgery).
When the shopkeeper put his photos of it into AI, it said that it was possibly a reprint from the Meiji era, but I haven’t seen any known reprints of first state (cartouche-less) editions on the ukiyo-e compendia websites. I’m inclined to think it’s a reprint but the lack of the cartouche is throwing me off.
I only have the two attached pictures of it, but the shopkeeper has more (especially of the backside). I did the best I could to minimize the glare. The piece is quite faded regardless of its authenticity.