A dear friend sent me on a quest recently.
Don’t think she intended to….but a quest none the less.
She sent me a link to this piece of art at West Elm……
A 1884 map of Dallas land owners. Don’t she know me so well, folks?
It’s a little hard to tell, but I think the Cavender property is on that map. (it would be in the lower-middle-part of the left side)
My heart actually skipped a beat.
Then I saw the price, 169 bones, and my heart stopped entirely.
Just a little out of my comfort level for such a treasure……..espcially sine we don’t have any available wall space anyway, and pictures are just leaning on the floor right now.
Hello Google….
Gallery Direct had them,
Printed on canvas and stretched over a stretcher frame, like this
Gallery Direct also offers them framed, or even mounted on plywood. Unfortunately, those prices are anywhere from 93 bucks to 120.
Ouch,
Good news, they also sell just the prints on paper. But 46 dollars for a 21 X 22 inch print? That’s still a little high.
(insert heavy sigh),
But there was hope, If I was willing to give up on the indigo color (and, I think I am) there are still options…
Like this one from Amazon….
Only 67.99 on matte art paper.
Or even better, this one from the dealer, Maps of the Past, on eBay….
31.99….with free shipping.
Ladies and Gentleman, we have a winner.
Sure, it’s just the print, and unframed.
I might have an unused frame for it in the hoard…….. I grab frames at garage sales all the time (and usually just spray them black).
If not, I know my framer can throw one together for me for about 40 bucks.
Done, and done.
Thanks, Kay….I just love the hunt.
(BTW, I’ve been following Kay’s blog, Red Bird Vinatge Home, since day one. She’s been remodeling an absolutely charming Dutch Colonial and cautiously picking paint colors, siding, the kitchen and bathroom fixtures and all the other bits of Pinspiration to fill it with. I feel very fortunate to have been along for that ride……..Check her out)
THE CAVENDER DIARY 
When I redid my beach house I wanted to get a couple of vintage beach movie posters, Beach Blanket Bingo and Blue Hawaii. The eBay posters were a great price. When I received them they did not meet my expectations. I’m not sure of the printing process but they were “off.” The paper was nice but the images were blurry and the colors not quite like the originals. I finally bit the bullet and got them (I think) from Art.com. Much happier. I’ve had great luck with most things from eBay though. I hope your map turns out well. It’s awesome that it shows your plat.
I know exactly what you’re saying. I had a similar problem with a King Kong movie poster. The replacement was much better. I order from Art.com and Allposters.com all the time for work…… We’ll just have to see if my Dallas map is “ya get what ya pay for”….. High hopes though……
You can view and download this map from the Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/item/2012592048
OK, that is seriously awesome!!! I may have to alter my story now…you think I could get it printed at a Kinko’s…they are pretty picky about what they print
I just uploaded the LOC file to Gallery Direct and ordered a framed 36×38 print for $68. Let’s see if this works out!
Those maps are great! We have a lot of similar items (well, Minneapolis – not Dallas) on the walls of our office; I work for a title company. What I love is that one of them is a plat map, and my property is on it! It was printed prior to 1904, because our neighbor’s property has what looks like a little drawning of a Monopoly house on his lot, and ours shows up as empty. 🙂
You can get a copy of Sam Street Original Map of Dallas County (circa late 1800″s) showing the original large tract property owner’s and locations of many now gone small cities eaten up Dallas’ expnsion for about $6 in the real estate office which was/is in the old Record’s Buiding downtown. I have done this several times and framed them for family and friend’s over the years. I had a much harder time doing so in 2013 but the head of the department took it upon himself to find it and ultimately did. Worth a try.