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FINDERS KEEPERS | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA
Daniel Crouch started working with antiquities at the age of 16, and has never stopped. His elegant gallery in Bury Street specializes in antique maps, atlases and sea charts dating from the 15th to 19th centuries, following what has been a personal obsession. He shares the stories of two exceptional objects that have passed through his hands: his greatest find and the piece he'll keep forever.
BY SARA PIERDONÀ | MASTERS & MUSES | OCTOBER 2025
Daniel Crouch's obsession with antiquities was sparked by a fateful comment. While working as a young apprentice in a rare book shop in Oxford, the owner rewarded him, jokingly, with the declaration that Daniel had become ‘manager of the map section'. It was said evidently in jest as the dusty, dilapidated shop had not changed one iota, nor rearranged its map section – and nor would it ever do so in the future.
But for Daniel, this comment was to be the formalization of his vocation. Many years later, thanks to a fortuitous meeting at TEFAF with a private collector, he would add to his already extraordinary collection a second, equally specific category: antique games and playing cards, reproduced in their exuberance of color and wittiness of form in beautiful printed catalogues that are coveted by all his customers.
My Greatest Find: The Vesconte Maggiolo Planisphere of 1531
I had to write a catalogue of over 50 pages to do justice to this piece. But perhaps the proof of how exceptional it is, is simply given by its current location: it was bought from me by the Louvre in Abu Dhabi for a record sum, and I am very happy that it is in a collection visible to the public. It is one of the details that contribute to making the story of this acquisition so perfect, in my opinion. The other detail is that I got the portolan from a private individual, and it took me seven years to convince him to sell!
He had inherited it from his father, an antiques dealer, and although he was perfectly aware of its value, he kept it rolled up under his bed! It has a notable historical value, because it is the first map to illustrate the New York Harbor and is one of the first representations of the northeast seaboard of North America, with the peculiar addition that, from flags and other easily identifiable symbols on the map, one can also reconstruct the tensions of the time between Hapsburg and Valois.
But for a non-specialist observer it is possible to admire it just for the beauty of the designs and colors: the silhouettes of the tritons, the African elephants and fantastic animals such as unicorns (located in the Far East) are absolutely fascinating.
The Piece I’ll Keep Forever: una mappa di James Wyld, intitolata ’North Hinksey’, del 1852
"I have a friend to thank for this special find, an ink manuscript mounted on linen and edged in green silk, with mechanical roller and oak housing, which is the only map hanging in my house in Oxford. My house is a cottage, so there’s not much space to hang my objects of desire, but this map sits proudly in the hall, literally the first thing you see when you walk in. It deserves its place, because my house is featured on the map!
I still remember when I received a message from a friend who had found it from an unwitting seller. I was out walking the dog and ran over. I got the precious map for about £100. It’s funny, because over the years of my career, with a gallery that sells all over the world, I’ve noticed that my typical clients are men who don’t live in their home country. I have never left Oxford and I commute back and forth to London every day, but this story confirms that there is something nostalgic in all maps."
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Cabana Magazine N24
Covers by Morris & Co.
This issue will transport you across countries and continents where craft and culture converge. Evocative travel portfolios reveal Japan's elegant restraint, Peru's sacred churches ablaze with color, and striking architecture in a fading Addis Ababa. Inspiring minds from the late Giorgio Armani to Nikolai von Bismarck spark curiosity, while exclusive homes—from the dazzling Burghley House in England and an Anglo-Italian dream in Milan, to a Dionysian retreat in Patmos and a historic Pennsylvania farmhouse—become portals that recall, evoke and transport.
