What is New
Paulus Swaen has stopped its auction activities since July 2024.
Pierre Joppen started Paulus Swaen Old Maps in 1978, and the company is one of the oldest active - single-owned - antique and rare map sellers.
During the last 46 years, Pierre has pioneered online map selling and is unafraid of innovation.
A lot has happened in these 46 years of active map trading.
What is New
July 1, 2024Paulus Swaen has stopped its auction activities.
We have decided to stop auctioning and want to devote more time to finding good quality, rare maps and selling them directly to our clients in our BuyNow catalog, NewsLetter and exclusive offers to our clients.
Please have a look at our current BuyNow catalog or Recent Acquisitions. 2024 January - June
Creation of rarepapersales.com - Online platform to sell maps in a unique Buy-or-Bid Format. Discontinued in July 2024 2022
Creation of Meta4Maps - Online metaverse platform to present old maps 2010
Creation of HIBCoR. A grading system can help the starting collector to set his focus. 2001 - 2012
Miami Map Fair Steering Committee member 1996
Paulus Swaen Inc first internet auction of maps went online 1996
Paulus Swaen Inc was founded and incorporated in FL, USA 1975 - 1985
Paulus Swaen participated at the first 10 editions of the TEFAF Antique Fair in Maastricht, NL 1978
Paulus Swaen Old Maps and Prints was founded in The Netherlands
Meta Map gallery
What was born as an idea from science fiction has long since become reality! The metaverse is more than just virtual reality, augmented reality, extended reality, or cyberspace - it’s all those things at once. What is the metaverse [read more]
Welcome to the Paulus Swaen MetaMap.gallery at www.meta4maps.com
As far as we know, it the first metaverse gallery that is devoted to antique maps. A visit to the meta gallery is free and you can walk around anonymously or by using a nickname, your name, or by creating an avatar. You can interact and speak with other visitors (and you can access it through a browser, so no headset is required).
Note: You are asked to set up an account so you can create an avatar, but you may ignore these options and visit the gallery anonymously. When visiting on a mobile phone, you are asked to install the spatial.io app. (iPhone and Android).
Below are some meta map galleries we have created.
Showing antique maps of Ukraine. The mapping of Ukrainian lands (whose greater part entered the structure of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) in the 17th century was essentially influenced by creating a four-sheet map of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by Nikolai-Krzysztof Radzivill in 1613.
See the borders of the Ukraine territory for over 400 years.
Showing a broad selection of antique maps from the current BuyNow stock of Paulus Swaen Old and Rare Maps.
We have other galleries of maps of the world, such as Hong Kong, Conflict maps, and Africa.
Meta4Maps
Connect your map collectionEnjoy and share your maps with your friends and other map collectors!
On the meta4maps.com site, collectors can make their collection available in a metaverse gallery. A visit to the meta gallery is free, and adding your maps is fun and easy to do. Visitors can speak with each other (and you can access it through a browser, so no headset is required).
If you are an existing client of Paulus Swaen and want us to do so, we are happy to install your gallery free of charge, add some of your historical purchases and add your gallery to the Meta4Maps gallery list.
We will create your gallery using your existing Paulus Swaen Username and send your a password and a direct link to your meta map collection gallery. After that, you can add and delete items to your liking. You will have and keep full control of your gallery.
Map Bar
Take a break and pop in at The Map Bar. A metaverse bar where you meet other collectors, with plenty of maps on the wall. Agenda: Each Tuesday map meeting at 1 PM (Eastern Time) or Amsterdam 7 PM. A one-hour chat meeting with another map enthusiast to discuss the latest discovered maps, rumors, and questions you might have.