A $7.5 million find: Overlooked map turns out to be 14th-century treasure
LOS ANGELES -- Alex Clausen is a map dealer. And although that designation may not, at first read, exude adventure and romance, Clausen really is a modern-day treasure hunter. He doesn't sail the seas in search of sunken ships and pirate booty. But from his perch at Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. in La Jolla, he has made some impressive discoveries. Clausen, 35, peruses auctions, ...
LOS ANGELES -- Alex Clausen is a map dealer.
And although that designation may not, at first read, exude adventure and romance, Clausen really is a modern-day treasure hunter. He doesn't sail the seas in search of sunken ships and pirate booty. But from his perch at Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc. in La Jolla, he has made some impressive discoveries.
Clausen, 35, peruses auctions, estate sales and other dealers' websites in search of antique maps, manuscripts and pivotal historical documents that have been forgotten or overlooked — sometimes for decades.
A few years ago, he got his hands on the original drawings for the Statue of Liberty. But nothing, he said, compares to the $7.5 million find he came across last fall.
