Nice website with African arts, crafts and designer coffins!
 

I don't know what I was reading, but I think it was Fortune Small Business magazine, and there was an article about this website and how they sell designer coffins along with more conventional African arts & crafts. Looks like a pretty good website for anybody interested in arts & crafts, and possibly designer coffins!

http://www.eshopafrica.com/acatalog/index.htm

Rocco, this is a very interesting site. I am looking for a number of statues and wall hanging for my guest room. However, this site is not secured so I don't know if I would be brave enough to share my credit card information. Did you use them or do you know anyone who had positive experience ordering from this website? I found those coffins a little spooky and weird and it is many months to haloween.

z,

While I have no personal experience with the website, I am comforted by the fact that they appeared in Fortune Small Business magazine (although who knows how well the author of the article checked out this company).

I do appreciate websites like these and I will never buy souvenirs from Africa again, only to carry them all the way home to find similar things at Cost Plus World Market or Expo Design Center for about the same price!

Another good website for African decor would be EBay. I have bought a couple African arts from EBay without a problem.

Z
I'm with you. Fraudsters don't care whether a company is part of the Fortune list or not - but they will certainly be interested by sites which don't offer secure payment services as they are likely to be easier to hack into and steal financial information from.
Whilst the vendors are no doubt trustworthy, I personally would not put any transaction through their website unless I was sure that it was secure.
It might be worth writing to them and asking them about payment security.

Thank you both.
Kavey, what a great, yet such ovious, idea. I'm going to check this site again and try to find their e-mail address. Rocco, thanks also for additional suggestions

You're welcome and do let us know.

It may be that the page where one enters credit card number IS secure but it's unusual that the preceding page where one enters name, home address and other information is NOT.

Would be keen to know more.

Try Novica which is affiliated with National Geographic. They have secured site, accept credit cards and ship directly from West Africa
http://www.novica.com

Wildflower,

Novica has very interesting items on their website. I once bought a hand-crafted (hand-painted) leather map of the world as it was known 500 years ago. It graces one of my office walls and gets every bit the attention as do any of my wildlife prints which are also proudly displayed in my office, mostly in 20" x 30" sizes.

One word of caution about Novica...they WILL e-mail you mercilessly after you get on their mailing list, but I guess that can be avoided if you are not too lazy and send them an "unsubscribe" e-mail or whatever it takes to get off their e-mail list.

Rocco, I just got from them a gorgeous wall hanging. I am the one who NEVER shops on line but was pleased with Novica. And now I want that map too. Is it from Africa? Thanks for warning about e-mails.

Wildflower,

The map was actually made by a couple artists from Brazil. I don't remember their names but they are a man and a woman duo, although I am not sure if they are a couple or husband & wife. But, I imagine that you may be able to track down their work by looking at the stuff from Brazil, and they do seem to do a lot of maps.

I would say that the map probably measures at least 24" x 36", but probably slightly larger. I don't know what I paid for it...maybe $300 on EBay? It has been a couple years since I bought it.

A parting thought...what makes the map so interesting is that it is inaccurately drawn, as the world was known 500 years ago.

I don't think there is an Antarctica on the map and the continents are not necessarily sized and shaped what you will see on maps today.

Furthermore, there are drawings on the map...for example, in Africa, in the South-Central part, there are a group of giraffes drawn. In South America, there are indigineous people drawn and then in Central America, there are exotic birds drawn. Each area has their own distinct little art. If I see something like it on Novica, I will let you know, as this is a map that will likely be showcased for quite a long time as it is a real eye-catcher and catches quite a few compliments.

Very helpful. Thank you, Rocco!

Wildflower,

I wrote my response while at home, but I did have a look at the map while at my office today and have more information for you.

My map was made by an artist named Mari Hermann from Brazil. It is 36" height by 48" length and is fire-engraved and hand-painted.

It features numerous flags planted around the world of the European power which ruled over that particular country. For example, in North America, there are many British flags, while in Central and South America there are plenty of Portugese and Spanish flags, as well as flags planted all over Africa of different European powers.

The painting is titled and engraved "Theatrum Mundi, 1562" which I am guessing means World Theater, 1562.

Good luck on tracking down the artist. She definitely is very talented. :)

Wildflower,

Well, this is from a different artist, but I sense that they are all following the same methods, as this map is very similar to my own, but replicates a 1630 map (rather than my 1564 replicated map).

Here it is:

http://www.novica.com/itemdetail/index.cfm?pID=78107

You gotta love E-Bay!

Here is the exact same map for $60 USD less! :)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...37456&rd=1

This is a beautiful map and is similar to the one in my office.