For antique dealer Victor Tan, old is indeed gold. SUZANNA PILLAY speaks to him about his prize finds.

The back of the typewriter.

THE next time you find yourself at a flea market, don’t scoff at the objects on offer. Instead, take a closer look at what you may have initially dismissed as junk — if luck is on your side, you could cross paths with something valuable.

That’s how Victor Tan came across a rare 70-year-old plate from the RMS Queen Mary, a superliner which was launched in 1934. Tan has since sold the plate to an antique collector for RM750, making a tidy profit for himself in the process. He recalls buying the plate for a song from Penang’s infamous Lorong Kulit flea market, opposite the Penang City Stadium in Datuk Keramat.

“It was displayed on a shabby mat on the floor looking quite grubby and forlorn, so imagine my surprise when I turned it over and through the grime, was able to read “RMS Queen Mary” emblazoned on the back. What a sorry fate for a plate which must have once graced a stately dining table of the superliner.

“How it ended where it did is a mystery. The RMS Queen Mary was an oceanliner for the Cunard Line that sailed the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. During World War II, it was used to transport Australian and New Zealand troops to Britain,” says Victor, who owns Kheng’s Antique and Collectibles, a curiosity shop of interesting collectibles and memorabilia, tucked away in the recesses of the Central Market’s ground floor in Kuala Lumpur.
Plate aside, his shop is chockful of other interesting antiques and collectibles from yesteryear, which include Beswick and Royal Doulton figurines, out-of-print books, turn-of-the-century dolls, postcards, art and even contemporary collectibles like a Star Trek USS Voyager Starship 1992 special edition collectible.

However, his prized possession is a typewriter brought to Malaya in 1856, dating back to the reign of Queen Victoria. He bought it in 1999 from one of the oldest accounting firms in Penang.

“A German tourist who collects old typewriters visited my shop recently and offered me RM33,000 for the typewriter, which he said was the oldest he had come across,” says Victor, who is only prepared to let it go for RM68,000.

The proof of its age, he says, is the writing on the back of the typewriter which reads: “Sole Licensees for the United Kingdom, India and the Colonies.” The phrase “United Kingdom, India and the Colonies” was carried on goods produced during the reign of Queen Victoria, he adds.

Old is gold for Victor. The shop is a result of his passion for collecting.

“The interest in collecting was always there. As a schoolboy, I was an amateur collector of postcards. Then in the early ‘90s, I collected clocks and had 180 clocks in my home. It was only in 1999 that I decided to venture into the antiques and collectibles business and started with a small shop in Penang’s Batu Ancang market,” he says.

There, it proved to be the right move to make, as the same year the National Archives bought his entire collection of 4,000 postcards of Malaya (1900s to 1960s) for a princely sum. Last year, he moved to Kuala Lumpur and set up shop at the Central Market. His store carries items from the 1930s to 1950s — most of which are purchased from flea markets, auctions or from well-to-do families — he explains, as he continues to show me some of the more interesting items in his shop. Completely enchanting are a Mobo rocking horse which still gallops mechanically when you press a lever, and a 1930 Honer accordion with individual plates and steel rods which amazingly still plays music.

Victor says that he will always be a collector at heart: “Once a collector always a collector, I like beautiful things. But as a dealer, I can’t keep everything, much as I’d like to.”

Antiques vs reproductions

VICTOR believes that when you like a piece, you will know where to put it.

“People can collect anything but a serious collector may want to consider the investment value of a piece. Antiques will always appreciate, with some pieces able to command thousands of ringgit at auction houses. For example, furniture. Look out for art pieces too which appreciate well, especially an artist’s early work.”

He believes in collecting wisely, which is to invest in well-placed antiques.

“Articles should give us pleasure but should also be something within our budget. Don’t go overboard.”

If you can’t afford antiques, there are other ways of introducing nostalgic elements into your home, he says, such as investing in reproduction pieces.

“There are a lot in the market now for people who just want to decorate their homes. Its also a way for them to introduce ‘old into new’. A serious collector, on the other hand, who might want to sell later will have to buy something original that can be an investment.”