Thai Girl Tattle: Collecting Things
Andrew Hicks wants help in identifying some of the things he has collected on his journey through life.
To see pictures of them visit his Web site http://www.thaigirl2004.blogspot.com/
On my travels through life I love to collect things along the way, things that remind me of my experiences and of the special qualities of the place.
This often means buying attractive artefacts and handicrafts, though it's increasingly dificult to find something that's old but not just made for tourists. Anything that's more than a few decades old usually comes with a high price because the locals know its worth.
Strangely some of the nicest ethnic antiques that I've found have surfaced not in their place of origin but in Europe. As a result they weren't so expensive as nobody knows what they are or where they come from.
In an antique shop in Topsham, Devon I bought a delightful pair of wooden carvings of a husband and wife in traditional dress, at a broccante in Auray in Brittany a baleful red mask and at a car boot sale in Taunton, Somerset a fine tribal mask.
All are old, all are of good quality and none of them is mass produced for tourists as far as I can tell. My problem is I don't know exactly what they are or where they came from.
They are all beautiful things but they would mean much more to me if I knew exactly what they are.
They might even be worth something!
