Antiques shopping in Asia
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Panjiayuan Antique Market
Beijing’s most beloved flea market sells almost every Chinese knick-knack imaginable. It’s a great spot for souvenirs, but bargain hard and treat any claims of antiquity with scepticism. Not much goes on here during the week. Instead, get here early on the weekends for one of the most fun shopping experiences in Beijing.
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Maharani Art Exporters
Maharani Art Exporters is one of the better bets for quality replica antiques.
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Dempsey Rd
These former British Army barracks have been turned into warehouse shops specialising in antiques. In this delightful, pleasantly disorganised setting, you'll find anything from Kashmiri carpets and teak furniture to landscaping ornaments and antiques - and a couple of excellent wine bars. It's a fascinating place to explore, attracting crowds of expats and well-to-do Singaporeans at weekends.
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Guyi Antique Furniture
There aren’t many genuine antiques here, but there are a lot of good-quality reproductions and it’s especially strong on screens, cabinets and desks. They speak English.
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Janganpyeong Antiques Market
It’s ‘out with the old and in with the new’ in Seoul, so ever wondered what happens to all the old stuff? It ends up here, stuffed inside over a hundred small shops housed in four separate arcades of antiques. The shops are so full of old furniture, paintings, pottery and stone statues that customers can barely squeeze inside. There are more Buddhas here than in Thailand. The atmosphere is very quiet compared to the other markets, but if you love to browse through old dusty treasures – from yangban (aristocrat) pipes and horsehair hats to wooden shoes, fish-shaped locks and embroidered status insignia – the arcades are easy to visit. At the subway exit walk over …
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Penang Pewter
Something you'll see in many shops, particularly along Jln Penang, is Penang Pewter. This is a small shop but has a large array of Penang Pewter direct from the factory. As Malaysia's second-name Pewter company, Penang Pewter can be a real bargain compared to the picture frames, goblets, vases and the like produced by its upscale compatriots. The company's newest claim to fame is its gold-plated pewterware, which it happily adds to its 600 or so available items.
If you're not fussed about great quality or brand names, even cheaper pewter items, many of which you can get custom engraved, are available in small shops around Komtar shopping complex. Pewter was once made with…
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Chine Antiques
This is one of the glossiest antique stores, with prices at the higher end of the spectrum. This branch is at the Liu Haisu Art Gallery and there’s a warehouse on the western outskirts. A small branch office in the Old Town (6387 4100; 38 Liuhekou Rd; 浏河口路 38 号 ), just off Dongtai Rd, can direct you to another warehouse a couple of minutes’ walk away.
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Nguyen Frères
Finely selected antiques, quality reproductions and stylish silks are attractively displayed in this beautiful two-storey shop, which projects a sophisticated and appealing hybrid of Asian and European aesthetics. Cool Deco lamps, groovy print scarves, old Buddhas, French Catholic statuettes and H'mong textiles are just some of the items sold here. The shopkeepers will offer you hot tea, to induce you to linger awhile.
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Zhōngzhōng Jiāyuán Jiāju
There are more pieces, including hundreds of wooden screens, here under one roof than anyone can take the time for. Ask to see all the rooms (about 15!), including the unrestored pieces in the warehouse, but only if you have a spare day or two. The sales staff are slicker and prices slightly higher than at some other places in town, but if you’re looking for something specific, they might just have it.
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54 Traditions Gallery
This shop has a mind-boggling collection of antiques from Vietnam's hill-tribe communities. All of it's for sale, but it's worth taking an informed tour of the three floors, especially if co-owner Nguyen Thi Nhung is on hand. She's one of Hanoi's most knowledgeable curators of ethnic crafts, and she will patiently explain any item that strikes your fancy. All purchases are documented for export.
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Ámantee
Although well outside of the city centre, this ‘repository of Oriental and Tibetan art and antiques’ is well worth the trip. Consisting of several interconnecting wooden Thai houses holding a variety of classy items, the peaceful compound also boasts a cafe, accommodation and occasional cultural events. A Thai-language map for taxi drivers can be downloaded from the website.
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Galérie Cho Lón
Marrying the polish of a high-end lifestyle store with the chaotic jumble of an eccentric curio shop, Cho Lón always has the ability to surprise. Among the familiar range of Asian furniture, homeware and antiques you'll find an excellent range of books, plus things such as old-style stitched leather footballs and antique kids' bicycles. A delight.
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Arch Angel Antiques
Though the specialities are antique and ancient porcelain and tombware, Arch Angel packs a lot more into its three floors: it has everything from mah-jong sets and terracotta horses to palatial furniture. It also operates an art gallery, Arch Angel Fine Art (38 Peel St) across the road, which deals in paintings by Vietnamese artists.
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L’Arcadia
The buyer at L’Arcadia has a sharp eye for collectables from Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand, including cute red-lacquer containers, Khmer-style sandstone figures and carved wooden temple decorations. If you simply can’t resist that colonial-era lounge chair, the shop can also arrange to have it shipped home for you.
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Henry Antique Warehouse
This enormous showroom, with more than 2000 high-quality antique pieces, both large and small, is a good first stop for antique hunters. It’s down a lane off Hongzhong Rd in a not-so-obvious location; look for the signs. The Traditional Furniture research department of Tongji University is based here.
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Teresa Coleman Fine Arts
This is the finest shop in Hong Kong for purchasing antique Chinese textiles, including rare chi fu, the formal court robes of valuable silk worn by the Chinese emperor, princes and imperial ministers. The shop also deals in Chinese export paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries and antique fans.
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Far East Legend
A small warrenlike shop – the kind you tiptoe around for fear of knocking something over – selling an excellent collection of furniture, lamps, handicrafts, statues and screens from Korea, Thailand, Burma and China. The owner is happy to engage in some gentle, polite bargaining. Keep smiling.
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House of Chao
This three-storey shop, housed, appropriately, in an antique house, has everything necessary to deck out your fantasy colonial-era mansion. Particularly interesting are the various weatherworn doors, doorways, gateways and trellises behind the showroom.
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Zhang's Textiles
The Shanghai Centre address means this top-end shop caters to flush expats, offering a sublime collection of antique and framed embroidery, dragon robes and shoes for bound feet. Strangely enough, Bill Clinton prefers the Běijīng branch, but everyone has the right to be different.
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Grandfather’s Collections
A wonderful, dusty bric-a-brac shop that does indeed look like your grandfather’s attic, with pre-WWII radios, clocks and typewriters, old Coke bottles, Ovaltine and Horlicks tins, and vinyl records. It’s a true oddity that is worth supporting, even if it means buying an old John Denver LP.
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Fuji-Torii
For more than half a century, this discriminating antique dealer has specialised in providing authentic lacquerware, ceramics, scrolls and ukiyo-e (wood-block prints) to interested buyers. Authenticity is guaranteed and there is also helpful English-speaking staff.
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Chine Gallery
The carefully restored furniture – the lacquered cabinets are fab – at this shop come from all over China, and hand-knotted rugs are sourced from remote regions such as Xinjiang, Ningxia, Gansu, Inner Mongolia and Tibet. It sells statues and collectibles, too.
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Phillips
The 150-year-old Phillips has nizam-era royal silver, wooden ceremonial masks, Victorian glass and various other gorgeous things that you never knew you wanted. It also has high-quality reproductions of old photos, maps and paintings, and a warehouse of big antiques.
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Honeychurch Antiques
This fine shop, run by an American couple for more than four decades, specialises in antique Chinese furniture, jewellery and antique English silver. There’s a wide range of stock, with items from the early Chinese dynasties right up to the 20th century.
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Red House Antiques
Specialist in Chinese antique furniture and restoration, Red House has been around for years and is one of the most reliable dealers in the city. There are some magnificent old pieces on display, from the smallest chair to the most enormous doors and screens.
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