I know that you, like me, love going into antique shops. There are many antiques and collectables shops in England, and the same is true for Russia, Moscow in particular. My walk in the city centre last week brought me to several of such shops, although I never went inside any of them. When I do go in, I often leave with a pack of old postcards. On the back there are usually letters, and while I don’t try to investigate who those people were, I always find a great pleasure in imagining how they could be living, what relationships they maintained, etc.
This time, however, the shopwindows of those antiques shops brought quite a few remarkable examples. In some of them you will see an old paper knife, a mirror, and a collection of China dolls, including the characters from The Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol. In others there will be amazing gilded dishes, vases, and clocks, complete with a bottle of the Red Label whiskey.
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| The characters from The Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol |
My maternal grandfather used to say “one person's junk is another's antiques”, but I love them for the same reasons you do.
I have a beautiful wooden chest in Welsh blackwood, which to my complete amazement, my previous landlord & landlady allowed me to take with me when they sold up and I had to find somewhere else to live. I've no idea of its history and often wonder how it came to be in Orkney. I do know I shall cherish it for as long as I'm around.
I still remember staying in Deganwy for a couple of days, and in my room there was a splendid set of furniture with Oriental decorations: it was dark blue with gilded Japanese old men and trees. I wished I could stay there forever! 🙂