Exhibition for Antiquities A “window” to the past…

            This was a genuine idea! Congratulations to the ones who had it and the ones who implemented it. I am talking about the exhibition for Antiquities, which took place in Bucharest from last Saturday till Monday, August 10th. (When they say antiquities, they mean = items of 20 – 100 years old). Situated at Aviatorilor boulevard, the exhibition started across the discreet low profile “Becali Palace” and ended at the intersection with Ion Mincu street, next to the statue of the Aviation heroes (once I want to know all about them, the sound very interesting to me…)
            The weather was an important ally in the try of the organizers to create the necessary environment for a bazaar: Lots of small “stands”, one next to the other, thousands of people walking by, hundreds of them asking for prices, checking items etc. I went there on Sunday and I really loved it, as I like getting in touch with the past. My budget was low (I am not a major collector) and I focused on the most interesting things for me (and I guess many other foreigners too):
What I bought
Romanian newspapers from 1927, couple of bronze communistic souvenirs and mainly tens, over 150 photos of the past. I think I bought a photo from almost every major city of the country! You could find photos of 3 main categories: Black and white photos of Bucharest before the second world war (with Calea Victoriei looking gorgeous in the interbelic period…), colored photos from the communistic periods and colored card postals from the same era (which made all my colleagues enjoy reading what people were writing some 20 – 40 years ago…).
I saw lots of people interested in coins, notes, watches and jewels. These categories collected 60% of the total interest, I guess. There were also many other items, but the queues were at the spots where people (= women) were choosing jewels. I felt very comfortable overall, as policemen were walking upside down non stop and the whole atmosphere was a mixture of anxiety (for an opportunity to find), curiosity and positive energy…

Two things I didn’t like…
There were just one two things I didn’t like. There were plenty of items which didn’t really look like antiques. It seems to me that some… sweet crooks brought there recent products too, trying to mix them with the old ones and sell them to naïve people. Secondly, it was quite interesting for me to identify several sellers who had the same behavior as the Real Estate thieves have. You can guess that I avoided buying from them, thank God there were not that plenty.
Now that I am thinking about it, if this bazaar would represent the Romanian society, I would tell you that 30% of the people were really very bad, while the majority were normal or very very good, civilized and polite people, that you were happy to meet, negotiate and eventually buy from some of their goods.
I hope that I will be able to create a portfolio of old photos, presenting them to you, just so as to try to understand the past of this country. Because by understanding the past, you can be more prepared for the future…

PS. I was told that this exhibition will be organized again in September. I suggest to you not to miss it…