Articles in Mind

High Definition History Channels' Pawn Stars is a pawn store of items with stories. The more notable and historical the story is, the higher price they can command. To authenticate high ticket items and apprise their value, the owners tap the services of consultants. The Harrisons coming from three generations of the Harrison family-grandfather Richard, son Rick and grandson Corey operate in the outskirts of Las Vegas. As a typical pawn shop, patrons usually part with their objects for money, nothing else.

In Manila, there are several surplus stores  like MSM Surplus Store along EDSA and Avenida that sell household objects sourced from the US, Australia and oriental countries. Displayed at their warehousese are second hand items mostly working, some broken. Scouting for objects in these stores is just like going back in time. Great finds are crystal glasses, hi-fidelity audio equipment, turntables and a hundred assortment of bric-a-brat. There is no authentication though but you can haggle for the price which as tagged is already at a bargain.



A store inside Adarna

Seeing how any object is restored by the Kings of Restoration on HD History Channel makes this show interesting to a Do It Yourself practitioneer. 

There are artifacts lying around when restored to its working state are transformed to a piece of beauty. It can be anything like a furnace, a scooter and other functional tools of the past decades or centuries. As any object in the past, it must have an interesting anecdote associated with it. Restorers quote a price based on materials and hours spent to service which by peso standards is astronomically outrageous. Owners almost always are satisfied with the finished product.

Old objects in commercial establishments add character to the place. Restaurants in Manila use these objects as decoratives to complement the ambiance they are creating. Thus a plantsa and a halo-halo ice crusher at the entrance of an old Filipino restaurant immediately tells a visitor local cuisine is on the menu. These objects, functionally operational and now memorabilia are worth displaying but may not still command a premium trading price relative to the items pawned in Las Vegas. But its value is priceless when it brings back to the present a feel of tradition.

Artifacts are objects from a particular period. They are key in uncovering the story of the past and are treasures. There might be as John Keats says, "a thing of beauty and a  joy forever" an object just right in your backyard.

Show visuals lifted from the History Channel website