Fool’s gold

Antique collectors are invariably patient and passionate but they also need to be experts to spot the plethora of fake items that are pumped into the market.
Vietnam’s recent strong economic development has created an asset-hungry population. While the majority of cashed-up families are content with a stately scooter, an iPhone or a luxury apartment, a small group are more interested in the remnants and vestiges of bygone eras. Previously, all antiques were State-owned.
Trading of antiques was verboten until 2002 when a sea change was initiated by a new law regarding cultural heritage, which allowed for antique trading. Trading had gone on before in a quieter fashion, of course, but under the new law the floodgates had officially opened.
Today, speaking to antique traders, it’s impossible not to notice the variety of backgrounds and professions. Antique shops in Hanoi count state officials, academics, artists, doctors and lawyers, and long-term foreign residents, as regulars. What all of these people share is a fascination for antiquities. Collectors are invariably patient and knowledgeable. Some are passionate. Some are obsessive.
Nguyen Thi Nhung from Hanoi’s Cao village recently filed for divorce. After 10 years of marriage she had had enough of her husband’s absenteeism.
“I cannot bear his lifestyle. He has always lived for antiques. He spends most of his income on these goddamned things and ignores his family,” says Nhung, a doctor by profession and a mother of two.
But her husband, Pham Duc Hung, a computer engineer by trade, defends his time consuming hobby.
“Antiques are great. They give me a good life, both spiritually and financially. Why does she not her understand my passion?” asks Hung, who owns a collection of over 100 bowls, 50 lamps, and hundreds of vases, which are 100 years or more old.
Holding an ancient lamp, he attempts to explain his fascination. Dare I say it, he attempts to convert another follower to the cause. “I found this piece in Hanoi’s Dong Ngac village, which is famous for its scholarly reputation. I bought it for VND200,000 ($10.5). It was used by a family for four generations as each child studied for the royal examinations,” says Hung.
He is less interested in how much the item might gain in value but more enthusiastic about how this relic might inspire his family. “I want my children to study better with the image of this lamp in the house,” he says.
He is constantly on the look out for rare objects. He takes a bowl in his hands and explains how he spotted it by chance while watching a fish farmer scoop fish out of a pond in Ha Nam province.
He suspected the bowl was a valuable item so he feigned interest in the farmer’s fish. He struck a deal to buy some and asked if he could take the bowl to carry the fish for a few extra quid. The farmer readily agreed but then another man twigged what Hung was up to.
“He was just sitting on the bank watching us. Maybe he was an antique trader. I don’t know but as the farmer handed the bowl over he suddenly offered to buy it for more than what I offered,” he recalls. “We started quarrelling so I tried to get away as fast as I could.
In the end the fish farmer and the guy were chasing me down the road! A few days later I had the piece assessed and confirmed it was made in the 14th century!”
Items from Hung’s collection are mostly worth seven to 10 times what he originally paid. But collectors sometimes prefer to hold onto precious objects rather than sell them for a quick profit. Even if the collectors sell an item, usually the money is spent on more antiques.
Hoang Van Phach, an antique collector from Hanoi’s Tay Ho district, has collected antiques for 15 years. He buys everything at cheap prices.
“I used to be a cameraman. One day, I bought a vase from my neighbour. I later found out that the vase was made during the Tran dynasty (1225-1400 AD). Three years later I sold it for 12 times the original price,” Phach says.
“I became obsessed after that. I spent the money I made on more antiques and eventually quit my job as a cameraman to collect and trade antiques full-time,” he says. But clearly his family have benefitted from his career change. He lives in a large four story house, which he rebuilt eight years ago.
“I am a lucky person. At present, I own a big collection of books, vases and rings, most of which date back to the 14th – 15th century in Vietnam and China,” he says. But he also admits he’s hit a few bumps on the road.
“All antique collectors and traders sometimes have had to pay a price. There are so many fake antiques around, most of which come from China. These fakes are skillfully made and altered with the help of chemicals. If you are not an expert, you will be easily duped,” he says.
“Ninety per cent of marketed gems and jades are either fakes or low quality items from China.” According to antique collectors, in many craft villages, including even Hanoi’s Bat Trang pottery village and Ngu Xa bronze casting village or Hung Yen’s Phu Lang pottery village, craft workers make fake antiques.
“Why can you see so many antiques in the market? Where do they come from? The answer is they are all newly made,” Hung says. “Even antique collectors and traders have tricks to enrich their collection. They know amateur collectors cannot distinguish fakes from genuine items,” he says.