antique Archives - IpohWorld's World

January 2010

Almost Antique by Years – Art Deco by Style

By ika|2010-01-17T05:44:03+08:00January 17th, 2010|Categories: Ipoh Town, Memories|Tags: antique, art deco, electrical, Ipoh Town, lighting, style|

In the entrance to the same building as the wash hand basin below hangs this electric light fitting. As electricity did not properly come to Ipoh until 1930, courtesy of the Perak River Hydro-Electric Power Company Ltd, it can only be around 75 years old – the art deco period – and that ties in very well with the style of the fitting. So we are in no doubt that the owners of this building were “early adopters” back in the 1930’s and quickly took advantage of the ability to provide proper lighting to illuminate their leisure.

Incidentally, the first electricity available in Ipoh was in 1923 by arrangement with the Pengkalan Tin Company, Batu Gajah.

Truly an Ipoh Antique from an Earlier Age

By ika|2010-01-14T16:14:24+08:00January 14th, 2010|Categories: Ipoh Town|Tags: antique, heritage, Ipoh Town|

For most items the definition of a true antique is more than 100 years old, although there are special arrangements made for items like paintings.

Here we have a real antique, found still fitted in a Chinese building in Ipoh after almost 117 years. Such items were quite rare in Perak in those days, apart from perhaps in the residences of the more senior colonial administrators for such things had to be imported at not inconsiderable expense. Therefore this was no cheap shophouse knocked up quickly, but a quality building with no expense spared for the building, its furniture and fittings.

As you can see from this second picture the basin was imported from Scotland from what is probably the most famous of all sanitary ware – Shanks of Barrhead established in 1850. There are actually two in the same room underlining the fact that no expense was spared. Can anyone guess which building these are in?

A word on dialects. Chinese are famous for their dialects, but Glasgow also has its own where Barrhead is pronounced “Boorheed” and Glasgow “Glessga”. I wonder is anyone out their knows how the Glaswegians pronounce “Milngavie”?