Whenever he hears of fishermen finding precious artifacts, Ho Tan Phan, goes down to the river to bargain with them.

On one occasion he agreed on a price with one of the fishers but had no money, so he asked the man to keep it until he returned with the cash.

After a week, he bought it with his wife’s house keeping money and loans from his friends.

“Holding the antique in my hand, I felt happy.”

The 70-year-old resident of Phu Hiep Ward in Hue, Thua Thien-Hue Province has collected thousands of antiques.

Locals call him the “researcher of Hue” and the “king of antiques.”

Phan quit his job as a teacher to begin collecting and studying antiques at age 49.

He loved antiques so much that sometimes he forgot his meal times and spent any money he had buying them.

“Wherever there were antiques, I went and tried to buy them anyway I could. Honestly, they were quite cheap at that time but now it’s very difficult to buy them,” he says.

Phan spends all his days with the fishermen who work the Huong River so he can see what they dredge up from the riverbed.

He has become their acquaintance, so they always sell him whatever they find at a reasonable price.

Phan is a fanatical collector.

He was fond of books when he was a teacher.

He spent most of his money buying them and now has some 30,000 in his collection.

A museum

Phan stores thousands of antiques at his home.

The house has run out of space, so he has to leave them in the garden.

He has many different kinds of precious artifacts with historical and scientific value.

They are mostly Sa Huynh ceramics that have been in existence for more than 2,500 years.

Phan divides his collection into three groups according to their period.

The first group is prehistoric antiques which he considers most valuable.

His collection contains thousands of items including objects which prehistoric people used daily such as vases, jugs, pots and pans.

The second group comes from the second to 14th centuries.

The third group, mainly copper items such as lime pots and flower pots, originated from the 14th century to the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945).

According to Phan, he and many of his friends, who are teachers of archeology, have studied and identified most of the antiques.

The most important part of the work is documenting the Sa Huynh culture along the Huong River downstream from Hue.

Many antique dealers have visited Phan’s museum and asked to buy his antiques but he always refuses.

“These antiques have a high cultural value,” Phan says.

“They serve as important topics of study to explain historical questions. If I sell them, we will lose them forever.”

Recently a Japanese professor, who studies archeology, visited Phan’s museum.

He spent nearly a day going round the garden studying the exhibits.

By dusk he wanted to buy a vase but did not dare to ask.

He only asked if Phan had ever sold a vase to anyone and received a nod of the head and a smile.

“I have spent my life collecting antiques to study and pass on the age-old culture of our nation to coming generations.” Phan says.

Source : Thanh Nien Daily