1930s – Tanjong Pagar Railway station opened, Kallang Airport opened ...
PORCELAIN PILLOW
"This is a beautiful 19th century Chinese blue and white opium pillow from the late Qing Dynasty. A smoker would lay on the floor or smoking platform, resting his head on the pillow. This pillow has an open-work 'cash' motif design at one end. The other end has an aperture to permit items to be stored safely inside, typically the wallet of the smoker. This pillow is decorated on four sides with a quatrefoil cartouche enclosing a pair of lion dogs playing with yarn on all four sides, surrounded by a blossom decoration and key pattern borders. My father used to sleep on this solid porcelain pillow. I am not sure if he had brought it along with him when he and my mother emigrated from a Teochew district near Shantou in the 1930s or that he had bought it in Singapore. My father passed away in his 50s in 1962." - Edmond Tay, 67 
WIND-BLOWER MACHINE
“A dealer kept this and sold it to me in Singapore about six months ago for about S$250. It is used to fan the charcoal or wood branches back in the old days. Air would come in from the hole on the side, and then go out either in the front or back. This concept was first in Indonesia and later went to Malaysia. Singapore had this much, much later and was mainly used in kampungs. I recognised the machine (made out of wood) from pictures and I never had a chance to feel it. I think it is less than 80 years old.” – Charlie Lim, 65 
LUGGAGE
"This was my grandfather's leather luggage and it has his shoes in there. He used it while he travelled in the 1930s. It was there when we moved out of the Merchant Road shop so I kept it. I can trace back on the Internet to find out how much the bag is and the days of how much income he had so I can understand that time better." – Jeffrey Eng, 54 
TELEPHONE
“My grandfather bought this phone in the last ’30s. I wanted to keep it and it also adds an old element to my shop’s ambience. The phone was not working and was not compatible to our local system, so I found a retired telephone engineer who had a shop repairing old phones in the UK. I got my daughter who was at the time an air stewardess and when she travelled to the UK, she met with the engineer and left the phone with him. When she flew back again, she picked it up. The engineer got the phone ringing and working again.” – Jeffrey Eng, 54 
PORCELAIN CRANE PLATES
"This was the dowry given to my mother-in-law by her mother over 80 years ago. When my in-laws passed away, it came into my possession and I decided to keep them. My husband had passed a collection of stamps to one of his nephews, which was passed down from my husband's father. It was a pity that they went missing later. That is why this pair of porcelain crane plates means a lot to me now." - Ng Suan Loi, 77 |
POUCH
"This was my grandfather's travelling canvas pouch. When he travelled, he would put his documents in there." – Jeffrey Eng, 54 
WRAPPING PAPER
"This is old wrapping paper from my grandfather's first shop (where he sold tapestries and did some tailoring, and later brought in musical instruments and stage props) at 15 Merchant Rd in the late 1939. I keep it because it is the first piece of wrapping paper that was made and it relates to grandfather's first shop." – Jeffrey Eng, 54 
ORIENTAL VASE
"My late mother-in-law presented this vase to me when she was alive. She said it was presented to my late father-in-law by the British just after the World War II. I will treasure this oriental piece made by Adams and Sons, a well-known pottery in England then. From the inscription on the pottery, it seems that it was made in 1938. This vase will be part of the family and will be passed from generation to generation." – Linda Tay, 65 
SAMBAR DEER ANTLERS
"These deer antlers has been in my family for about 80 years. The deer was shot by my great-great-grandfather, who settled in the Chestnut Avenue area after he arrived from China in 1898. It was kept in my grandfather's house until they were resettled in the early '80s to Bukit Batok. My father then brought it back to his house in Hillview. In 2009, I used it as an exhibition piece for the opening of Wallace Education Centre at Dairy Farm and it generated a lot of interest. Now it hangs in my study." – Jerome Pang, 54 |
DOCUMENTS
"On top is the certificate of admission from the 1930s owned by my grandfather when he was 36. The other one below from that is the landing permit of my grandmother, and the last one on top is my grandfather's certificate of registration. I trace back on the Internet during the period of what happened so I can understand the thinking behind the family and I can treasure my own life and family better." – Jeffrey Eng, 54 
SHOP CATALOGUE
"This was my grandfather's shop catalogue detailing all the items being sold in the shop including costumes, tapestries, religious items and bed linens. It is so customers could see." – Jeffrey Eng, 54 |