Collecting happens automatically
Like many (regional) museums in the Netherlands, the Yusuksuwan museum also started with a private collection. Forty years ago, Narong Yusuksuwan, a scrap iron merchant, started collecting old objects and since 2007 he has been displaying them in his museum in Muang (Prachin Buri).
The first collector's item was a German Petromax 900 Little Baby, a kerosene lantern made in 1950. It is offered on eBay for 27.000 baht. And in the opening year, a Japanese visitor even offered 1 million baht for a 100-year-old paraffin pressure lamp (see insert photo). The offer was kindly declined, because his father, says son Kittipong, reasoned that this might be the only example of its kind, so if he sold it no one would be able to see it. The lamp still works.
Father Narong's passion for collecting started when he discovered that there was a great demand for old paraffin lamps. At the time, he sold them, just like the old iron, for a few baht per kilo. Enthusiasts offered higher prices for lamps that were in good condition; sometimes as much as 50 to 100 baht. At some point it dawned on Narong that if he continued like this, there would be no more antique lamps. So he stopped selling and started collecting them.
Now there are 13.001 hanging from the ceiling. Most come from Germany and England. With so many lamps, it is therefore no surprise that the museum is known as a paraffin pressure lamp museum. But there is of course more: old typewriters, bicycles, scales, tin toys, kitchen utensils, crockery, charcoal irons, old Thai newspapers that cost 1 baht and a paraffin refrigerator. They can be seen in recreated shops (photo home page), display cases and display cabinets.
There are also photogenic points, decorated with flowers, and signs that visitors can stand in front of to have themselves immortalized, after which the photo can be distributed via social media. An idea from Yusuksuwan junior, who mainly wants to attract young visitors to the museum.
Yusuksuwan Museum, Prachintakham Road, 5 km east of Muang Prachin Buri. Open: 9am-17pm. Admission adults 150 baht, children 100 baht. Tel. 037-217-551/2 or 081-295-8218. www.yusuksuwanmuseum.com.
(Source: bangkok mail, July 25, 2013)