HCMC cafe has 10,000 antiques: Fossil money, cars from King Bao Dai's time

Time Keeper

In the morning, at the Lua coffee shop on Nguyen Van Troi street (Phu Nhuan district, Ho Chi Minh City), Mr. Huynh Minh Hiep (born in 1972) wears a simple traditional Vietnamese outfit, meticulously arranging old books and newspapers on the shelves.

Mr. Hiep is a famous collector in Ho Chi Minh City and also the owner of this coffee shop. He said that this place is his passion, containing antiques that he has collected for over 30 years and considers them treasures.

The newspaper cart and a series of time-worn books and newspapers at Mr. Hiep's coffee shop (Photo: Moc Khai).

With a desire to preserve the beauty of time, regardless of whether the objects are of high or low value, Mr. Hiep has owned an uncountable number of artifacts after a collecting journey of more than 3 decades.

Previously, most of the objects were kept by Mr. Hiep in a warehouse at his private home. Since 2018, the artifacts have been displayed at the Lua Coffee Shop.

"My close friend - Meritorious Artist Kim Tuyen - was the one who suggested I open a coffee shop to display the items I had collected. She said I had to display them so that many other people could have the opportunity to see and approach old items, reliving old memories. So in 2018, this coffee shop was born," said Mr. Hiep.

Mr. Hiep and his close friend Kim Tuyen next to two vintage cars displayed at the Lua Xua cafe (Photo: Provided by the character).

At the shop, Mr. Hiep displays nearly 10,000 artifacts, making the space here both nostalgic and intimate. The simple man also confided that the artifacts he found were partly the result of his search and begging to buy back, and partly because many people trusted him, gave him gifts and entrusted him to keep.

"In the coffee shop, there are coins from the Le Dynasty, more than 500 years ago, a fossilized block of ancient coins from the Minh Mang Dynasty from 1820, a newspaper cart from before 1975, a soap box with the famous Co Ba brand in Saigon from 1920 or Mac-phsu balm - a brand of oil commonly used in Saigon in the 60s...", Mr. Hiep said.

Mr. Hiep's coffee shop displays a collection of ancient coins and fossil coins (Photo: Moc Khai).

Mr. Hiep's coffee shop also has a collection of 500 newspapers from many periods, including 100 daily newspapers from old Saigon and many newspapers with historical value, including Gia Dinh newspaper edited by Mr. Truong Vinh Ky - the first newspaper written in Vietnamese script in Vietnam.

Walking around Mr. Hiep's coffee shop, everyone was surprised and delighted by the familiar yet strange items. Many people exclaimed: "My family used to have this item, but it's no longer there."

Some artifacts in Mr. Hiep's collection of old Saigon billboards (Photo: Moc Khai).

Every time a customer expresses interest in an item, Mr. Hiep talks about it in detail. Although he owns thousands of different items, Mr. Hiep knows by heart the time of manufacture, history of existence and special features of each item. He calls it passion.

Listening to the origin and history of the antiques in the coffee shop, many people think that Mr. Hiep had to spend a lot of money to have such a huge fortune of antiques as he has today.

However, Mr. Hiep said the most important thing for him when collecting is to preserve objects that are closely associated with people's lives through historical periods. He does not want the material value of the objects he owns to lose their value in time and emotion.

Popular items used many years ago (Photo: Moc Khai).

"The Gia Dinh newspaper I have was published on September 2, 1890 - a very special time. I also have Mr. Huynh Thuc Khang's Tieng Dan newspaper, which was only circulated for 16 years, or Luc Tinh Tan Van...", Mr. Hiep shared.

The arduous journey of collecting

Mr. Hiep said that to own an item that was made many years ago is not easy. He had to travel to many provinces from near to far, from urban to rural areas to approach an antique item.

"A typical example is the Gia Dinh newspaper - an antique that took me more than 10 years of searching before I had the chance to access it. A few years ago, I received this newspaper from a senior in Hanoi. He was old so he wanted to transfer the newspaper to me so that I could continue to keep it for the future," said Mr. Hiep.

Or we can mention the 1938 Motobecane AB1 125cc, 3-speed manual, from the time of King Bao Dai. To get this car, Mr. Hiep had to convince a collector in Vinh Long many times.

Mr. Hiep owns a collection of 500 newspapers, including 100 Saigon daily newspapers (Photo: Moc Khai).

After 7 years of existence, Mr. Hiep's coffee shop has been recognized by the Vietnam Record Organization as a place to display artifacts recreating old Saigon (before 1975).

Thanks to its nostalgic beauty, this coffee shop is also a place chosen by famous artists such as Nhu Quynh, Dam Vinh Hung... to organize music nights. This is also one of the settings in the movie Mrs. Nu's House by director Tran Thanh.

Famous singer Nhu Quynh gave Mr. Hiep's coffee shop 2 old music CDs (Photo: Moc Khai).

In addition, Lua Cafe is also a place to display nearly 2,000 artifacts in a collection that was recognized by the Vietnam Record Organization as the largest collection of market vouchers and artifacts and documents related to the Covid-19 epidemic in localities in Vietnam.

He confided: "The period of Covid-19 siege was an unforgettable period. At that time, I joined the front line against the epidemic, driving everywhere to support people. Thanks to that, I have documents that now when I hold them in my hand, I feel a lot of emotions, such as grocery vouchers, medical medicine vouchers, test papers... To me, those small, simple pieces of paper reflect a difficult, resilient period of my country."

Mr. Hiep confided that over the years, he has carefully preserved his antiques with all his heart, and has never sold any of them. However, he has also donated artifacts to museums, because he believes that antiques that are admired by many people will be even more meaningful.

Mr. Philippe Chaplain - President of the French National Heritage - visited Mr. Hiep's coffee shop and gave him a poster of the movie "Saigon" (Photo: Provided by the character).

Occasionally, Mr. Hiep collaborates with exhibition units and local authorities to transport his antiques from the coffee shop to museums, to recreate cultural spaces for people to visit and experience.

Mr. Hiep confided that in his family , he is the only one who is passionate about collecting, the following generations all have their own paths and directions. Therefore, he hopes that in the future, after this coffee shop, he can create a museum to display and preserve antiques for thousands of years.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/doi-song/quan-ca-phe-tphcm-co-10000-mon-do-co-tien-hoa-thach-xe-thoi-vua-bao-dai-20250222053429286.htm