An ancient profession, antique dealing

İZMİR

Opened in İzmir's historical Kemeraltı Bazaar, the Antique Dealers Bazaar brings its visitors on a journey through time. Erkan Sert is one of the dealers at the bazaar who has been selling antique and collectible nostalgic products in his shop for 25 years.

Sert, who finds the antique objects sometimes by chance and sometimes by chasing them, displays the rarest pieces in his shop.

Stating that he did not have his own belongings in his childhood because he was born into a poor family, Sert said that for this reason, he loved to deal with old and vintage objects.

“Other people's garbage is our source of living. If you really like this job, you can do it. This is an exciting, enjoyable and adventurous job. At first, you don’t want to sell the objects you have, but after a certain period of time and when you become a professional, there is no object that you can't sell. Some objects have sentimental value. Of course, there are also objects that I keep for myself,” he said.

While describing his professional life, Sert stated he started the business of antique dealing by chance. “I was helping one of my friends in his shop, and I sold two objects. Then with his guidance, I entered the world of antiques. There are several different ways to obtain objects. The first of these are flea markets. When we go to flea markets very early in the morning, we see people who come even before us. Also, some people go to warehouses or other antique shops. They bring the objects to us, and we buy the ones we like. Another way is that household items are given to us by the relatives of deceased people. They sell all the items in the house. We pay for it and choose the ones that work.”

An Ottoman-era crown cap

Stating that he gave products to museums opened in the Aegean region and that from time to time he provided them consultancy, Sert said: “I have contributed to many museum collections, which gives great pleasure to me. We are also revealing a kind of history. We contribute to culture. For instance, I found a porcelain crown cap from the Ottoman era. It is a rare piece. When you find a rare piece, collectors ignore the economic conditions and make sacrifices to buy that item. An item should be rare to be considered an antique. It should be old, it should be rare, it should be in good condition. Already, collectors are chasing such pieces. We do not consider every old item as antique.”

Highlighting that there are a lot of items in his shop, Sert said, “There are so many pieces that everyone can find something here. Sometimes this is a glass or porcelain, sometimes a toy. People wonder how I find an object in such a crowd, but now my system is settled. When someone asks me about an object, I find it instantly in the shop. According to some beliefs, old items have a negative effect, but I don’t think that. It is a good feeling to think about the history of an object.”

Stating that young people's interest in nostalgic objects has increased with time, Sert said, “Eighty-five percent of my visitors are young people. Particularly, university students are very curious and good collectors. However, old things can be sold for very different prices on the Internet. People are sometimes fooled. For instance, a man and a woman came to my shop and told me that they were asked for 400,000 liras for a pocket watch. But the pocket watch in question was a piece that could normally be sold for 850 liras. Some people who see a cheap watch being sold for such high prices on the Internet think they can sell similar products at that price too, but this is not the case. Most of the prices on the internet are exaggerated.”