Manama: Hafez Abdul Ghaffar, a Bahraini collector of historical items, turned his home in Saar, just west of Manama, into a museum.
The Bahraini, who defines himself as “immensely passionate about timeless moments of the past”, hosts a collection of vintage bottles, old documents, rare banknotes and coins and newspapers that offer glimpses into the lifestyles of nations and people, rich and famous, poor and humble, significant and eccentric.
He says he wants to make visitors, who can enter for free, at home.
Among the stars of his collection are: An Egyptian newspaper that reports the 1956 attacks by Israel, the passport application issued by the Egyptian Sultanate, King Farouk’s wedding poem, a passport issued by Al Quaiti State (Aden) and vintage drinking bottles from several countries are a source of nostalgia for older generations and awe for the younger ones.
“I don’t think of turning this into a business. I just want other people to enjoy and share in my passion for historical items,” he tells Gulf News.
Seeking to share his love for vintage and rare objects, he also launched Antique, a specialised magazine for antique collectors.
His passion for collecting historic and rare objects started when he was a high school student in the early 1980s.
“It was just a hobby that started with asking relatives and friends coming back from trips abroad if they could give me any extra cash from the countries they had visited,” Abdul Ghaffar recalled.
“Gradually I had acquired many items from several countries. It started with bank notes and coins and then I started accumulating rare currencies such now-defunct countries such as the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia,” he said.
“It is a real challenge to find them, but the satisfaction of obtaining them is truly exhilarating.”
He also has currency from Iran during monarchy rule in the 1930s.
Other rare items include bank notes with rare numbers such as: 333333 or 555555 0r 888888.
He also has the rare American $2 bill which was issued in 1776 and discontinued in 1966.
Later, it was briefly resumed in 1976 as part of the United States bicentennial celebration. The last bill was issued in 2003.
“I also have a Hungarian Milpengő issued in 1946. The one million pengőbill was meant as a means to deal with hyperinflation that hit the country following the Great Depression and World War II.”
Other multi-zero banknotes in Abdul Ghaffar’s possession include Turkish lira, Nazi Germany’s one and 10-million banknotes, and Bosnia’s banknotes of 100 million dinaras and 500 million dinaras.
“I also have a collection of banknotes from several countries with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth on them, such as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, Bahamas, Bermuda, Gibraltar, Saint Helena and East Caribbean.”
Queen Elizabeth who succeeded her father in 1952 has been depicted on the banknotes of 33 countries.
“I have steadily developed the habit of visiting specialised museums and currency museums whenever I visit a country. I try to purchase currency sheets from central banks and this is not easy and is in fact quite expensive. Lately, I have done it in the US, Malaysia, Iraq, the Philippines, Thailand and Korea. Of course I was among the lucky few who could get the 28-banknote sheet from Bahrain Central Bank.”
Abdul Ghaffar said that his rich collection has motivated him to participate in international exhibitions in the Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and beyond.
“I am also keeping in touch with several clubs in Greece, Italy and Cyprus and we exchange currencies and phone cards,” he said.
“I very seldom let go of any piece of my collection, and if I do, it is only if I have more than one piece or when I want to exchange it with a much-coveted coin or banknote.”
However, he cannot part with his collection of rare banknotes of the Arab world.
“I am truly proud to have Palestinian pounds in Arabic, English and Hebrew,” he says, beaming.
“These are widely sought after in the world as well as notes from the Ottoman Empire and Nazi Germany.”
He has a BD5 banknote which was first issued in 1965 which replaced the Gulf Rupee.
This note is now worth BD 1,000.
Interestingly enough, he found the BD5 note in Istanbul. He bought it for $100 from the vendor.
In 1986, while he was in Cairo, he bought a banknote issued by the Egyptian government with the serial number 000001.
“The vendor did not know how valuable the note was, so he gave me a very cheap price. I was so pleased that I paid him much more,” he says.
A small section in his museum is dedicated to the Philippines.
Being married to a Filipina, Abdul Ghaffar has invariably used his trips to the Philippines to purchase a wide variety of objects that were popular during the sixties.
