“This is an opium pipe from the 1940s. Opium would be placed in the little opening on the side, which touches a glass burner, and then the user would smoke. Back in the old days, I saw pictures that people would lie down together and share the pipe. There were a lot of police raids in the middle of the night to capture the opium maker and smoker, and place them in jail in the 50s and 60s.
The pipe was made of bamboo, while the container where opium went into was porcelain. I bought the pipe in Bangkok or Indonesia for around S$350. With Singapore banning smoking in certain places now, I kept it because I wanted to show what people in the old days used to do when smoking. It is quite a perfect piece and undamaged.”
– Charlie Lim, 65
AUTOGRAPHED PICTURE OF LADY MOUNTBATTEN
"In September 1945, when the Japanese had surrendered, Edwina, Lady Mountbatten accompanied her husband, Lord Louis Mountbatten to Singapore and gave out autographed pictures of herself to those who volunteered at the Red Cross. My aunt Marie received one of them. I am a history graduate so it is in my culture to know when things happen."
- Donald Wyatt, 80
BOUNCED CUSTOMERS' CHEQUES
"These are bounced cheques from the 1940s and 1950s, and one was for $5,000! This was from my grandfather's shop. I just keep them so I can remember.
My grandfather chased the money but if don't have, what choice did he have so he had to let it go. Even after, he still was very trusting of people. In today's world, it is all by contract. My grandfather felt that if he reported it, his customer would go to jail. And, if he had a family, the family would then be broken. My grandfather felt that if we could still survive without the customer paying, then let it be. Too many laws makes things difficult as well and life becomes sad.
I now feel the same way he did which makes me a lousy businessman! Probably when I was younger I would have felt differently – must get back hard-earned money and don't care if they go to jail. When you are older and have a family, you see things differently."
– Jeffrey Eng, 54
BELT
"This belt is solid silver. I cannot remember where I bought it or how much it cost but it was in my early 20s when I was working in the rubber factory and I was with some of my girlfriends who were working there.
But I do remember it was the first piece of accessory I bought for myself. When I was young, owning gold was beyond me but it did take me a long time to save up even for this.
A few years back, I asked my daughter which piece of my meagre jewellery collection she would like to have in future. Strangely enough, she said she wanted only this belt, not knowing at that time what it meant to me." -Foong Wai Chung, 90
RED CROSS PIN & MEDICAL DOCUMENTS
"I didn't move anything. They are all in the drawers and I kept all the items. I remembered my Aunt Marie in a Red Cross uniform and after a bombing raid in Singapore, she went out to help. After one fierce bombing raid, she came home with blood on her shirt. She must have been carrying someone who was wounded. My grandmother saw this when she came to the door and screamed at her on what happened to her. She was volunteering with the British Red Cross for the three weeks or so that the British forces were still defending Singapore."
- Donald Wyatt, 80
SCHOOL BAG
"This is my father's leather school bag from the late 1940s when he went to Dong Moh Primary School at Tank Road (there was a railway track before that school was built). Where the school was, it is now a Teochew building." – Jeffrey Eng, 54
SEWING MACHINE
"This is a hand-operated sewing machine.‘Singer’ was, and still is, a premium American brand established in 1851.
This machine, with the registration number EC717027, was bought by my father for my mother as home-sewn clothes were the norm then.It was hire-purchased on October 11, 1941 at the cost of S$140.That was a princely sum at that time, so a down-payment of S$20 was made, with the rest paid by S$5 monthly installments.Then came the Japanese occupation of Singapore and times were hard, so there was a lapse of payment.
The machine was eventually used by my mother to earn a living to bring up seven children.She sewed mainly ‘samfoos’, the everyday clothes of most Chinese women of that era.She had many customers because of her good craftsmanship, despite not having any training in tailoring.
(The shophouse in Balestier Road, where my parents lived, is still standing, housing an eatery now.)" – Tan Mui Siok, 68
JAPANESE CURRENCY
"This is the currency used during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore and people called it 'banana money' as there are bananas on the currency. This note came with a history book on the war. It is the real notes as I remembered them.
During the war, I was only a child so I didn't have any money. My daughter bought the book in the 1990s and gave it to me as she knew I would be interested in it."
- Wong Hup Kheng, 80
DIRECTORY
"If you have a shop in Singapore, you must buy this book called "The Directory of Registered Names & Companies of Singapore". It is from 1949. I even have the receipt for the book! My grandfather's shop was listed in it."