Since time immemorial antique collecting has been a significant pastime. The term “antique” was originally used to describe the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, and their time was and still is known as antiquity. As a noun, however, antique is loosely used to describe any object at least 100 years old.
Art and antique collectors have varied reasons for the antiques they want. In the early part of the 19th century, old objects began to be venerated for their beauty as well as for their historical importance. Many collectors seek extensive, disparate array of ostensibly utilitarian objects that are not currently made and that have decorative value.
Henry G. Babiera, a top art and antique collector, with almost 20 years in the industry, is very much aware of the needs of art and antique collectors. Thus, he eternally strives to cater to the discriminating taste of his clients, local and foreign.
Babiera has traveled to Greece, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Korea, Pakistan, India and Indonesia as well as Turkey and parts of Europe and Central and South America in search for unique and rare items for countless clients, local and foreign. And of course, in every nook and corner of the Philippine archipelago.
“Special antiques are worth living for, especially masterpieces,” Babiera says. “That’s why centuries-old art and antique pieces are still in the hands of avid collectors because they really enjoy the beauty of the antiques they treasure,” he adds.
Babiera says the work of art has two aspects — present experience as well as record at the past, and it is valued, preserved and studied for both identities. Artworks afford people the pleasure, the tensions, the dramas, and ultimate satisfaction to the senses of pure form — in the visual arts, the relationships among color lines, and masses in spaces. Babiera says antique collectors favor objects that bear signs of wear in texture and color. Although the quality of design is a prime consideration for some collectors, others prefer objects that arouse nostalgia. More obvious as antiques are masterpieces of the decorative arts — furniture, metalwork, ceramics and glass — made in past centuries, objects whose designs are crucial considerations for serious collectors.
Babiera, aware that there are also many antique collectors in the Visayas and Mindanao, opened an antique showroom in Davao City, three years ago. Mana Casa de Artes y Antiquos specializes in arts and antiques. Among Mana’s art and antiques pieces are religious icons and images, home furnishings and furniture, potteries, chandeliers and lamps, China jars, paintings, chest molave, barn furniture made of Palo de Europa, cabinets and many more. Special and rare collections are porcelains, jars, plates and other pieces recovered from ships that sunk in Palawan and Batangas during the Spanish regime.
Davao City, the country’s biggest city in land area and dubbed “The Land of Bounty in Exotic South,” is also the home of the biggest antique showroom. Indeed, Davao is “madayaw” meaning good, valuable, superior or beautiful because it is also the home of Mount Apo, the highest peak; durian, the king of fruits; waling-waling, the queen of orchids and the majestic Philippine eagle, national bird.
Davao City under Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has plenty to offer to visitors. The unbeatable mayor, loved and considered the man of all seasons, pursues his sustainable economic development and tourism programs to attract more tourists. Davao City, now with the showroom, is also a must destination for art and antique collectors.
The showroom, with 3,680-sqm. floor area, is the biggest in the Philippines. The showroom showcases the widest collection of art and antique wares coming in many parts of the world and the Philippines. The collection of Mana Case de Artes y Antiquos is the result of Babiera’s many years of efforts.
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