"12 Inch Key "

"12 Inch" size of a key which was used for old Chettiar Mansion those days. The weight of this key almost 1kg. Bought from India.

Vegetable Cutter "Arukamanai".

Another version of arukamanai with intricate and deep carving. One of oldest type arukamanai in our collections. Believed used in late 19th century. Interesting piece, along with iron wheels with floral design carving. According some sources this arukamanai was probably used as a wedding gift those days. If we notice, the sharp edge of this arukamanai can be fold when we never use. Convenient and safe.

Miniture Vegetable Cutter "Arukamani"

This miniature arukamanai is a tool used for cutting vegetables. This arukamanai was used widely during old days. The advantage of arukamanai is very convenient to cut vegetables and quick work for olden people. Some arukamanai is always a provision in the top to scrap fresh coconut. The size of this arukamanai only little bigger than a marker pen. Very interesting piece and miniature size. The wood part they used teak wood. Believed used in 1940's era.

Velvet Cash Box

This cash box was made in England with velvet cloth drape around it. Exported from England in those days by M.A Pitchay Guny & Co. Penang. It was used by wealthy Tamil communities and believed to be practiced by Chettiar community to keep financial accounts & credit. The key of this cash box is still together with it. This item was bought in India and it shows that this item travelled to India with the person who bought this in Penang. The initial had been inscribed on it. Very heavy and it was made from copper & iron. There is a compartment to keep cash. Very interesting collectible.

Travelling Chest "100 Years"

This is the travelling chest which I mentioned in one of my blog earlier. This travelling chest also called as the trunk. This trunk normally used to carry personal belongings for travelling. This trunk was made from England and it is shown on it. The age of this trunk believed to be more than 100 years old. The first picture on the left you can see the newspaper imprint, used to be a layer to protect the clothes from getting dust or rust and the you can see the imprint it is dated May 11 1907. On the top of the trunk, we can see there is some Tamil writings. This travelling chest was bought in Penang from an owner.

Travelling Chest

A trunk, also known as travelling chest, is a large cuboid container for storing cloths and other personal belongings just like any other travelling bag, typically about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) wide, and .5 m (1 ft 8 in) each deep and height (source Wikipedia). They were most commonly used for extended periods away from home, such as for long or short trips abroad.

Till to this day, this travelling chest can still be found in antique shops in Penang. I got this as a gift from a family in Little India, Penang. I was told it was used in the 1940's era. The smaller chest, orange in colour is also an interesting one. It is smaller in size with a leather handle. It is a rare one to find a smaller travelling chest with this particular size and shape.

Two days before I found these two chest, I found a trunk which was made in England and the year people started using was 1907. I will post the picture later.

Coffee Grinder

This mechanism is called coffee grinder, used to grind coffee beans. This grinder was made in England which it is engraved on it. Those days, people will drink fresh coffee by grinding coffee beans when they want to drink. The coffee grinder will be tighten at the edge of the table before it is being used.This was found in Singapore and according to the seller this was used by wealthy families in those days. On this mechanism we can see the Tamil word inscribed on it which proved it was being used by Tamil community.

Vintage Vegetable Cutter

This iron mechanism is called "arukamanai" or vegetables cutter which mean "aruka" mean cut and "manai" mean platform. Back then, it was inconvenient to use knives. They prefer to use this as it is convenient. The interesting part of this aruvamani that it has "thuruvamanai", also known as the coconut scraper. This mechanism believe to be used in very early 19th century or even earlier than that. This tool was hand made as it has a lot of carvings on it.

Kettle

Picture left shows an iron kettle that was made in England in 1920's. It has an engraved mark at the bottom of the kettle. Inside the kettle it has a layer of porcelain. The weight of this kettle is roughly 4kg.

This kettle was bought in South of India and was brought over by a wealthy family to Malaya in that era. According to the owner, it was taken back to India during the May 13th, 1969 incident when all Tamil people went back to South of India. I found this item from an antique runner. If you can take a closer look you can see there's a Tamil inscription on it. This kettle gives a classic image that it's incomparable with the current trends of kettles.