and among these is the hobby of collecting old fans.
A 40-year-old collector, Do Ngoc Long, alias “old fan-lover” is
well-known in Hanoi ’s old fan-collecting circles. His small house in
the Hoang Hoa Tham Street is full of many models of fan.
He said he does not remember exactly how many fans he has altogether
after 20 years of collecting. At present, he has more than 800 fans.
Long likes to collect the Marelli fans – an Italian
model of the 19 th century. It is a very durable fan with a unique and
multiform design.
Not only does he own a huge number
of old fans, Long also has a wide knowledge of types of fan and is an
expert in repairing them. He is able to talk about six models of Marelli
fans with more than 130 different designs.
He said
his wife and children are also very interested in collecting and
admiring at fans like him and in the future, Long intends to open a
private museum to introduce Marelli fans to the public.
It is impossible to refer to old fan-collectors in Hanoi , without
talking about Tran Cong Phuc in the Ta Hien Street and Le Tan in the
Hang Bo Street .
Almost all old fans that they
own are the models of Marelli, Émi ( Holland ) and Éon, Calor
(French). These appeared in Hanoi from a very early time.
According to Phuc, the collector circles are being hunted for two
models of two-wing ceiling fan and ceiling fan with decanter-shaped
wings, which were only used by Hanoi Department of Electricity and the
State Bank of Vietnam .
In the recent years, Phuc
and Tan gathered and restored some of these rare models of ceiling fan
but most of them were bought by foreign visitors.
Phuc said that he desired to retain examples of all fans as evidence of life in Hanoi in the past./.
