Curios With An Eastern European Twist

Curios With An Eastern European Twist

On a rainy Saturday, my daughter and I paid a visit to a curio dealer located at 207 Fairmount West. I noticed the store earlier this year, but this was my first chance to have a look around. I rarely venture into curio stores because whenever I find something I like it's usually woefully overpriced. As is the case with most stores, the curios reflect the owner's taste, and this store had some unique objects at very low prices. For instance, my daughter bought a bag of vintage marbles with alleys, black beauties, cats eyes and pearls for two bucks, while I got a silver bracelet for the same price.

We were not the only customers in the store, and from what I saw no one left empty-handed. There were dining room tables and chairs, buffet tables, some very strange ornate lamps, jewelery boxes, hand painted plates, china, prints, paintings, books, maps, a skeleton, antique dolls and much more.

The owner was not in, but his father, Vilmos Senior, was watching the store. He addressed me in Hungarian, and although his English was limited, he was the type of person who could get his message across in any language. I learned that he was Roma from Budapest, that he had only been in Canada for four months and that his son had opened the store in January 2010. He was also highly skilled at bargaining and making deals, with very little English or French.

If you're looking for a gift for the person who has everything, you might want to drop in here.

(To see more pictures of the Roma on the Roma Rights' Network photostream, click  here.)