10 hot spots for vintage souvenirs

By Sarah Gilbert

updated 1:52 p.m. ET Jan. 25, 2007

For one desultory hour, you've been running around the Mercado San Telmo antiques market in Buenos Aires, elbowing the crowds aside to rummage through boxes of faded gloves, shelves of broken cameras and cabinets of chipped china. Finally, the moment arrives. From a box shoved behind some moldering chess sets, you spy the one item that speaks to your heart: a working train set from the 1930s. You happily fork over the $600 and walk away with your prized possession.

Antique shopping is one of the great pleasures of travel: grand markets and hidden shops offer unexpected objects that can turn just another trip into an unforgettable expedition. And collecting isn't just for the experts any more. "Most serious collectors will tell you that their proudest moments were discovering the unexpected somewhere exotic, and returning from a distant country with something worth far more at home than abroad," says Marina Thompson, an editor at the Forbes Collector Newsletter.

"It's a treasure hunt, going to a big shop or a flea market and finding something that you didn't expect," said Terry Kovel, who with her husband Ralph authors the Kovels' Antiques and Collectibles Price List."

"You always remember where you found it — its part of your trip forever."

The Web may have made it easy to go antique shopping without stepping outside the cubicle, but nothing can replace the pleasure of happening upon something unusual at a tiny market stall.

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"I can't buy that way," Kovel says of online antique shopping. "I really think to understand anything you collect, you have to be able to touch it. Also, you're missing the fun of the chase."

Indeed, that chase is what some people thrive on. The relationship between antiques hunter and dealer is a special one that begins the moment you clap eyes on a perfect item, heroically bargain down the price, prevail over a perilous taxi ride and imposing airport x-ray machines and place it lovingly on the mantle.

Mao and More Mao and More in Sydney, Australia stocks new and old furniture and décor objects from Asia (mainly China), with everything from porcelain Chairman Mao statuettes to antique Buddas.

Just make sure it's real. "The fakes are so good that I would not buy anything expensive if it wasn't from a well-known shop," Kovel warns. But that's not your only option: cities like Hong Kong offer dedicated experts to help you assess the authenticity of a product.

Still, antiques shopping isn't just about the acquisition of items. Flea markets and secondhand stores can also offer an unguided tour through a city's or a people's history.

"Junk stands and antique markets are the perfect place to pick up clues about the history of a country, region or town," says Judith Miller, author of the "Antiques Price Guide 2007," and adds that port towns are especially rich.

"At a port you will see the sorts of items that were traded there in the past, as well as locally made goods. Holland is a perfect example of this. From early in the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company imported Chinese ceramics, which in turn inspired potters in the town of Delft to create their blue-and-white wares."

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