The Ho Chi Minh City History Museum on October 15 received a large collection including 3,360 antiques donated by local resident Huynh Van Nghi.

The collection, named “Duong Ha” was gathered by Duong Minh Thoi and Ha Thi Ngoc, Nghi’s parents-in-law. In 2006, after the death of his wife, Duong Quynh Hoa, who was the Minister of Health under the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, Nghi decided to donate all the objects to the government at his parents-in-law’s desire.

In February 2011, the HCMC People’s Committee agreed to receive Nghi’s donation. After that, the city’s Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism established a council to appraise the collection.

The items were made from iron, copper, silver, glass, wood, ivory and pottery. 2,976 objects among them date back to 2,500 years ago and originated from Vietnam, China, Thailand, Cambodia, Japan, Germany, France and Turkey. The remaining items were made in the early 20th century.

According to Tran Thi Thuy Phuong, the museum’s director, the collection is invaluable. She said that for its historical value, the collection could be considered a museum since it has a large number of items made during many centuries. The museum has not been able to calculate how much the collection is worth yet.

For its part, the Ho Chi Minh City History Museum also committed to preserve and display the objects carefully in order to serve the people’s demand to research, observe and learn about the items’ values.

In 1996 the museum received a collection including 849 antiques and more than 1,000 books donated by Vuong Hong Sen, a native of Soc Trang. Vuong is one of the country’s leading scholars on southern Vietnamese culture. From 1947 until his death, he had written many books including “Saigon in the Years Far Past,” “Book Collecting Passion,” “Memoir on a 50-Year Love of Songs” and “Old and New Smartness.”