Bangkok Post : Treasure trove of memories
Ms Yerm said her desire to collect started more than 40 years ago when she dropped out of school to sell food for a living. She would often stumble on personal effects and utensils which people had thrown away. She collected items such as a monk's robes, an old iron from Europe, rusty rifles and broken lamps. When she tires of some items, she trades them for others she likes more. She has bought chinaware salvaged from sunken junks by local fishermen. She has even bartered for ceramic bowls and plates with rice and chicken. "I take in everything and it's been a habit of mine since I was little," she said. Her extensive travels in her youth opened her eyes to the country's enormous treasure trove of antique objects and spurred her appetite to "save" them.
She collected the items at home, until her house resembled a small warehouse. Now, she wants to build a private, professionally managed museum to store her antiques. It could cost 10 million baht.
