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The museum’s acting director, Phouy Savoeut, said the vintage items were used as decorations or devotional artefacts in the donors’ homes.
He said it has not yet been possible to determine the age of the 12 pieces of donated artefacts.
Savoeut infers from their outward appearances that they are at least 100 years old.
Some of the items, he said, were antique artefacts that were once worn by individuals as jewelry and in daily life.
“Since Preah Sihanouk-Angkor Museum opened in 2008, 2,500 ancient artefacts have been placed on exhibit for daily visitors.
“Only about 1% of the ancient objects on exhibition were acquired from individuals.
“People tend to retain old artifacts at home because they lack awareness about museums,” Savoeut said yesterday.
The majority of the artefacts, he added, were discovered at construction and excavation sites.
The 12 antique artefacts were donated by Eng Nam, a fan of antiquities.
Nam said he had purchased the antiquities from residents of Pursat, Oddar Meanchey, and Battambang provinces.
“I love ancient objects, so I always buy them from people and farmers in rural areas across the country whenever I see artifacts kept and cared for in an inappropriate manner,” Nam said.
“The Preah Sihanouk-Angkor Museum will take better care of ancient artefacts than I, so I decided to gift them all to the museum. I expect the ancient artefacts will keep thousand years later for the generations to come,” he added.
Nam expressed his satisfaction with his contribution to the museum and said that he intended to get his friends to give the museum any old artefacts they may possess.
“I urge people to donate their ancient artefacts to museums because museum staff take perfect care of those items and can preserve them for a very long time in the future thanks to good techniques,” said Nam.
