Hout Bay’s best kept secret? It’s Mariner’s Wharf’s Ye Olde Artifact and Shipwreck Shoppe. Sitting tucked away under the steps to the popular Wharfside Grill restaurant it is a treasure trove of maritime antiques and memorabilia. There is no other shop quite like it.
So what exactly can you find here? You’ll have to go look for yourself, but it’s along the lines of rustic artefacts from long-forgotten ships, lamps, steering wheels, portholes, tables made from portholes, binnacles, life buoys, telescopes, and so much more. Original sepia photographs, paintings, historical maps and charts, knotboards, books, brass plaques, and vintage travel posters jostle for space on the overcrowded walls plus the flotsam and jetsam in the form of fishing nets, Boston lobster traps, shackles, pulley blocks, rope and flags waiting to grace a restaurant, bar or boardroom.
Maritime Mementos
This is indeed the first place you should look to for that elusive maritime memento you have been searching for, as collectors and interior decorators in-the-know seldom go elsewhere in their search for nautical artefacts.
For hobbyists, mementos from yesteryear’s elegant shipping lines are stacked high, inter alia, White Star, Cunard, Ellermans, P & O, Lloyd Triestino and the ever popular Union-Castle Shipping Line fleet, to name but a few. Intricate, silver filigree souvenirs of Edwardian voyages touch sides with brass bells, cap tallies, cheeky sailor dolls and little (and big) lifebuoys – not to forget the navies of the world, including Royal Navy swords, belts and uniforms. In bulging files there are thousands of postcards, luggage labels, menus, passenger lists, playing cards, badges, tickets and brochures from journeys of long ago. Aladdin, where are you ?
The brainchild of Stanley Dorman, who grew up in Hout Bay, and whose great-grandparents settled here during the 1890s, his attention to detail and maintaining a bona fide seaside/maritime theme reflects the dedicated passion which has gone into creating this very special destination.
Like the décor inside and around Mariner’s Wharf, Stanley sources everything himself locally and overseas. To do so he regularly scours the world, from shipbreaking yards to bric-a-brac shops in seaside boroughs, attending the elegant maritime auctions in London, tramping boatyards in remote fishing harbours, unearthing all sorts of treasures, and lugging them all the way back to Hout Bay.
Such dedication in acquiring authentic artefacts has ensured there are now more than 20 000 items in stock at any time at Ye Olde Artifact and Shipwreck Shoppe is now the largest antique shop of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, if not in the world.
WHERE: Mariner’s Wharf, Harbour Road, Hout Bay, Cape Town 7806
WHEN: Mon to Fri 09h00 – 17h30; Sat and Sun 09h00 – 18h00
INFO: T +27 (0)21 790 1100 I Visit I Facebook
See the Cape Point Art Route and discover other reasons for visiting Ye Olde Artifact and Shipwreck Shoppe
