Antique shops in Limassol
A corner of the English antiquarian world exists in Cyprus’ business centre: two antique shops, one in the historical centre and the other in the tourist zone of Limassol.
Portobello has an extensive choice of antique furniture, home decorations, crockery and cutlery, silverware, china, goods made of glass, bronze, pictures, etchings, clocks, jewellery and quaint old things. You can find an original gift for your kin, friends or business partners, find a lacking element for your home or simply buy a beautiful ornament in memory of your holidays in Cyprus.
Portobello confirms that antique does not always mean expensive, but it always means beautiful!
Saving beauty for 30 years…
Portobello is an Italian word meaning ‘a beautiful port’. This is very true about Limassol – it is a wonderful port city. But this name always had another meaning.
Portobello is the name of a street in London, where an internationally acclaimed antique market is located. Portobello shop in Limassol is a corner of antiquity and luxury transferred to the streets of the ancient island.
Portobello Antiques is not primarily business or work for the owner of the shops Evi Agrotis, but her whole life, real interest and passion. You will see it immediately by the way Evi holds things that decorate the shop windows.
She can talk about her collection, about the branding of English silver, which can tell you about the age of the thing and its origins, for hours. In November Evi, her friends and partners will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Portobello Antiques Shop in Limassol! Evi is inviting everyone to join the festivities (see details below).
English Antiquity
Things that feature on the shop’s windows have come a long way – from faraway parts of the world, different countries and continents, then arrived to London – the world centre of antiques, from where the assiduity of the charming Evi brought them carefully to Limassol. Here they are waiting patiently for a sophisticated connoisseur who would adore their beauty and great history. Many things were bought at famous auctions such as Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonham’s.
Portobello has collected not just ornaments and objects for sale. Particles of history are preserved here, elements of culture and traditions: exquisite things, which have been passed from generation to generation, which have wandered from hand to hand and have brought joy to their owners. When you look into an ancient lorgnette, you imagine how many eyes had looked into its lenses, which scenes where unfolding in front of its shiny blue cold lenses, which emotions its spectators experienced holding their favourite object tight.
Dates on price tags impress – there are many things here that were produced not only in the century before the last, the XIX century, but also with a more solid history going back to the Middle Ages.
When you walk among the shop’s windows and touch the ancient objects, many thoughts come to your mind. For instance, you suddenly understand that the may so-called ‘gifts of modern civilization’ are pleasant but not necessarily needed things. The world, which our ancestors inhibited, may have been deprived of some comforts, but was more beautiful and exquisite. You understand it when you put a set exquisite pincers for asparagus or special silver scissors for detaching a berry of grape from the cluster into your hands.
The many faces of Antiques
At Portobello, you can buy аncient furniture, home decorations, silverware, pictures, etchings, maps, statues, clocks, and decorations. Sometimes rare things decorate the shop’s window – toys, medals, coins, swords and pistols.
I melted when I saw a silver rattle with a handle made of coral. Its first owner has already crossed the Great Divide, while the funny little thing is waiting for a new owner to bring it joy and ringing laugher.
Мany clients are interested in Japanese vases, Chinese porcelain, English silver, paintings by French, English, Russian painters. All of a sudden my eye caught a painting signed Greuze. Pictures by Jean Baptist Greuze сost hundreds of thousands, but that picture in Portobello had a price tag with only three zeros. But it is not a fake. The picture was painted by one of the artist’s apprentices, who had the right to use his teacher’s name.
Some paintings are presented in ancient frames, that are compparable in price to the paintings themselves. Such paintings will become a perfect decoration for any home.
Corporate gifts
You can also buy corporate gifts in Portobello shops — stylish, exclusive, with a charm of their own. This list includes ancient maps, silverware, writing implements and many other. There are new things here too but made to an appropriate style: quality and impeccable style come first. You can also have your gift engraved. A good-quality gift packaging and free delivery within Limassol comes as a pleasant bonus.
Of course, you will never be sold a new thing under the guise of an ancient one. Evi provides each thing with a certificate, which confirms the age and origins of your purchase.
It should not even be mentioned, but a purchase of antiques is a good investment. Things that Evi has collected only rise in price and bring joy to their owners.
Antiques on a by-order basis
If you dream of a certain thing – a thing made in a certain epoch or with special functions, an interior design item, etc, you should only show a picture or a page in a catalogue to Evi and she will find the sought for thing in the English antique collections. You can receive your purchase anywhere in the world, including delivery to Russia or urgent delivery to Europe via the DHL service.
See you soon
I am leaving Portobello with sorrow – it is a wonderful museum, where you not only can touch things, but also buy them. If you stay in one of Limassol’s hotels, call Evi, you will be met in the hotel and escorted to the shop. I am looking at some price tags and understand that I have often overpaid in ordinary shops for modern impersonal, lifeless things and have never thought of becoming an owner of a particle of history, which keeps the warmth of somebody’s hands. I do not want to say ”Farewell” Evi, but in line with the Russian tradition, say ”Good-bye”!
This year Portobello Antiques is organizing celebrations for its 30th anniversary.
The programme includes:
- gifts and surprises;
- special discounts;
- аuctions;
- an antique exhibition;
- an exhibition in the Four Seasons hotel from 6th tо 9th November.
If you want to participate in the celebrations, send a request by e-mail. You will receive an official invitation and detailed information.
[email protected]
Discount for Cyprus Inform cardholders – 10%
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