Stella Tay and Sue Chong Hartley are the co-owners of Old Soul Vintage, located on Lorong Sentosa here. Tay, who acquired the gong from a family friend, said the artefact is noteworthy due to its design: it features three raised dragon heads, with a crocodile motif along its edges.
Weighing nearly 10kg and about 50cm in diameter, the gong is believed to have been crafted in the Borneo islands sometime in the 19th century. It is now on sale for RM35,000.
Tay pointed out that the item, marked by strong Chinese cultural influences, has caught the attention of museum authorities, who have even made an offer. But she hopes it can remain in Sabah in the ownership of a collector.
“There’s nothing quite like it in the state,” Tay said, noting that most modern gongs have flat surfaces and lack tactile features. “Even if they have dragon images, they’re usually not raised or textured like this one. It comes with a chain, too, so it can be hung.”
The gong’s design elements reflect the migration of Chinese communities to Sabah in the 19th century, when the British North Borneo Company encouraged the influx of labourers into tobacco and rubber plantations, as well as the logging, trade and mining sectors.
This eventually led to the establishment of Chinese settlements in urban centres such as Sandakan, Kota Kinabalu, Tawau and Kudat.
Chong, meanwhile, noted that while little is known about the gong’s manufacturing process, her research suggests it may have been made using the “lost wax” method, a traditional metal-casting technique.
With this process, wax is first shaped into the desired form, then coated with a heat-resistant material. Once hardened, the wax is melted and drained, leaving a hollow mould that is then filled with molten metal to form the final piece.
In Sabah, the gong holds deep cultural significance and is strongly tied to traditional music among various ethnic communities. But Chong believes this gong was likely used as a signalling tool, to summon people or convey important announcements.
“If it were part of a musical set, there would usually be more than one piece so melodies can be performed,” she explained.
The gong is just one of many unique items at Tay and Chong’s store. Young visitors to Old Soul Vintage are often thrilled to discover bygone treasures, such as rotary telephones, typewriters, suitcases, cast-iron irons, cassette tapes and film cameras.
Driven by a shared passion for collecting vintage goods as a way of preserving the past and rekindling their own memories, the pair started the business in 2020 at an art space before relocating to their current premises in April.
They donate a portion of proceeds from sales to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).
Follow Old Soul Vintage on Instagram.
Old Soul Vintage
Lorong Sentosa, Kampung Air,
88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah