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Alex Hassan - The Ultimate Ghurka Bag Collector
576 Plays2 years ago
Alex Hassan is one of the collectors who can easily fly under the radar, but when you stumble upon his Instagram you find quite possibly the most extensive collection of Ghurka bags and accessories known to the market. So much so that he had to buy a separate townhouse just to store them… I've had the pleasure of getting to know Alex over the last few years, and while all those conversations have been virtual, he's ready to let all of us into his world of Ghurka collecting. He’s also recently started a new charity and website to give back to his roots and he’s got some amazing stories for you all. That being said, let’s get into it. Alex Hassan, for Collectors Gene Radio.
Alex's Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ghurka_master_collector/?hl=en
Best of Marley Website - https://bestofmarley.com/
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Transcript
Intro and Reflections on Life's Beauty
00:00:00
Speaker
One thing my dad remember always telling us, reminding us how beautiful this world is, the gift for us to be chosen, to be in this world, to enjoy, to look, to cry, to laugh, to smell a flower, you know? What's going on, everybody? And welcome to Collector's Gene Radio. I'm your host, Cameron Steiner, and I'm joined by my co-hosts and brother, Ryan.
00:00:30
Speaker
This is all about diving into the nuances of collecting and ultimately finding out whether or not our guests have what we like to call the collector's gene. That's right. And as always, please subscribe and leave a review for us. It truly helps. We hope you enjoy the pod. Let's go.
Meet Alex Assan: Collector's Journey
00:00:52
Speaker
Alex Assan is one of those collectors who can easily fly under the radar, but once you stumble upon his Instagram, you find quite possibly the most extensive collection of Gurkha bags and accessories known to the market. So much so that he actually had to buy a separate townhouse just to store them all.
00:01:11
Speaker
Yeah, Cam, I know you've had the pleasure of getting to know Alex over the last few years. And while all your conversations have been virtual, he's let you, and essentially now all of us, into his world of Gurkha collecting.
00:01:26
Speaker
I mean, the guys also recently started a new charity and a website to get back to his roots. And on top of that, he's got some pretty awesome stories to share with us. So that being said, let's get into it. This is Alex Assan for Collectors Gene Radio. Well, Alex, so nice to finally chat with you, man. Thanks for joining us on Collectors Gene Radio. Sure, my friend.
00:01:50
Speaker
Alex, for those that don't know you, can you give us a little background on yourself, your career, and what you do collect? Sure. I'm Alex. I have been collecting since I remember. Maybe I was like four or five years old. My major is philosophy. I have PhD in philosophy from University of Chicago. And I do energy consulting.
00:02:20
Speaker
for business. Collecting, I collected, I mean, my major collections started with a few cars. My major car was a Mercedes 300 S. Oh, what year to be that? 1957. Oh, I love it. Beautiful. Yeah, I bought it and I kind of restored a few things. And I sold it.
00:02:49
Speaker
Those are going for a pretty penny now. Oh yeah. I mean, even back then I bought it for like 400,000 something, spend about 200 K on it. And I sold it for 1.4 million. Unbelievable. Yeah. You could get a lot of Gurkha bags with that.
The Gurkha Bag Obsession
00:03:12
Speaker
Well, the Gurkha was, you know, one reason that I got into Gurkha, actually I was doing my, uh,
00:03:20
Speaker
paper for my PhD and I was in Japan and on weekends I used to go golfing with some of the executives from Toyota and Sony and I saw the bags that they had was amazing and I asked them What brand was and they said Gurkha and by the way, this is American brand So when I came back I got my first bag and
00:03:50
Speaker
And then my office in Chicago was in Michigan Avenue, which is half a block from GURCA. They had a store in Chicago back then. So almost every day when I passing by the store, I treated myself with one bag. Oh my gosh. That's why when I wake up one day and I would just find out I had over 2,500 bags and items.
00:04:21
Speaker
So I had to get a townhouse just to restore them to make sure they are in the right temperature and display them in the right place. Wait, so you had to get another piece of property just to store your collection? Yep.
00:04:42
Speaker
Oh, imagine. I mean, in one point I had almost 3000 bags and there's a lot of bag to fit anywhere, even in a warehouse. Yeah, I was about to say my girlfriend makes me keep all my sports memorabilia that I collect in a storage room, but that's only because it doesn't fit the vibe she's going for in this little apartment I'm in. Yeah, I hear you. Yeah, my watch collection is a little bit easier to store. To keep the Gurkha bags on the right
00:05:12
Speaker
place you have to fill them up so you shouldn't have them be squished or squeezed anywhere so you have to fill them up moisturize them you know on time so each six months i have a company they they sent three or four guys to moisturize my bags and it takes them about a week to finish it
00:05:35
Speaker
Oh, yeah, because is it still around 3000? Like, are they? I have like 2000 now because, you know, I donated a bunch of them to our charity helping our friend, Kate.
Charity Begins at Home
00:05:50
Speaker
That's great. So when did you start donating? So you donated basically around like a thousand, you're saying? Yeah, I sold about maybe three or four hundred of them on a Google website under
00:06:06
Speaker
vintage link. We created a vintage link on their website and I sold many of them, perhaps almost a million dollar, I guess. That was the share program I had with Coca back in 2015 to 2018. Wow. I think
00:06:29
Speaker
Later on in the conversation, I definitely want to touch more on the charity and the collection and the townhouse and the storage and all that sort of stuff. But for a second, let's go back to the beginning of your collecting. So all these executives in the Asian markets are telling you about Gurkha and it's an American brand and you stumble upon it and you fall in love. So what was your first Gurkha piece?
00:06:59
Speaker
golf bag. Then I can dig. Yeah, we're just we're just talking about the golf bags before you hopped on here and they're definitely beautiful for sure. I feel like that would elevate my game just having one of those. Like I'd feel a little bit fancier on the course. You know what I mean? Like take the edge off. Actually, I have five of them now.
00:07:25
Speaker
All right. Well, we need to come visit you in Chicago and play some golf. Make sure these bags can fit our clubs, you know, just, just test them out. Actually, I had one of them back in, let's say, my son was two years old. This is 1999. I was in Hawaii and that was a tournament. And I showed that to a few professionals. They didn't know about it.
00:07:56
Speaker
I missed Tiger Wood that day, but Nicholson was impressed. What he said was a little bit heavy for his cabbie to carry it. Lefty was telling you it was too heavy? I don't get that. You know what's funny when you're saying how your son was too with the bag is when Cameron was little,
00:08:17
Speaker
When Cameron was little, he'd walk around with this little play golf set. But Cameron's been like Mr. Fancy Pants since the beginning of time. I think the only thing he was missing was a little gurkabag for his toy club when he was little. Yeah. Yeah, I should have done more research. I would have found you, Alex. Do you still have a close relationship with the brand and Marley Hodgson?
00:08:47
Speaker
do have contact with the people who used to run Gurkha more than the new owners. Actually, I do have contact with the new owners that are in Cleveland, but they are more into investment and financial market than being in leather and leather goods. Before that,
00:09:17
Speaker
I met John Reuter. Actually, it was interesting because I started to sell some of my bags through a friend on eBay for the charity. And one person was kept buying from us. And finally, I emailed him and I said, well, you know, what you see we'd list on eBay is this fraction of what we have. And if you're interested, I could
00:09:47
Speaker
send you more or less of what would be available. And I could also send you a few of the old catalogs of Gurkha, if you're interested. And he said, I would be really interested in that. By the way, my name is John Reuter. I'm president and owner of Gurkha. And I said, what the hell you're buying for a meter?
00:10:13
Speaker
Make it yourself. Yeah, he said, well, I bought the company in 2012 and we do not have much of the older styles in our archives, so I'm buying it for them to see which one we want to just reproduce again. So, and then, you know, he bought maybe two, 300 bags.
00:10:41
Speaker
One time after this, after a year or two, he finally said, well, no, Alex, why don't you just join us to just do more of these bags with us? And I said, well, John, I really don't think you can afford me if you're asking to hire me. But I don't mind to just do a joint venture with you guys.
00:11:09
Speaker
That would be win-win for both of us. And he said, let's do it. And that was the beginning of that, uh, vintage link that we started. First I met Marley in New York. It was a passionate guy coming out of store, having one or two of his pieces in his hand and just talking to people passing by. And he stopped me and explained a little bit about the,
00:11:38
Speaker
And I told him all I knew enough about it. And he took me to the store, you know, gave me a little tour. That was my first meeting with him. And that was it. And then last year... Was that the store right by Central Park? Yeah.
The Evolution of Gurkha Quality
00:12:00
Speaker
So last year, Louis, the head of
00:12:07
Speaker
Gurkha's workshop, who used to be with Marley from the beginning. I have contact with him, kind of friend. He contacted me and he said, Marley is asking for someone who would be the collector and a good collector. And he wanted it to sell one of his bags.
00:12:37
Speaker
And I said, well, I'm really interested. This is my, uh, give him my information. And Marley contacted me and like, you know, this is the bag. I wanted it to fix it through Lewis and what Lewis says is not possible because the piping was gone and, you know, changed the whole thing. They had to take the whole bag apart and put it back. And he said, well,
00:13:07
Speaker
I decided to just give it to someone. And Louis says, there's nobody deserves this more than you. And, you know, we had a chat and he sent it back to me. Then I contacted him a few times and last, what was that, like three, four months ago, I asked him if it would be okay to use his name for
00:13:38
Speaker
a dedicated website that we were going to have, just selling Marley bags for our charity. And he said, that would be okay, go ahead and do it. But make sure you just only sell my bags, bags that we made before 2003. So we started in December, actually.
00:14:06
Speaker
which is bestofmorally.com. And we are going to keep adding bags and items to it. I don't know if you've seen the site or not. Yeah, we're going to get to that in a minute. I'm curious because you got to it. You said a little bit of it earlier.
00:14:24
Speaker
I mean, your collection is massive. What was it about it that hit like that collector, you know, I guess the collector's gene was we could say we'll get to that too. But what was it about Gurkha that really made you so crazy about the brand? Well, before Gurkha, I was a little bit into collecting leather bags or leather goods. And what I had before Gurkha was a
00:14:53
Speaker
small but very good collection of coach bags. They were all made in the earlier years during the Bonnie Cashin era. I think that the earliest I had on those collection was for 19, like 67, 68, something like that. They were dead old. Wow.
00:15:21
Speaker
Later, I sold most of them to coach for their archive. And they bought it from me. So they have it. So I had that, you know, that background for and, you know, being in the academy, you know, area and, you know, you always have eyes for a briefcase. And I was traveling, especially when I started my business.
00:15:52
Speaker
I was traveling about 200 to 300,000 miles annually. You know, I went to almost, I lost my counts, but I think I knew 68, 69 countries before I just, you know, gave up on counting. So imagine you need, you know, briefcase, you need duffel bags, you need travel bags,
00:16:21
Speaker
So it's a part of what you are looking for. I mean, your eyes are for that. And when that happened in Japan, for me, it was like a click. You know, I really liked the leather. I did a little bit of research on the history of the company and, you know, production. I did a little luck. And since I was getting more and more, I got more into it.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's funny. I had a similar experience with with Gurkha's is I actually went to the store when I lived in in Manhattan. I went to the store by Central Park and I had no idea what Gurkha was. But, you know, just walking by, you see nice leather goods. So I popped in and I instantly fell in love. And as you know, I have a vintage attache case and I've shared that with you a few times.
00:17:16
Speaker
So for me, I appreciate because I didn't necessarily grow up with Gurkha. I appreciate a lot of the old stuff and the vintage stuff, and I also appreciate a lot of their new stuff. But that's just because I don't have as much of a history with the brand as you do. So is there a general reason why you only collect up until that 2003 mark? Well, Gurkha has gone through several stages. The first was from
00:17:46
Speaker
1975 to 2003, while Marley was in charge. And they, their philosophy was not mass production was just, you know, smaller market, but very thought after and very, you know, emphasize on quality. And you can see it. I mean, the,
00:18:15
Speaker
The leather that they were using for their bags were coming from a few tanneries that were dedicated to make the best for Gurkha. And Marley was really on top of it. He would visit them regularly, you know, would see the whole process. And imagine for the leather that were making those bags, a tannery had to process those bags, those leathers for
00:18:46
Speaker
almost a month. So there had to go through 18, 19 different stages. Wow. Finally soaking in a special solution and water and vegetable solution for almost three weeks. Before the, you know, the dried and make it ready, send it to Gurga for production. Today,
00:19:16
Speaker
That is impossible. I mean, no company is doing that because they just want to get the letter, you know, make the bag, send it out. Doesn't matter if China is in the US or Italy or France, this is how it goes. And the terrorists, they don't even have a space to lay down in all of these letters in three weeks, you know, in their
00:19:45
Speaker
facility to do that. They used to. And more importantly, there is no cows to create the same kind of leather anymore. I mean, imagine 60, 50, 100 years ago, cows were in, you know, fresh air and area. They had to develop tougher skin to fight the harsh weather. But where are they today?
00:20:12
Speaker
in air-conditioned salons, you know? Yeah, well, they're doing Chick-fil-A commercials. Yeah, I mean, what do you expect? You don't even get the same leather to begin with. So everything is against a good quality leather now compared to, you know, before. So that was some distinguish. So from 2003 to 2011, a company bought
00:20:42
Speaker
Gurkha from Marley and Marley decided to retire settings of paper, enough for me.
Production Shifts and Material Quality
00:20:49
Speaker
And he bought a ranch in Colorado and just went there. So the new company had a different idea. I mean, their idea was more profit, mass production, keeping the name and emphasizing on the name to make more money. So they took the production from US
00:21:12
Speaker
to China mostly with a few bags that they were still making in US and a few items in Spain. So that was a dark period of Gurkha in most cases, most bags. In 2011, John Reuter, a Gurkha fan,
00:21:41
Speaker
an investor in New York bought the company and it took him about two years to bring back the production to US. So from 2013 till now, production is back in US and mostly made by the same people who used to make during the Marley.
00:22:08
Speaker
The head of that production still is Louis. So Louis is what Marley started with. So they had all of the equipment, the carts and the molds, everything, equipment, same people. Their making is the same right now, but the quality
00:22:37
Speaker
What the reasons I just shared with you is not going to be the same because it's not possible anymore. You would not be able to find a tannery that would dedicate their time and the space to you for one month to make the same kind of leather. Unless you create your own, you start your own tannery and do it your way, which is not possible.
00:23:06
Speaker
And if you look at one of the best leather that Gurkha makes, like a vintage chestnut leather, the name itself says it all. It says vintage chestnut leather. But the same thing when that was during the Marley's time was chestnut vintage leather. So vintage leather versus
00:23:35
Speaker
vintage chestnut. So now, the emphasizes on the color back then was emphasized on leather, vintage leather. Yeah, it was the more the material. Yeah. Because you said that you've parted ways with a lot of your items for charity, but did you part ways that some of your collection for just to sell as well? And if so, how did you decide which pieces? Because it seems like you have such a love for the material too.
00:24:04
Speaker
In one point I had almost all kind of material on each style. Let's say if I had Express Bag number two, I had it in like seven different kind of leather. And I had like six different kind of twill. I had them like a new and I had them back up
00:24:34
Speaker
for when I was traveling and using, you know, and just, you know, for a different occasion. I had maybe from the same style, same material, only get two or three of them. And then in one point, it just didn't matter because I started to exchange or buy from the other collectors. And I would just buy them in bulk and they didn't matter, you know,
00:25:02
Speaker
What color or what kind were they? I can just buy. There were times that I bought like 200 bags and items at once. Oh, geez. Wow. So Alex, at a time when your vintage pieces are becoming so valuable, and now that Gurkha has brought these items back to US production,
00:25:27
Speaker
Are you buying and collecting these modern pieces post 2013 for your everyday use or do you have specific vintage pieces that you use on a daily basis that you don't mind the value of them? I haven't bought any new bag after 2003, I should say.
00:25:57
Speaker
I've had several new but they were all exchanged or I bought them from GURCA for the money that you know we had to have exchanged because you know when we were selling on their website they were collecting their money and we were shipping from our own warehouse to the customer.
00:26:27
Speaker
And then every week or every two weeks, we would just calculate, you know, which money were going where. And they were paying me. Sometimes, you know, when they had a very good sell, and I could get even better sell because as an insider, so I would exchange some of their bags with the money they owed me. So other than that,
00:26:57
Speaker
The thing that I purchased from them was only shoulder straps or moisturizer maybe. The rest was always exchanged. Yeah, because, you know, as someone like me, when I first
00:27:19
Speaker
was introduced to Gurkha just by chance of walking by. You walk in and the average person probably isn't going to go and do their research on the brand. They're just going to see the products and say, oh, I like this or I like that and I want to purchase this or I want to purchase that.
00:27:36
Speaker
But do you think that, because Gurkha has had some turmoil the past few years, do you think they've lost a little bit of their way in the last few years in terms of their history and
Hope for Quality Revival
00:27:48
Speaker
their heritage? Or do you think they're making their way back? I hope they will come back. I give them some time because they're good people. I mean, the guy is two partners that I know and they own Gurkha right now.
00:28:07
Speaker
They're good people. And they are getting to understand the value of the brand more than just the value of the money. That's why they are more dedicated and I see they're trying new products that are also some, you know, shape of the old ones. It's like continuation of the classic
00:28:39
Speaker
start that they used to have. But before these two people, I mean, there was just a little delay between like between 2018, 17 to 2000. There were some managers, I think they changed two times managers that those people were not really into it.
00:29:04
Speaker
And their mission was more to make sure the company would survive than to focus on the production and the quality and, you know, what Gurkha is all about. And they lost it. I mean, to me, I mean, if the whole scientists of the world get together, they cannot make one apple. It's impossible.
00:29:32
Speaker
You know, what you do, you just take that tree and your attention is all to the root and watering and make sure, you know, gets enough water and you just keep watering. And one day just going to be blossom and then going to be apple. The results of that watering. So if as a manager, you just keep trying to make that apple and your
00:30:00
Speaker
attention your eyes and your head is just toward that, you know, branch to see when that apple is going to come. We're going to miss that watering. Yeah. Gurga, you know, they missed that. They missed that watering to attention to the root. And then, you know, we had bad years. I mean, they had to close stores and you know, you know, the rest. Yeah.
00:30:27
Speaker
Well, for people that are still looking, why should they be going to bestofmarley.com? Let's talk a little bit about your site. Our site are very unique for a few reasons. Number one, the whole money, 100% other than the cost that we have to pay, goes to charity that is supporting the kids and the family in need.
00:30:59
Speaker
Number one. Number two, the products that you see there, they all are selected. They all are from Marley's time and uniquely taken care of. I mean, you see those vintage bags being sold on eBay and, you know, different websites. But if you check the history, it goes to mostly their parents. I mean,
00:31:27
Speaker
You know, they just were cleaning their basement. They found those bags, you know, sitting there and they decided to sell them. Mostly are that kind. So you don't see much of the history or they bought it a few years ago from another website. And then they decided to sell it. Curcobags have to be taken care of. I mean, if you're looking at 40, 45 years old bag,
00:31:57
Speaker
to be in the best possible shape. They had to be moisturized every six months, and they have to be filled inside. They have to be in controlled temperature, not moisture at all. It has to be dry, but not too dry. And also, if it is too ill,
00:32:26
Speaker
every six months, other than moisturizing the leather part, the trims, you have to vacuum the twill, wash it, and vacuum it again. The upkeep is insane. I know. So our bags are almost the only Gurkha bags ever going through that process.
00:32:53
Speaker
And that's the thing. I mean, I have two leather masters. One actually right now is 83 years old. Holy smokes. Yeah, he's a great guy and knows what he's doing. And he's been helping me for almost 30 years. That's like having a Ted Williams glove. Yeah, I didn't know how to keep this, but he was a good mentor to let me know.
00:33:20
Speaker
In the early years, hey, you just don't buy it, you keep it there. Let's have a day. These have to be filled. They have to each like four, five, six of them have to be in a box, closed box. So you shouldn't be exposed to moisture, exposed to dust. That's how it is. And once in a while, at least every six months, you bring it out, you touch them, you know, you
00:33:48
Speaker
Just squeeze them. You just play with the leather a little bit to make sure the leather gets some love and attention and some movement. And then you put it back with moisturizer. That happens, you know? So this is a big difference between our bag and just any other Marley bags. And out of 3,000, I mean, 200,
00:34:16
Speaker
I think 2, 300, 2200 something like that bags we have. I'm choosing number one, the one that I don't need them or I have the similar one already and also the one that deserve to be stored. It's not like bad condition. I sell my best condition. And I think that that's
00:34:42
Speaker
kind of the interesting part of your collection is that for most of Gurkis history, a lot of the bags in terms of the aesthetic have remained fairly similar, you know, minor details, minor details on the patterns, on the fabrics and things like that. But for the most part, the general aesthetic has remained the same. But when people go on your website versus eBay,
00:35:11
Speaker
They're going to see some items that are priced. Very very high, but there's a reason for that and that's because they're they're pre 2003 and I think that that's the important thing to note here is that. Like you said earlier, the materials that are being used or that were being used rather 2003 and pre 2003 were just that much better than anything else that's being used now which which demands a higher price point.
00:35:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, imagine at the same time between 2015 and 2018 when we were selling our bags on GURCA website on their vintage link. At the same time that we were selling 35, 40 year old, let's say, express bag for
00:36:07
Speaker
$2,800. Gurkha was selling the same thing new for like $1,450. I mean, we could not keep our experience bags. I mean, I saw maybe 18, 19 of them on their website with that price. So people could get the value. They knew what they were getting.
00:36:36
Speaker
That's another unique thing about Gurkha. I mean, when you spend that much time on a bag, Gurkha bag, you care for it to make sure, you know, they're in good shape. After 20, 30, 40 years, they're a better bag than a new one. Yeah. So when you're, uh,
00:36:57
Speaker
When you're donating these bags to charity, I hope these charities know what they're really getting, but to- That is our own charity. Oh, yeah. Okay. So tell me a little bit about that. Right.
Charity Efforts in Iran
00:37:09
Speaker
Well, back in 2010, I went to Iran, my own country, after 25 years. And my sister was a teacher in a very
00:37:27
Speaker
a remote area and people mostly were working in a brick factory. And many of them were refugees from Afghanistan. And because Iranian government did not recognize them even as a refugee, most of them as even refugee because they didn't have any documents or they'd never applied for any refugee status.
00:37:57
Speaker
their kids could not go to public schools. So because of that, their kids, even as young as four or five years, sometimes even three years old, they were working in the brick factory as well. Because that was like a contract.
00:38:20
Speaker
kind of job, so you would carry like 1,000 breaks, you would get certain amount of money. Even as a little kid, just carrying one or two breaks at the time counted for better than just, you know, sitting somewhere, having someone to babysit for. So that was the situation, it was very bad.
00:38:47
Speaker
Yeah, we decided to make a school for them. That's incredible. When I returned, there were certainly a lot of other things. We took few buses, we took them to the theater for the first time they were seeing a big movie in the cinema.
00:39:17
Speaker
And we took them to the restaurant and it was almost first time for them. And the next day, we brought a group of comedians to play for them, like in the middle of nowhere, like a wood sitting and a thought. Yeah, sitting and a thought and you had just a few carpets where your kids could sit on it.
00:39:46
Speaker
And I just looked at their shoes. Mostly they had like a, you know, dirty little flat, something like that. And they're almost are gone. You got half of the shoe are gone. It was very bad. And I didn't know how they would walk on dust with those.
00:40:14
Speaker
The first thing I did, I just sent them like 250 caterpillar boots. And little by little, we started the school and also a clinic. And we talked to a few of our friends and good doctors that they started to take care and volunteering certain days
00:40:43
Speaker
a certain time for the clinic so people could go and get some, you know, primary care and, you know, just checking their eye and doing the eye exam and doing the diabetic test, things like that, that they had never had before. And making sure the smaller ones would get regular vaccinations or, you know, whatever they had to do.
00:41:13
Speaker
Is the only way to donate to the charity by purchasing them back? Well, that was the money that I could release. I mean, I had other collections. I had a good collection of watchers. And I let them go. And then, you know, World Cupback was another source that they could use.
00:41:38
Speaker
Because, you know, it really didn't make sense for me to have so many bags sitting there. While I knew, you know, that could be the very good use. You know, looking at those bags to me was, and it still is, you know, like a laptop is, you know, schooling goods, you know, uniforms, just food, you know.
00:42:06
Speaker
Before we get into the last portion of the podcast here, I want to pick your brain on
00:42:13
Speaker
on just the current state of the brand of Gurkha because there are not a lot of articles or references on Gurkha and Marley Hodgson specifically. So how did you become so knowledgeable about the brand other than your personal relationships and are you at all concerned for the future of the brand? Well, I'm not concerned about the future of the brand because there
00:42:44
Speaker
Main reason for that is the makers of Gurkha, not the one that are marketing it. The makers are Lewis and his team from, you know, the Gurkha workshop. And they are the best people you can get for leathermaking.
00:43:13
Speaker
cannot get better than them. They are, yes, they are in the same place that used to be. They are independent people with mentality. They are not Gurkha, but they make these for Gurkha. So that team is untouchable. I mean, they are the one that Gurkha comes from. And since they are handling
00:43:43
Speaker
the production of Gurkha, there is nothing to be worried about. Are they going to be still some bumps on the road? Yes, because not only Gurkha, this is a very compatible market, very tough to survive. Many never survived. I mean, big names, big American names didn't really survive, like Hartman. I mean, look at the Hartman now and Hartman
00:44:13
Speaker
40 years ago, finally Samsung bought them and the rest is history. But I think the management really wants to spend money and spend time to make it happen. That thing is that they let go some of the key people
00:44:43
Speaker
in Gurkha. And they started to let these people go during, you know, after 19, after 2007, 18. And that was the end of my relation with Gurkha. When they let them go, I said, okay, you know, that's it. Yeah, it's a big chunk of the history and the brand. Exactly. Because what is a brand? It's not just a
00:45:13
Speaker
production or the product is people who make those. Yeah. Yeah.
The Joy of Collecting and Giving Back
00:45:18
Speaker
Relationships are very important. Yeah. Fortunately, they kept Lewis, but Josephine, you know, Josephine was the heart and soul of Gurkha and she was handling the customer service. But she was the frontline and they let her go. I mean, my heart,
00:45:45
Speaker
broke after that. Actually, a few weeks ago, Marley sent me another email congratulating me for the website. He really liked the website and shared with me about one of the bags that I had just added on website also. And I don't know if I had it on install or not, but I have it in the website.
00:46:13
Speaker
is a camera bag, the number 35, the grip. Wow, those are beautiful. Yeah, really nice. Yeah, I posted on Instagram, he said that this bag was ordered from Leica. You know, Leica is almost the best camera company in the world. He said they contacted him and told him that they wanted the bag
00:46:41
Speaker
for their package that they were putting together for the first, I think, 100 or 200 or 50 people who would buy a specific kind of Mercedes-Benz. That was a cooperation between Leica and Mercedes. And each package was supposed to be, I think, $20,000 worth of camera products.
00:47:10
Speaker
and it would give as a gift to one of the first owners of those cars. I have to look at his email to find exactly which car was that. I think maybe it was a Maybach, I'm not sure. And he said that then they made this grip and they sent it to Leica for just look at it and give them some idea.
00:47:38
Speaker
and he says they loved it so much they didn't want anything to be changed yeah you know it's funny that um
00:47:48
Speaker
You mentioned Josephine because I had bought a purse several years back for my now fiance from Gurkha and it wasn't going to be here in time for I believe it was a Valentine's Day gift and I called the customer service number and it happened to be Josephine.
00:48:11
Speaker
And she made it happen for me she was emailing me she was calling me she was on top of it and i want to order something again in the future i can't remember what it was. And someone else took like five days to get back to me they weren't willing to help it was just.
00:48:29
Speaker
And that's when these articles started coming out that stores were closing and those sort of things. And it just seemed a little different. But we all hope that Gurkha is back on the rise here because the products are beautiful, vintage or not. And I think something from Gurkha should be in everyone's household. It's just really good looking stuff.
00:48:57
Speaker
Alex, I think it's time that we get down to the collector's gene. And basically what that is, is it's a list of topics. And these can be short or long answered, however you would like. And ultimately, we're going to find out whether you feel you were born with collector's gene. Should we get started? Sure, go ahead. All right, Alex. What's the one that got away? What's the gherka piece that you missed and can't get over, whether it was at auction or?
00:49:27
Speaker
you know, someone else bought it before you. Do you have one in mind? Well, there was a portfolio. There was a President Reagan portfolio that he had ordered several of them through Gurkha and he was giving it to his immediate staff.
00:49:55
Speaker
And that particular one that I had was, I think, Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Minister. I let that go, and then later I thought, oh, I should have kept it.
00:50:13
Speaker
Back then I thought, okay, you know, this could be so many shoes and, you know, clothes. I looked at it that way and I let it go. And later I thought, okay, you know, I could have paid my own pocket for those shoes and still have the portfolio. But the person who bought it, I almost offered him twice. I think I sold it for 2,500. I offered up to 5,000 and he didn't let me have it.
00:50:40
Speaker
Wow, you know, it's a it's funny when you when you collect something the the purchase price of items that you want to buy that you collect
00:50:51
Speaker
don't bother you as much versus items that are just general everyday items, like a pair of shoes. I won't scoff at a watch that costs a couple grand, but as soon as I want to buy a pair of shoes that I like and I see it's $500, I really start contemplating the purchase. It's kind of ironic. Yeah, true. This happens always in collecting. And the good example is auctions. I was in an auction last month
00:51:22
Speaker
And I was bidding on a Persian poet handwritten books for 750 years ago. And the price that they were estimating was anything from, I think, 2000 to 7000. But I really didn't care. I think I ended up buying it for $38,000.
00:51:47
Speaker
You know, I never thought about it. Just, you know, whoever was bidding on me, I was just going over. Yeah, you weren't going to lose that one. My cap was really like 15,000, but then I never thought about it. Just said, no, I'm going to have it. You sound like me playing blackjack. What about the on deck circle? What do you have your eye on for your next piece? I'm thinking about having
00:52:18
Speaker
Another 300S, if I find a good one. Oh, there you go. It seems like most of those are coming up at auction these days. Yeah, the one that I let it go was 1957. That was my year of birth. So it meant more to me, but I don't know why I let it go.
00:52:40
Speaker
How about the unobtainable, the item that you want to collect, but it's too expensive? Or maybe it's in Gurkha's private collection or in a museum? Is there anything that comes to mind? Definitely Gurkha number one. But right now, Marley's grandson has it. Yeah, they have tight fingers on that one, huh? Big time. They do not have no other one.
00:53:10
Speaker
What about the page one rewrite we call? So like if you could collect one thing besides Gurkha, like if you were starting from scratch, what would you go with? Perhaps I would start, I'm still thinking of starting to collect handwritten books and scripts. Oh, I like that. Yeah, there's been quite a few of auctions based around that these days. Exactly.
00:53:41
Speaker
For me, it's fascinating, you know, it's just history, just a lot into it, art. Yeah, nothing's handwritten anymore, so that stuff definitely gets more and more rare as the years go on. Right. How about the goat? Who do you look up to in the collecting world? The one that I looked up to always was my dad. He passed away last year. Oh, sorry. He was really into
00:54:12
Speaker
handwritten books, manuscripts, and several years before he passed away, he donated them to old libraries. Oh wow, yeah, I was just going to ask if you inherited that, but that's pretty nice of him to do that as well. Yeah, very cool. What about for you the chase or the sail? What do you enjoy more?
00:54:39
Speaker
question. I've kind of lost that passion when I found out what the value of money could be helping others. Oh, yeah. You know, I started to just let myself go. And little by little, that changed to having more excitement and passion when I knew
00:55:08
Speaker
what I was doing, was making difference. One thing my dad remember always telling us was just reminding us how beautiful this world is, the gift that has been given to us to be a part of it. You know, out of billions and billions of possibilities, it happens for the earth to be the way it is and to have life in it.
00:55:37
Speaker
and out of billions, it happened for us to be chosen, to be in this world, to enjoy, to look, to cry, to laugh, to smell a flower, you know? For all of us beauties and that free oxygen in the air that we are just taking in without even knowing how that was made one day. All of this kindness, you know, millions of cells are constantly
00:56:08
Speaker
working within our body to make sure we are healthy. We can talk, we can walk, you know, we can breathe. We digest, you know, all of that is just free and unconditional is given to us. But the question is, what are we doing instead? What are we giving back? Yeah. I always said, you know, even when you're living in this world, when you're living and this is it,
00:56:37
Speaker
If you can just remember that because of you, something was better in this world. Even if there was, you know, a smile from a child, you know, even if you just made a pain go away from someone, that would be enough. So you can just leave this wall and say, okay, I did my part.
00:57:04
Speaker
After me, the world is a little bit better, one smile more than before me. And when you get that way, then this, you know, collection and everything, as much as it goes through a better life for some other people, then it's more pleasure than keeping it for yourself. Amen to that.
00:57:31
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I'd love to end on that because that was definitely remarkable. But I got to ask the last and final question. Do you feel that you were born with the collector's gene? Oh, for sure. Looking at my dad, he was always buying something, collecting something. I remember two things. My dad looking forward to buy something and collecting something, and my mom complaining about his face.
00:58:02
Speaker
I grew up with this too. I love that. Alex, I think that's the perfect ending to a true collector. So thank you so much for joining us on Collector's Gene Radio. It's been an absolute pleasure to finally connect with you and learn a lot more about what you have going on. And we'll be sure to link up in the show notes all of the wonderful things that you're doing over at bestammarley.com.
00:58:29
Speaker
Sure. Sure. Thanks so much, Alex. Take care, Ryan. Take care. You guys were awesome. Hopefully, we'll connect again. Absolutely. You got it. Take care. You too. Take care. All right. That does it for this episode. Thanks for listening, everybody. This has been Collector's Gene Radio signing off.