Look: 130-year-old kerosene fan, radio designed in Braille; rare items at Sharjah festival

From a 130-year-old kerosene fan to a radio designed in Braille, several rare items from an Emirati’s collection is up for display to the public at Sharjah Heritage Days festival. In a hall intriguingly titled 'Heard of It, Never Seen It,' visitors are coming face to face with objects they have long known by name — but never encountered in reality.

These include an 1877 Edison phonograph and one of the earliest portable computers from 1981, among other items. These remarkable artefacts form part of a private Emirati collection that is captivating audiences during the 23rd edition of the festival.

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A hall of wonders

The hall, known in Arabic as 'Samait wa Ma Shuft,' belongs to collector Hassan Ahmed Bu Sabar — one of several private museum owners supported by the Sharjah Institute for Heritage.

True to its name, the space is filled with rare curiosities that spark both nostalgia and astonishment. Among the highlights are:

• A wire-operated voice recorder 

• A hand-cranked gramophone

• Edison’s early sound recording device dating back to 1877

• A kerosene-powered radio

• A Braille radio

• A 1956 aircraft black box

• Manual calculators and telegraph telex machines

• Vintage music cartridges used in homes and cars

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Bu Sabar said the idea behind the hall was simple yet powerful.

“Most people have heard of these devices from their parents or in books, but they have never actually seen them,” he said. “When visitors walk into this hall, I want them to feel surprise — and then connection. These objects show how human intelligence evolved, step by step.”

He added, “What you see here at Sharjah Heritage Days is only a small part of the collection. At my museum, the hall is much larger and filled with even more wonders. I called it ‘Heard of It, Never Seen It’ because that is exactly what people say when they enter.”

From childhood hobby to 20-section museum

Bu Sabar’s journey began at just 12 years old with a modest coin collection from the pre-Union era. Living in old Sharjah with his grandmother, he saved money not for toys, but for Indian swords, stamps and black-and-white cameras.

Over the years, that childhood fascination grew into a structured museum comprising 20 sections, carefully organised into themed rooms. These include a traditional coffee majlis, a vintage grocery shop, a barber’s corner, a pearl merchant’s section, a camera house tracing the evolution of photography, educational tools, gramophones, pottery, medical instruments and detailed displays dedicated to kitchenware and household artefacts.

Private museums, public memory

Across the emirate — including cities such as Khorfakkan and Kalba — private museums have flourished under the stewardship of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage. Many were established in the early 2000s and house rare items gathered through family inheritance or personal passion.

From kitchen tools and adornments to historical documents and photographs, these collections form a bridge between generations — transforming personal memory into shared cultural knowledge.

At Sharjah Heritage Days, they step into the public spotlight, reminding visitors that heritage is not confined to grand institutions. Sometimes, it begins with a child saving coins — and grows into a hall full of stories the world has heard of, but never truly seen.