Sitting outside his small shop in a warren of alleyways in Rawalpindi, Ahsan Shakeel buffed an antique brass pot to a high shine, pressing it against a mechanised wheel.
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Shakeel → sit → wheel
“We’ve removed all the dents, but it still needs polishing,” the 72-year-old restorer, among the last still practising his craft, told AFP as the spinning buffer sent fine metal dust into the air.
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buffer → remove → air
Quitting a job as a hotel cook, Shakeel followed in his father’s footsteps to become an antiques restorer, opening his workshop in the Bhabra Bazaar market in densely populated Rawalpindi in 1980.
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Shakeel → quit → 1980
Today, he is one of the last master restorers preserving antique metalware in Pakistan.
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he → preserve → Pakistan
Rawalpindi’s roots stretch back to prehistoric human settlements and over centuries the garrison city evolved into a major commercial hub where metalcraft from the Mughal and British colonial periods converged.
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metalcraft → stretch → periods
Moving inside his shop, Shakeel navigated wall-to-wall shelves stacked with centuries-old ewer jugs, samovars for boiling, dishes, jars and teapots, most of which were made of copper or brass.
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most → move → copper
He took down various items and enthusiastically explained to AFP their materials and origins.
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He → take → materials
The vintage items are now increasingly rare in the modern era in which they have been replaced by stainless steel and plastic kitchenware.
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they → replace → steel
“I used to travel everywhere, Lahore, Gujranwala, Karachi, back and forth (to purchase antiques),” he said.
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he → use → antiques
Shakeel procures the items he restores mostly from scrap yards, ports, or household clearances.
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he → procure → yards
“Often, the condition of the items is so bad that no one would buy them,” he said.
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he → buy → them
The shop owner and his colleague Shakeel Ahmed restore the battered items by hammering out dents, re-tinning the interiors over coal fires, and polishing the metal.
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owner → restore → metal
A badly damaged item could take a few days to fix.
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item → damage → days
After restoration, a piece can sell between $100 and $1,000.
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piece → sell → 100
Shakeel’s customers are mostly collectors or antique enthusiasts, including foreigners.
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customers → include → foreigners
Today, he mostly relies on online platforms and messaging applications to buy and sell antiques.
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he → rely → antiques
“I don’t have the same health anymore, so I travel less,” he said.
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he → have → health
Prices for antiques are on the increase but the number of customers has fallen over time, Shakeel said.
“The money doesn’t turn over quickly in this business.
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money → fall → business
It’s a very slow trade,” he said.
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he → ’ → ?
“Customers who still exist, they are not many.
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they → exist → ?
They collect these things because they understand these items.
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they → collect → items
Those who don’t understand them would think it’s all useless,” Shakeel added.
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Shakeel → understand → them
Ahmed said he enjoyed restoring worn and damaged objects because they carry stories within them from different communities in the past or historical periods.
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they → say → periods
“This is a very old thing,” the 56-year-old man said at his own dimly lit workshop, as he gently used a small hammer to smooth out little dents on a large brass hookah pipe for smoking tobacco.
“What we do is like putting life back into the dead,” Ahmed said.
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Ahmed → say → dead
Header image: Antique dealer Ahsan Shakeel shows an artefact at his shop selling vintage items in Rawalpindi on October 20, 2026.
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Shakeel → show → October
The Aporia
