There is a tall, inconspicuous door on a San Pablo Villa de Mitla side street. Open it and discover a home gallery filled with antique treasures. The inventory is small and includes ancient stone metates, glass vases hand-painted with flowers and edged in gold, reliquaries and ex votos. Señor Epifanio knows his stuff.
Scott Roth holding an old Mitla hand-woven textile
Upstairs via a narrow, concrete passageway painted in brilliant blue is a gallery filled with blown glass mezcal bottles, remnants of the time when this was how the agave liquor was stored. They are hard to find and very expensive.
Dolls, old photos, books, chachkeh from Mitla, Oaxaca
Occasionally, there is a jewelry find, like the Mexican silver coin earrings from the early part of the 20th century. I returned a month later to buy them and they were gone. Rule for Shopping in Mexico: buy it when you see it. Usually, these things are one-of-a-kind.
Hand-blown mezcal and water bottles, most from Oaxaca, 1950’s-1960’s
I’m reluctant to share the address and contact information. Only because I haven’t asked permission to cite the location, plus these things are getting scarce, and with scarcity comes higher prices. As demand rises, prices do, too. So, why am I publishing this?
So you can see the photos, of course.
Faces and Festivals Chiapas Photography Workshop
Portrait of Scott Roth with old Zapotec textile from Teotitlan del Valle
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