By My Old School

06/10/2026

06/10/2026

8 random items I found in my storage! ♥️ These locally found items form a snapshot of everyday Singapore life from the 1930s all the way to the 1990s - that's 7 decades! 🇸🇬 I guess you can say our shop is a museum of everyday life, capturing the ephemeral items of the past, but the difference is they're all for sale if anyone's interested! 😄

Scotch Tape in paper packaging, its then 'new improved package' (they were once sold in metal tins) 📦This was before plastic packaging invaded our lives!

Someone's ambition to be an airline stewardess ✈️ Published in 1975 with chapters such as "None of it comes easy", stamped with Pickwick Book Distribution, 38 Zion Road Singapore 10.

Small glass perfume bottle labelled SincereS 103 Chypre Essence, sealed🌹The Art Deco style of the bottle, the text font, paper label, and stopper style are visual clues that date it to the 1930s to 1950s.

Tiny amber glass pill bottle with cork stopper from Kai Dispensary, 223 East Coast Road 💊 The business was incorporated in 1967 and Kai Clinic is still at the same address! 🏥

Mickey Mouse toy dressed like a McDonald's employee holding a burger 🍔

LA Confidential VHS tape from 1997 📼 Excellent movie!

Esso IntelliCard Cash Card Value Checker from 1996 ⛽🚘 It was launched with the initial nationwide rollout of Singapore's first-generation chip-based CashCards in late 1996. Wow has it been 30 years?!

SBC Staff Union bag. Before MediaCorp, before TCS, there was SBC - Singapore Broadcasting Corporation 📺 Yes this bag was from the home of a former SBC employee! 😄

05/10/2026

Can anyone tell me why pencil sharpeners used to have mirrors on them? 😄 Carrying a small mirror with you was common in the past, as evident by the number of pocket mirrors we've seen through the years 🪞Were people then more conscious of their appearance? 🤔 Was it also used to peek secretly at people? Hehe. Here's what we have now at the shop! All except the once common round sharpener with mirror for sale, they have become rare now! 😆

02/10/2026

This Children's Day, I'm highlighting totally inappropriate toys for kids now 🤣 This Sega Pocket Power Rapid Fire toy from 1988 is modelled after a machine gun to fire its plastic pellets 🔫 while an innocent looking book actually conceals a gun allowing you to 'shoot' the weapon from outside! 😅 In the background are wooden catapults naughty kids used in the past before plastic toys came about 🎯 Those were different times indeed 😄 Happy Children's Day to the kid in us! 🥳

01/10/2026

Ahead of the first-ever Singapore Indie Bookshop Day (SGIBD) this Saturday 3 Oct, here's a snapshot of the Singapore bookstores of the past! 📚 These are all taken from books in my shop, marking a time when bookstores were thriving in Singapore 🇸🇬 From their addresses, you can see they were clustered in the city area (Collyer Quay, Bras Basah, High Street, Orchard Road). Sadly none of them survive today but we're glad that ground-up initiatives like the SGIBD is spotlighting the independent bookstores we have now! ❤️ I don't sell books exclusively but we do have a healthy (and overflowing 🤭) collection of vintage pre-loved books including many out-of-print titles! 👍 Make an appointment to come and have a browse! 👀

30/09/2026

We have Vincent Van Gogh's yarn box! 🤯 Well not exactly but close enough 😆 The 19th century Dutch painter kept coloured yarn in a red Chinese lacquered box to test colour combinations 🎨 The actual box is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam - the almost identical one on the right is available at By My Old School vintage shop 😄 Channel your inner Van Gogh now with this gorgeous antique box! 🧑‍🎨

29/09/2026

I was in Clementi for a photowalk recently and spotted this remnant of HDB's old alphabetical numbering system! 📸 This was when they used letters of the alphabet to represent the floor, so L being the 12th letter of the alphabet means the 12th floor! 🏢 This was taken on the 11th floor of a block at Clementi Ave 4 looking up, so confirm and chop👍🏻 I spent my early childhood in a HDB flat in Dover Crescent, and our address was 29Y (let's see how quick you can calculate which floor 😜!) This system (a colonial legacy) was phased out in favour of a numerical system in 1983 as engineering improvements meant taller blocks could be built! 🏗️

But it was never officially confirmed that the alphabet having only 26 letters is the reason why our tallest HDB blocks in the 1970s were all 25 stories 😏 Any stories about this to share? 😊

26/09/2026

These are the items that make up collections - company premiums that were never sold but given out at events! 有钱也买不到 😄 Here's our collection of miniature rubbish bins from Otto, SembEnviron, Sulo and MEA Environment, the guys who supply the real size versions! 🚮 They come with lids that open and even wheels 👍 Available for sale at the shop now！

25/09/2026

I searched my photos with the word 'lantern' and this is what I got! 😂 These are the kind of lanterns that I'm more familiar with today, haha 😄 Today is Mid Autumn Festival (aka Mooncake or Lantern Festival) and it's said the moon will be at its fullest and brightest! 🌝 Happy Mid Autumn Festival everyone! 🥮🍵

24/09/2026

Can you identify all 17 flags on this plaque? 😄 The importance of maritime security has grown and 20 years later more countries have joined the initial 17! 🧭 From the early days of the HACGAM or Heads of Coast Guard Agencies Meeting held in Malaysia in 2006 🇲🇾🤝 Measures 15cm by 17.5cm, available at the shop!