One of Mallorca's most veteran antique dealers is retiring: "I have a 150-peseta jug that I'll never sell."

On one of their trips in search of antiques, Daniel Cota and Miquel Fuster visited a friend's house in Jerez de la Frontera. Daniel intended to buy everything his friend had offered, but when it came down to it, "he didn't want to sell anything," he says. Rather than return empty-handed, the two Mallorcans asked their friend to sell them something. Fuster bought a gramophone for 450 pesetas, and Cota bought a 150-peseta jug. "And we made a promise that neither of us would sell it. And that's how we'll die. Miguel with the gramophone and me with the jug," he says, placing his hand on Miquel's shoulder.

This is one of the many anecdotes Daniel Cota has experienced thanks to antiques. He began collecting old coins that came to market. Shortly after, he opened three antique shops in Palma (two closed long ago). The third (opened in 1972 on a corner of Reina Esclaramunda Street) is still open and, in fact, will be 53 years old on August 30th: the antique shop Antigua. The first thing he sold in the shop were some coins from the 1972 Munich Olympics.

But Cota believes that "after so many years, the time has come to fold" and retire. "I'm tanking because of age," he says, sitting in the middle of the shop in front of a table full of objects with prices written on colored slips of paper. "There's no generational emphasis, like in almost all the shops in Palma," he adds.

He also acknowledges that antique shops are "on the way to extinction." "Before, there were 47 in Palma and now there are only nine left," he laments. "Now there's a boom of things vintage, but the antiques are pretty stagnant"

Some customers also share in the store's history because they've been coming there their whole lives. "An antiques institution is closing," one said as he took Cota's hand to shake his hand. He addresses all the customers with a good day and, if he can, yes. handwritten on colored papers and hanging on an antique brown shelf.

It sells everything and a lot. Viking axe that was over 2,400 years old," he explains.

According to her, she learned from her colleagues who worked in antique shops and read a lot. "You have to be very clear about what you want and also buy wisely. Just because something is older doesn't mean it's better. What matters is the quality of the item," she warns. Thanks to the knowledge she acquired during her travels throughout Europe, attending conferences, museums, and markets, she won't stop working completely. "I'll continue doing something, appraising objects and advising some friends," she confesses.

Her most expensive piece is a Venetian axe worth 1,500 euros, and her cheapest is a missal that costs five. Anything she doesn't sell before Christmas she'll donate to a charity in Palma.