Nobody could ever imagine that the pipe used by famous and seductive Hollywood movie star Marilyn Monroe and the exquisite diary of Queen Farida, the wife of King Farooq of Egypt, would find their way into a small town named Al-Rass deep in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. Controversy still surrounds the death of Marilyn Monroe who is believed to have committed suicide in 1962 at the age of 36. Very little has been heard about this small town characterized by a large number of date palms; even many Saudis may find it hard to locate it on the map. Queen Farida would have never thought that her personal diary containing the then powerful power play in Egypt and her personal antecedents would also land in the same town, which is characterized by a large number of date palms. Ali Al-Awaji, a Saudi in his 40s, has a 20-room mansion in Al-Rass, located about 400 km north of Riyadh and is keeping a big number of antiques and artifacts that represent different civilizations - Arab, European, Japanese and American including Red Indian society. Al-Awaji owns historical documents and books on different religions most prominent of which are on Judaism, Al-Hayat Arabic daily said Saturday. Speaking on how he managed to get hold of Marilyn Monroe's pipe, Al-Awaji said: “An American family in California had placed an advertisement for selling antiques. I visited the family and the pipe caught my eye straight away. I did not hesitate a moment to buy it.” Al-Awaji, who was an employee of the National Commission for Human Rights, declined to disclose the amount he shelled out to buy the pipe. “It was reasonable,” is only what he had to say. “I got hold of the pipe mainly because the California family may not have realized its historical importance then,” he said. On how did he purchase Queen Farida's memoirs, Al-Awaji said: “I was having a leisure walk on one of Cairo's bustling streets when I saw a man selling several old books. They included a superb notebook in which Queen Farida, wife of King Farooq, had written her memoirs in French. The street vendor was illiterate. After haggling for sometime he sold me the memoirs for Egyptian pounds 3,000.” “It was a good bargain,” he said. He said Queen Farida's memoirs show her great love for architecture and plastic arts. During the course of his “aristocratic hobby,” Al-Awaji visited many countries starting with Egypt when he was only 16. He then visited many countries including the US and Arab Maghrib countries (North Africa). Al-Awaji, who is living between Al-Rass and Riyadh, said: “Before I completed primary school, I used to read history books especially those on heritage. I used to collect old coins and rare pictures. When I was 16, I traveled to Egypt to see the antiques and monuments there. I visited the famous Madbouli Bookshop and I bought historical books that deepened my interest in collecting antiques.” Al-Awaji lamented that his family never encouraged him in his hobby. They would only say it was a useless pastime and a waste of time and money. However, this increased his determination to continue collecting antiques to the extent that he now owns what can be called an ancient treasure. It was not an easy task whatsoever for Al-Awaji. He recalls traveling to Abha in the southern part of the Kingdom before the construction of a road linking it with Riyadh to purchase an ancient dagger made of silver. Al-Awaji added: “It was a great risk traveling to that city. The road was rugged and mountainous surrounded by forests where beasts of prey were abundant.” Al-Awaji recalls his inability to purchase a rifle owned by Ibn Rasheed, who ruled big swathes of Arabian Peninsula before the unification of Saudi Arabia. “Many years ago, I was in the midst of a group and one of them offered to sell his firearm for SR15,000. I showed my interest, but he insisted that I pay on the spot. I didn't have the necessary dough and some other bought the rifle,” he lamented. After that he succeeded in purchasing a rare Japanese car manufactured in 1954 called “The Prince.” “I telephoned the manufacturing company and discovered that they do not possess even pictures of the car that was made at the beginning of the Japanese renaissance.” To get a driving license for this car here, it was necessary to get a clearance paper from the Interpol proving that there were no problems or dispute on the car's ownership, he said. __
