Beyond the dated shimmer and intricate display of textures, Aileen Beltrano Bautista gathers antiques and Hispanic Philippine jewelry that hold stories all the way back to our ancestors’ time. In an exclusive episode of Pairfect, hosted by Dinah Ventura, the collector said that, for her, these art pieces may be considered as an extension of our nationhood and fashion.

More than the preciousness of it all, she prides ancestral rare finds as topnotch – evoking beauty in its most exemplary form, worthy to be recognized; each with a narrative that seeks to get into the light of the day, a statement that only the finest of scratches and the glossiness of the surface can tell.

“Our ancestors made this excavated jewelry, all Filipino-made. It was often associated with excavated ceramics,” she said. “My husband (Edwin Bautista) was into ceramics in the ‘80s. He was the president of the Philippine Ceramics Society. He saw the gold inside [excavated], the ceramics, the vases and everything.”

When asked about their plethora of collections, Bautista said she didn’t get how Edwin, CEO of Union Bank and her life partner, felt about collecting antiquities. Eventually his fascination somehow got to her, and now it is a joy she would like t share with others.

“My husband started collecting ceramics (blue and white ones), and after that, he went to swords, maps, big woods and furniture. I started collecting, not excavated Hispanic jewelry, but European jewelry. That’s why when we go out of the country, I usually go to antique stores.”