Turkish blacksmith guards rare ancient door despite high offers

SAMSUN

A 75-year-old blacksmith from the Black Sea city of Samsun is refusing to sell a rare, 160-year-old iron door featuring a depiction of the Virgin Mary, despite persistent offers from antique collectors and wealthy buyers.

İbrahim Germi, who has worked as a blacksmith for six decades, inherited the intricately crafted iron door from his grandfather.

Standing as a registered historical artifact, the door was built by Armenian craftsmen using an interlocking technique that required no welding. It is adorned with a detailed figure of the Virgin Mary and still retains its original locking mechanism, which remains in working condition.

Germi stores the piece in his modest ironworking shop, carefully preserved despite its age, and has vowed not to part with it, no matter how tempting the offers.

He said the door has been in his family for generations and considers it his most valuable legacy.

“This door came to me from my father, and to him from my grandfather, back when the waves of the Black Sea would hit the walls of the Great Mosque [a historic stone mosque situated in the city’s İlkadım district],” he said. “Many antique dealers have made offers, but I never accepted. I will never accept.”

Among those eager to acquire the piece was a local church priest, who personally approached Germi to request the door for the church. “He said, ‘This door suits us, tell us what you want, and we’ll make it happen,’” Germi recalled. “They even offered me international travel. I said no.”

In one case, a collector offered him the equivalent of a brand-new car in exchange for the door. But Germi says that no money could replace the sentimental value the artifact holds for his family.

While Germi insists he will never sell it, he jokes that after he passes, his children may not recognize its value and sell it to a scrap dealer.