In a small corner of Tiendesitas' Antique Village lies a shop brimming with secrets. Its interiors smell of dust and war and memories-and stamps and books and letters from names and eras all but forgotten. Here is a place where age is revered and the past is kept for the present, where ancient things are sacred, and old money is even better than new.

Octagon Coins prides itself for possessing some of the oldest and most interesting bills and coins in a collection. They have caps of pure silver excavated from Mexico dating back to the 1600's, 18th century Spanish coins, two sided Filipino-American coins, commemorative coins and authentic guerilla notes from the Japanese period.

Collector and shop owner Atty. Jose Escaño's interest in collecting currency was supposedly cultivated from two old coins his parents gave him when he was younger. From there his collection grew to include stamps, sculptures and most anything of age and value.

The antique shop also features Coca-Cola trading cards, comic books, medals, wood carvings, paintings, magazines and bronze figurines from all over, and though most of the items come from centuries past, one of their bestsellers is of a dimension other than time: a large bowl inside the shop is filled with "bulalakaw" stones, or shooting stars, said to be collected from Palawan. Right beside this is a container filled with "magical stones" extracted from caves. On the historical side, there is also a bowl filled with authentic Katipunan cannonballs, among other articles of war.