A picture taken on March 3, 2018 shows specimens of Iraqis and other countries' banknotes on display at an auctioneer's table during a historical relic auction at the Moudallal cafe. (AFP / SABAH ARAR)
Baghdad: At the heart of a Baghdad flea market, nostalgia for Iraq's royal past is on full display as collectors and investors gather to buy relics from a bygone era.
Inside the Moudallal cafe, Arabic for "pampered", a hundred men from across the country carefully follow the auction of mementos from the nearly four decades of monarchic rule that ended with a bloody coup in 1958.
"There is a feeling of nostalgia among the customers. Take the banknotes, their manufacture and quality were much better before, that's why the prices go up," says 52-year-old auctioneer Ali Hikmat.
With a booming voice, the towering man who has worked in the covered market since 1992 offers his goods up for auction to the highest bidder.
All sorts of keepsakes are up for grabs: banknotes, coins, stamps and decorations.
Most date back to Iraq's royal era, but there are also a few items from the early days of the republic that followed after general Abdel Karim Kassem toppled the monarchy.
Nothing is on offer from the decades of dictatorship under Saddam Hussein.
For the Iraqis hunting out their own souvenir of the past, the period of royal rule represents a golden age for their country.
The founding of the Kingdom of Iraq under Faisal I - who fought alongside T.E Lawrence during the First World War I - marked the emergence of the modern state after the fall of the Ottoman empire.
The country gained independence in 1932 and the monarchy lasted until Faisal II was executed during the coup.