[Closed] Physical heirlooms

My collection of artisanal horse penises.

I do have one old wooden box/chest that used to belong to my mother. It serves no purpose but I've held onto it.

My collection of artisanal horse penises.

Now see, I'd totally want them.
😀

Auction it, and buy something specific you do want. A painting or piece of art that can be moved around and into new properties say. You'll still have a reminder of the memories when you look at it, but it fits in with your life and tastes.

I'd hang on to it, when she's gone you might regret anything else.

I love hanging on to stuff that used to belong to now departed rellies, it's a great way to keep them in mind 🙂

I'm not really one for sentiment or heirlooms but...

I have my mum's old wooden spoon (cracked and splintered) which doesn't get used and her old aluminium soup ladle which is only used for chicken broth (all other soups etc. are dished up with a more modern stainless steel one. Yes I'm quite mad.

I also have a large portion of my maternal grandma's dinner service which she got as a wedding present. It's very beautiful and over a hundred years old. I would be seriously upset if any of that got damaged.

Donate the draws to a charity, give someone a bit worse off a start with furniture IMHO

A birthday card and anniversary card for me that my mum wrote out before she died and I have sat at the bottom of a drawer (unopened) for the last 5 years.

She'd have been 76 years old today 🙁

Small stuff with incredibly vivid and happy memories. A cheap Pyrex dish my mum would make her version of lasagne in on cold evenings. Always the same dish. Lost my mum when I was 32 and kept that bowl. Made the same for my son a few times and it really made me smile. Sadly my partner dropped the thing a few weeks ago. Deep inhalation and move on.

I'm guttted my lad isn't interested in the 200 matchbox cars I kept all these years... 😳

Got loads of stuff that means a lot to me, but I'm in agreement with you, I think stuff holds you down, I won't impose any of it on my bin lids, they can have my audiobooks and a photo of me when I had hair.

An old half grandfather clock, belonged to my mum's family who are all gone now (along with mum as well).

Was always ticking in the corner when I went to visit and has been sat in the loft or in storage since we moved, it will be the final piece of furniture in place once we finish renovating or house.
Not valuable, but priceless.

I'd hang on to it, when she's gone you might regret anything else.

I have my mum's old wooden spoon (cracked and splintered) which doesn't get used and her old aluminium soup ladle which is only used for chicken broth (all other soups etc. are dished up with a more modern stainless steel one. Yes I'm quite mad.

No, I think that's nice. To have something a relative used day in, day out is special.

The chest of drawers I've got coming was only really held on to by her from HER mum. She doesn't really use it as such.

can't you stick it in a loft or something? at least keep it even if it's not on display.

I don't have anything that's been passed down to me and can't think of anything to pass on. Maybe my wedding ring.

We have a large clock, currently wrapped in a sheet. It's lovely but no idea where to put it. Doubt it works either. Was hoping it would go in the hall but it just doesn't look right.

I have two wonderful beer tankards. One is was bought by my mum for my christening, a solid silver flip top tankard from 1786. It holds a quart but leaks. The second is a solid leather tankard made by Laurie Smith in about 1972. Each is beautiful in its own way. One to each son. Also my grandfather's silk map from his Pathfinder days in WW2. A rather fine painting as well.

It is a good thing to pass these objects on and I'd be upset to hear that there were plans to sell them if they were not wanted.

I've only got a few bits and bobs, a dated ring that was my great-grandads that was passed down via my dad, that I wear, a pocket knife that was also passed down from my dad, another that belonged to a relative who was killed at Arras in 1917 that my dad had, a few bits of kitchen stuff of my mum's, like Pyrex dishes and some knives and forks and wooden spoons that still get used, silly things that were around when I was a kid, that have no value other than emotional, but are a connection to family I no longer have, and thus are priceless.

When relatives go, you find yourself with an entire house full of stuff that you now have to decide what to do with.

You can't keep all of it, of course. IMO it's best to try and keep a couple of 'souvenirs', like say a ladle or a tankard, and let the rest of it go (unless you actually want the wardrobe or dining table!).

Kayak23 I'd wait and see how you feel at the time. But don't feel guilty about moving it on if you really don't want it.

I have a mahogany desk my grandfather made and a sideboard he made and my dad reconditioned a chest of draws and wooden box my dad reconditioned plus some stools he made, a pick axe and penknife . also two suits
It's nice my boy can see physical things shaped by relatives he would otherwise never know existed .

I have a cardboard tube full of ash. What the hell do I do with that?

I own a grandfather clock that was (at least) my great-grandfather's, if not further back than that. It's not at my house yet mind. And my mum has a Bluthner piano from 18__ something, which her parents bought from a retiring publican sometime in the 1940's.

My parents used to collect paintings that they thought would be good investments, and of course because they made good boasting points at their frequent dinner parties.

A huge paining by Carel Weight sold for £3000 after they had paid £1000 for it about 20 years before - hardly an earth-shattering investment. My Mum keeps going on about two small paintings by Frederick Widgery and Copely Fielding that she has; looking on Ebay I see they sell for a couple of hundred quid. She also witters non-stop about an original Turner watercolour she owns and I've had a good look at it and seen that it's a print, worth a few quid. She generously gave me a load of Georgian and Victoran glassware and I managed to sell the lot for £12 to a collector on Ebay.

Throw the lot away or stick it on Ebay for a few quid. It's not worth the time and effort. Anything genuinely valuable will be snapped up by a collector who will rip you off anyway. The only heirloom I have, which I value is my grandpa's diary from his time in the Navy 1915-1917, which is genuinely interesting but even that's of no interest to historians.

It can be an odd situation sometimes. The only heirloom I have is my paternal grandfather's wedding ring, it was engraved with his initials and I'm named after him so it passed to me. The thing is though he died many years before I was born so what I actually have is a gold ring that once belonged to a man I never knew and have no real connection to.

you never know if there is a cheeky wee something hidden in it - my gran let everyone know that the old rocking chair was for my mum. it was old and pretty beat up having been used as an everyday chair for as long as I can remember.

We took it home after she died and it was stuffed - literally stuffed with cash.

I have Nan's glass paperweights, a couple of small Victorian style silhouette framed pictures, two sherry glasses and a trifle bowl. I occasionally make the effort to use the trifle bowl. I have my dad's two poetry books he was awarded as a prize for something non academic at school (good behaviour I've always suspected). None of these feel like memories. They aren't my memories.

I have a small child size needlework cabinet complete with drawers divided for cotton reels and places to put your pins which my grandad made. I watch <stalk> the timelines of my cousins awaiting the opportunity to identify a potential recipient in their offspring or the offspring of their offspring. Sometimes wonder whether to fob it off on them sooner rather than later.

I have the watch my dad got as a 21st present. I also have two things that he held dear. A razor my Grandfather used and a fold out medium format camera of his too. Neither of any value other than of sentiment to my dad.
Never met my grandfather but I like to think that these three might become heirlooms.

It can be a pretty emotive issue. A friend of mine lives in a house that once belonged to her grandfather. It still strictly speaking it belongs to her mum. Its full of granddads furniture and possessions- not because its wanted or needed or useful - but because her mum can't let go of them (even though she lives 150 miles away and never actually sees them.) Our poor pal is kind of trapped by them, emotionally and professionally, living in the wrong house in the wrong place as custodian of all this guff.

Other than 'possessions' - 'things people have made' are much more emotive. My dad was an silversmith so theres stuff of his that we hold onto but fortunately its both lovely and small. Also much of his career was dedicated to teaching so the volume of work he produced over a career is pretty modest.

My gf's mother is a painter and turning 80 this year is still prolific and ambitious - her paintings are huge. I've just had to fit out a new studio for her, double the size of the last one as she could barely get the door open. When the day comes theres going to be quite a logistical and diplomatic exercise dealing with it all. She's the head of 4 families all of whom will have their own ideas as to what should or shouldn't happen to it all but its going to be physically impossible to keep even a fraction of it. They're huge and amazing so one painting pretty much decorates a room. You couldn't practically give house space to more than 3. But theres at lease 100 major scale pieces of work.

Fortunately her will makes some instructions as to who has say over what though. Which is good... and possibility bad... as I have a feeling that 'who' might be me.

I'm absolutely dreading the day my Mum shuffles off because her house is stuffed with worthless tat like, er, stuffed birds in cases, pictures, ornaments, plastic kitchen gadgets.... and by the time she dies I shall be on a permanent cycling/walking/climbing/kayaking/coastal rowing/ski touring
holiday in Scotland and she lives in Wiltshire. Having seen how my useless, obnoxious BIL left Mrs Gti to sort out all their late mum's affairs, I will not be able to abandon my sister who also lives in Salisbury so will have to go down and stay for a couple of weeks to wind everything up.

I've got a watch my mum [b]insisted [/b]on buying as a keepsake.

She went through numerous ideas and we finally settled on a watch to remember her after she dies.

I also inherited my Dads car when he departed the earth which as completely impractical but he wanted me to have it but I didn't get things that were important to me as the house got cleared and I was hundreds of miles away.

I'd start some negotiation ... you obviously don't want or have space etc. for a chest of drawers but as pointed out a wooden spoon or tankard etc. can be just as valuable as a memento.

I'd guess if you can settle on something more manageable your Mum will be happier

I have a 1978 Honda GL1000 that was my dads. Hope to keep it going to hand it on one day.

My Great Gran left me a Welsh Dresser which currently lives with my Great Aunt. Not sure what'll happen to it when she dies, can't see where it would go in my house really.

I've a lovely scratched up Seiko divers watch from my dad and a set of knives that my grandad "liberated" from a warehouse in the war in Germany, still makes me smile when they come out of the draw.

The best things passed down from my grandad were a pair of binoculars given to him by a German officer which i donated to the D-Day Museum and a photo of him playing in a football match between Allied Soldiers and German prisoners in Munich Stadium in 1945.

About the only "heirloom" I have of any value is an old barometer. This sort of thing:

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I'd sell it if I had the faintest idea how to do so without being ripped off.

I suppose for sentimental value, I have my grandad's old mug. Nothing special about it, it's chipped and battered, but it's a nice reminder.

a set of knives that my grandad "liberated" from a warehouse in the war in Germany

You ever heard a song called The Randall Knife?

I will leave this to my daughter.

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It is the first acoustic guitar I made. She is looking forward to owning it. A true family heirloom.

Marcel