Have any old heirlooms and keepsakes from 50-100 years ago?

I think the definition of antique depends on the product. I usually think of it in generalities; classic is 25 and antique is 50+. Probably differs for watches though as a good one will tick for ages if properly cared for.

I have my 78 collection. I love it to pieces. All the little scratches, the odd song names and the clarinet actually being in popular songs- love it all. It reminds me of spending time with my Grandmother and singing with her.

I have a beveled wall mirror that is at least 150 years old that came over on the boat with great grandparents in 1893 and a ½ dozen pieces of pretty cool tables, hutches and armoires.

My favorites pieces is a my mom’s mom’s 100 yr old wedding china set and that same grandmas CokaCola hand mirror she had in her purse with her when she passed.

Yes, I have a number of items well over 100 years old that came from a huge southern plantation. They are family heirlooms which are being transferred to my child.

I have a lovely set of Asiatic Pheasant Victorian pottery which has been handed down through the family.
I also have a metal mesh purse, scissors and pencil which would have been from a chatelaine.
My engagement ring is also Victorian.

@Cruiser I am sure you treasure these items. Their value is irrelevant don’t you think?

I have my grandmother’s pedal sewing machine and Bible. I also have a shaving kit which belonged to my uncle’s (by marriage) grandfather. I don’t know exactly how old it is but my uncle was in his 80s when he died 12 years ago.

Mickey Mouse wristwatch given to me when i was 8 years old. its an original. even the box it came in.

Great!

Fun to reminisce, eh?!

Zenele, you know it. i only wore the watch for about a week and its been in the box ever since. i can remember receiving the watch, like it was yesterday. it has a red shiny wristband and Mickeys arms are the hours and minutes.

@john

My grandpa passed a few years back – gave me the gold watch he actually wore – just had it oiled and fixed. Wore it yesterday. Thought of him – and then this question.

I do.I have quite a few things,but my 2 favorites are a black and turquoise silk dress my dad bought my mother when he was stationed in Japan.I’ve worn it before and it is lovely:) and my mom’s piano.She would play Beatles tunes on it for me:)

I am sitting here in front my one month old laptop that is sitting on my Grandfather’s roll-top desk. He got it at a courthouse auction many years ago (it was a bailiff’s desk), and it has wonderful little cubbies and sorting bins built in and so far I have found three hidden compartments in the desk. Two are little (they look like decorative molding on the desk, but if you pull them, they are actually drawers). The other is huge—it is on the right side of the desk. I noticed that the drawers were a bit shallower on the right and found that the piece of wood siding the right of the desk is actually a door to this space behind the drawers.

Growing up, my Granddad’s old Royal typewriter always sat where my laptop is now. He typed EVERYTHING (including post-it notes and checks) and I learned to type from him. I just do it in a slightly different way than he did.

I have my great grandmother’s pie safe in my kitchen and my great grandfather’s antique radio is sitting on the desk.

Thanks for the question, I am just sitting here feeling connected to all of them again and appreciating that I have these things in my life today!

When my grandmother was 16 years old, her parents sent her from Poland to Canada to live with her oldest brother and work so she could send her money back to the family in Poland. I have the autograph book that her classmates gave her to remember them. The pages are decorated with watercolors and sketches that various people added to embellish their page. Even though I can’t understand what’s written, I love having it.

My grandmother didn’t return to her home in Poland until she was in her late 60’s. Even though she still had living relatives in terms of extended family, WWII had ravaged the town. When my oldest daughter turned 16, it gave me pause to think what it must have been like to send a child away, never to see them again. Even though she was going to live with a relative, it was one that she had no memory of knowing.

Very touching story @PandoraBoxx

Almost everything in my 115 year old home is some kind keepsake.
I am a sentimental collector.
Both grandmother’s, dishes, clothing, furniture, a piano, books, jewelry, accessories.
Grandfather’s and great grandfathers books, hunting and fishing items, and tools.
My most cherished item? It’s so hard to think of just one, but it would probably be an alexandrite ring that my grandma always wore. One day she took it off her finger and gave it to me. (she had two daughters and 12 granddaughters) I was shocked and thrilled. She said that she wanted to be able to see me enjoy it, not just leave it to me after she died.

I have a fairy tale book collection from the 1930’s that belonged to my grandparents. I used to read them when I visited them. It was the one thing I asked for when they passed.

I have a vintage dress that was made in ~1956. I wear it every so often. The last time was for a Mad Men photo contest last summer. I didn’t win.

I have more heirlooms than I can possibly list right now, but I can name a few of my favorites. My home was built in 1915 by my great grandfather. The soil in my yard came from the Ohio river and my garage was built from parts of William McKinley’s house. My basement was dug by horses, and my great grandfather’s leather strop still hangs down there in the same place it has been for over 50 years. A few years ago I was digging around in the garage and I found an old silver mirror in a wood frame which my father told me that his grandfather had made when he was a child. I cleaned it up, and it hangs in my kitchen today. The mirror itself is tarnished badly inside.. but I think it’s beautiful, and it’s sentimental to me that my great grandparents touched the things in this home with their own hands years before I was born. It gives me a sense of connection to my own history.

In more recent style, I have a Ukrainian rushnyk that my grandmother made in her youth.

I have many books, some first editions, from the late 1800’s that belonged to my grandfather. My favorite heirloom is an old tin cup that must be about 150 years old. This also belonged to my grandfather, and held a significant sentimental value to him. I believe it belonged to his grandfather.

@partyparty Of course! I would never sell them! I am lucky in that they are nice pieces and look really good in my living room. You just can’t buy stuff new like these anymore…at least I have yet to find any out there. That beveled mirror glass is flawless….highly unusual for a mirror of that age.

My grandmother gave me a piece of Fenton Carnival Glass (Rainbow Glass) that her date won for her at the State Fair when she was fifteen. She was ninety-one when she gave it to me, not too long before she died.

I have my parents DNA.

@Cruiser And the craftsmanship is awesome don’t you think?

@partyparty That and how they just feel when you open and close drawers and doors. Even the mirror it is so simple yet elegant and to ponder the fact that all the work was once done with mere hand tools is even more amazing.

I have a large French pastoral oil painting signed and dated 1886. The artist’s works are hung in the great museums in the western world; he also has coffee table books devoted exclusively to him, My parents stumbled on it in an auction in the late 40’s.

I also have some diamond jewelry from my paternal grandmother, who was born in the mid 1880’s.

However, my mother (in search of the new and tacky) sold a beautiful old grandfather’s clock (that showed the seasons, phases of the moon, etc ) and a Russian brass samovar that my sister and I still lust after.

I have the brass Shabbos candlesticks that my great-grandmother brought from Russia. Since my mother was not a saver, they are very precious to me.

Well I do have 2 coins in my collection, one from each of my grandmothers. One is 2500 years old (obviously not in our family all of that time) but not worth that much, since it’s quite a common piece. The other is “only” 1600 years old or so, depicting Emperor Justinian and is worth a lot more, since it’s fairly rare. It’s been in our family for several generations.

I’ve got a pendulum wall clock. I’m unsure of how old it is, but it’s in perfect shape, and it dongs the hour and everything. It’s in my kitchen, looking all awesome. I found it a few years back, some old dude was selling it at a yard sale for 35 bucks and I totally wanted it.

I collect antique cameras. I have a few Box Cameras that are 100+ years old.

I have my mother’s photo in her Christening dress from 1912 and her birthday photo on her 16th in 1926 , both in frames. I also have a big wedding photo. I have a modest diamond ring her mother (my grandmother) left me in 1964 in her will. I also have my dad’s Morse Code dot ditta dot thingy he used all throughout my childhood 1940’s-1950’s.
I think my most treasured things are my parents’ High School yearbooks w/their photos in them.

oops, I did it again – I gave you a GQ
I have a library table that was in my father’s high school, made by Abernathy Furniture Company of Kansas City in the 1930’s; my father’s Christening gown, made by my grandmother in 1918, a quilt made by my grandmother for my wedding 1962; a silver cloak from the 1920’s; an original 1920’s flapper costume and a collection of greeting cards from the 1920’s – 1950’s.

This has been fun.

@zenele it was a fun question. :)

Sigh – cuz we be getting old and nostalgiac. I need a hip hop question.

I am extremely honored with things from my grandmothers of each side of my family, a star of david necklace passed down from my great grandmother (and my namesake), and a beautiful diamond ring passed down six generations on my father’s side, since my great great grandmother.

Does my mother count?