family treasures & heirlooms...

• Sep 22, 2009

• #1

analiebe

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melbourne, australia

inkys post of her great grandmothers luggage in show us you purchases inspired me to start a new thread in which we could showcase those special treasures that have been passed on to us by family and hold particular meaning and significance...

this is my latvian great aunty bumba - olga skubins aged 19... and her beautiful amber & silver brooch and ring (1890's) as well as a 1940's evening bag that belonged to her...
these treasures were given to me by my mother... jewelery was some of the only things aunty bumba, her sister (my grandmother) and their mother (my great-grandmother) could easily take with them when they fled latvia during ww2...

 

• Sep 22, 2009

• #2

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up

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Da Bronx, NY, USA

You don't think men have similar treasures? I was just looking at a blue velvet covered locket that's been in the family for . . . oh some time. It's about 2 inches high, covered in Prussian blue velvet. Open it and on the left is a piece of penny post card with a tiny almost impossible to see tintype portrait. Not sure who it is. maybe my great gtand uncle who was killed in the Civil War? On the right is an exquisite photograph, slightly colorized, in porcelain, of my great grandmother. But pull out the procelain photo, and underneath is the inscription "From Hattie to George, 1868", and, are you ready? A little piece of blue ribbon with a tiny lock of beautiful reddish brown hair.
I guess I ought to take some pics.
I have an awful lot of family stuff like this, but this one is really special.

 

• Sep 22, 2009

• #3

Lillemor

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Denmark

analiebe, it must be wonderful to have things like that with a story. My sad story is that everything that belonged to my grandmothers was just dumped off at regular thrift shops or sold too cheaply to "experts" who buy these things and sell them to others or whatever they do with them. In their children's defense, I suspect that covering funeral costs played a large part in their decision to sell all of their inheritance. Not much but there were some lovely pieces from the 30s-40s. fftopic: I wonder how common this scenario is?

On one of the jewelry threads I posted the few things I inherited from my grandma but the only thing of an interesting age is a whitby jet necklace that's been restrung to a long single strand in the 1920s from an older piece of more ornate necklace. I accidentally broke the necklace but I've saved all the beads. I like them because the facets are uneven.

 

• Sep 22, 2009

• #4

analiebe

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dhermann ... please Do put up photos!... and, of course i know that men have similar treasures - i just thought that posting this in the powder room might be more appropriate as i wasn't that convinced that the gentlemen of the lounge would enjoy trawling through images of gloves, bags, jewelery, vanity sets, teacups etc...

dhermann1 said:

You don't think men have similar treasures? I was just looking at a blue velvet covered locket that's been in the family for . . . oh some time......
I guess I ought to take some pics.
I have an awful lot of family stuff like this, but this one is really special.

Click to expand...

lillemore... i only have a very small amount... my mothers family is latvian and my fathers german (but lived in palestine) and both families were war refugees so there was very little they could take with them... and then of course they were very poor through the rest of the 40's & 50's so couldn't afford many precious things... i am very lucky to have the little i do

Lillemor said:

analiebe, it must be wonderful to have things like that with a story....
On one of the jewelry threads I posted the few things I inherited from my grandma but the only thing of an interesting age is a whitby jet necklace that's been restrung to a long single strand in the 1920s from an older piece of more ornate necklace. I accidentally broke the necklace but I've saved all the beads. I like them because the facets are uneven.

Click to expand...

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #5

Foofoogal

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somewhere on the display case I believe there is a thread with pages of family treasures. I cannot seem to find it though. Maybe someone else is able.
http://www.sandysfancypants.blogspot.com

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #6

analiebe

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melbourne, australia

thanks foofoo... i did look before starting this new thread but couldn't find anything either... but if someone does know where it is please let me know

Foofoogal said:

somewhere on the display case I believe there is a thread with pages of family treasures. I cannot seem to find it though. Maybe someone else is able.
http://www.sandysfancypants.blogspot.com

Click to expand...

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #7

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up

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Da Bronx, NY, USA

Here's the locket

Ypu gals are gonna swoon over this one.
Here's the outside:

The inside:

And underneath the porcelain photo, the inscription is "To George Nov. 10, 1868:

Finally, here ïs Hattie, close up. Harriet Lewis Dithridge, age 27:

This whole thing makes me totally come unglued.

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #8

ThesFlishThngs

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That is a lovely treasure, to say the least.

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #9

analiebe

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melbourne, australia

oh! its just beautiful.... thank you for posting up the photos...
what a wonderful wonderful treasure this is... (sigh)

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #10

Miss Golightly

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Dublin, Ireland

My mother had the most amazing wardrobe that her Aunt (who used to go to the States regularly in the 1950's) bought for her - including her beautiful wedding dress and going away outfit that was copied on a suit belonging to a film star (she can't remember who!) and she had loads of paste jewelry from Woolworths and great purses - and she gave everything away!!!!!!!! Anything that wasn't given away to neighbours etc. was left up the attic of the house she grew up in - when I think of all those beautiful items....:eusa_doh:

Still I do have her mother's (who I am named after) silver marcasite ring which I just love - it's lovely to have something belonging to her.

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #11

analiebe

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melbourne, australia

one can only hope that the people who got her things treasure them or that they found their way to someone who does

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #12

LaMedicine

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Cedar-Lined City, Far end of the Pacific

One of my aunts died suddenly at 83 of a ruptured aneurysm a year ago. We had a family gathering today at her home which one of my cousins inherited and lives in. Since my cousins (she had 2 sons and one daughter) asked another aunt of ours and I if we would like to go through her kimono closet, and check things out so they could decide what to do with them, we did. They asked us to take home with us whatever we wanted, so I came home with two lovely pre WWII obis, one that was my grandmother's, and one that were worn in turn by my three aunts, and one undated but also probably originally pre WWII Ooshima tusmugi (Ooshima pongee) kimono coat that is too small for me (my grandmonther was a very small woman, less than 5' tall) which I will need to think what to remake into--bag, cushion, kimono vest, something.
I will post pics when I find the time to take some.

 

• Sep 23, 2009

• #13

H

Hana

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Northern Ireland

My great-grandmother, whom I'm named after, was married during the war. (Not sure what year) and her brother (or something similar, he was in the family anyway) was in the RAF and managed to procure some parachute silk. Her wedding dress was made of that, so it's quite the epitomy of wartime wedding dresses.
I recently wore it but it was a tight fit. The waist on me measured 27ins but it was worn with a belt by her and it wouldnt go round my waist, she was miniscule.