i have my grandma's stainless atomic flatware, her shoes, hand mirror that was always on her vanity, wedding ring, hair pins, coat that she made, earrings, et cetera. she passed away 18 years ago, and i cherish these things.

When my grandfather passed away, I inherited their bedroom furniture, which my grandmother found in a thrift store sometime in the 70's and painted Pepto Bismol pink... over uggo olive green.

I lived a year with the pink furniture, then painted it cream colour. I think my grandmother would definitely have approved with me making furniture that was so very her my own.

mm, pretty chest. me likes the lamp base on it as well. my mom's cedar chest has that fantastic cedar smell. love it.

but i want to paint your wall, not sure what shade. it's not you, it's me, i promise! ;> i'm obsessed w/trying to decide on colors for my own walls. yes, i'm projecting. sorry.

back at the ranch, would have to be my late paternal g'parents' ooold (k, 40's, but it's old to me) record player/radio. sliding top, nice bass and treble sounds, lovely in an entry way, nice old castors. have no idea why i'm the only one who wanted to put a leash on it and take it home. i stumbled upon it in a garage, where my folks kept it, just not really having any interest or extra space for it. which reminds me, i do need to replace the needle. course the whole unit is in Oregon at the moment.

now if i could only find the white-ish ceramic elephant plant-stand. i've yet to see one anywhere, like that one.

My grandmother died about 4 years ago and had a 4 story house full of things. The only thing I wanted was her set of pressed glass. I've haven't really inventoried everything because I just got it out of storage but it was countless glasses, sundae bowls, wine glasses, i think there was even a butter dish in there somewhere.

I don't think it's that old or worth that much but I always liked them and was NEVER allowed to use them. When I finally settle down I will use them on a regular basis and think they would offer a warm nostalgic touch to my normal mid-century aesthetic.

I'm not sure I really have anything yet. Luckily my grandparents are still around but their house is absolutely stuffed with heirlooms (like a very ugly tea pot that my great-aunt somehow smuggled out of Jackie O's White House) and only my mother and I will make any attempt to claim any of them so eventually I'm sure I will have quite a few.

I have a chest that was in my grandfather's insurance office. When my mom went to college, she refurbished it, painted it red, and stored her records inside and her record player on top. I use it to keep blankets and other such things in my living room. I absolutely adore it and its history!

My grandparent's buffet. All the edges are worn down from where my grandmother used to lean against it as visitors were coming and going, and when you open up the doors, it still smells like their house.

A beautiful Queen Anne writing desk with secret drawers and glass-doored bookshelves above. It was my great-grandmother's. I never knew her.

I have an old secretary desk, complete with the original key and secret hiding places (really! Built right into the desk. You don't even know they exist until you own it). The front has scratches from an evil cat or two, but the whole thing is just lovely. We use it for our household bill paying/letter writing center, storing small necessitiies like lint rollers and hammer in the drawers. A far cry from the days it was a 'real live desk'.

My grandmothers collection of Pisgah Forest pottery. Growing up my Mom and Grandmother would drive from Charlotte to Wisconsin to spend the summers at my great grandfathers house. While on their drive they would stop in Arden, NC and purchase a piece of Pisgah pottery. The bright Turquoise color adds a punch of color to my living room

Wow. I was lucky enough to inherit everything. I mean every last lamp, table, bed, chair, chest, ashtray, drinking glass, towel, sheet, bauble, dust-bunny, and box of pet remains.

It took me forever to sell / trade / giveaway all the flotsam and finally come up with literally just a few pieces that I loved and kept. Some crystal glasses, a few rings, a couple of chairs, a lamp, and a side table.

But I think it's easy to pick my favorite. A wing-back gooseneck arm chair in which my great-grandmother Neva convalesced. It's been recovered at least 3 times in my lifetime, and easily a 4th before I was born. I wanted to think it was a family heirloom, but it turned out it was an antiques-store find and recovered for Neva.

As it turns out, my great grandmother's family had been extremely poor and all the nice things that came to me were acquired by her children in the decade just before I was born.

Love story about the teapot from the White House.

I don't have a lot of things from my family except for quilts. I have one that I made the top and my greatgrandmother quilted. And another that my grandmother and greatgrandmother sewed together for my wedding. They're both beautiful. My grandfather made me a bird's eye cedar chest for my high school granduation. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever owned.

My husband has a much longer history than my family. I was given a very old diamond ring, pearls, furntiture, and a hundred year old chalkboard. They are literally swimming in antiques. It's amazing.

My Swedish grandparent's formica kitchen table bought when my dad was a teenager, more than 65 years ago. We spent a lot of time around that table when I was a kid drinking coffee laced with milk (OK, more milk than coffee) sucked through sugar cubes, and eating homemade ginger cookies. I've had the table for 23 years (and 4 kids of my own) now and it's seen countless family meals and has survived an infinite number of kids' craft projects. And it still looks amazing.

so far I've only received a few small items: my grandmother's wedding ring (they were married during the worst of the great depression so the diamonds are as tiny as can be-- my grandfather got her another one later), a few pieces of turquoise jewelry (her obsession), a beautiful pair of kid skin gloves that I where constantly (I'm the only one with small hands like her!). once I'm more settled and get a safe, I'll get to have fun with the good jewelry!

there's a lot of lovely furniture, but I'm most excited to eventually get a gorgeous 19th century writing desk that made a trip on a covered wagon, a small, delicately inlaid letter box, a curved glass curio cabinet, and some very old books that have been promised to me.

Love the Sabra Field print!

My grandmother left quite a few antiques with family in Kansas City where she lived all her life - and my aunt has been storing a wonderful couch in her cellar for years; she was ready to ditch it last summer when I was visiting, but said she'd be happy to keep it for me until I could arrange to have it recovered and shipped to my home in Washington, DC.

My question: how have many of you dealt with shipping large heirlooms long distances? I used to work for a moving company and realize it's probably prohibitively expensive for me. That said, it seems rather pointless to move a couch across country in a U-Haul unless I take something else, too... and there wouldn't be anything else.

Ideas?
Thanks!

Nothing, yet. Most of my family is still alive. I have my eyes on several things at my grandma's house, but I would prefer she just give them to me without dying. :)

I did get the pots and pans that my parents got as a wedding gift in 1978. The marriage didn't last but those are the BEST pots and pans ever.

My grandparents are fortunately still alive. When I moved up to NNY last year (where they and most of the extended family lives) they gave me and my husband an absolutely GORGEOUS dresser. It was given to them by my Great-Great Aunt when they got married over 50 years ago. The family heirloom(s) my husband cherishes from his dad's side of the family is the walk-in closet sized safe full of guns that he and his brother will get to go through eventually. Most of them aren't made anymore, let alone find any ammo for...but they have a story behind each and everyone of them.

Loved reading all of these comments. :)

I inherited the set of pearls my father brought back from the war in Japan for his mother. When my mother died, they became mine. I am the second daughter, so the pearls being left to me was like receiving a blessing. I wear them often, and they would be the one thing I would grab in a fire.

Lovely question.

We immigrated and brought absolutely nothing with us; all furniture was left behind, and the furniture we left wasn't special in any way since all of the good things perished in WWII.

Nevertheless I inherited a single piece of sheet music written in my late great-grandfather's hand. At the end of his life, when he could no longer play his violin, he made a little extra money by writing sheet music for his younger colleagues. I've been toting this sheet for eighteen years until I finally settled and bought a house this year. I had the sheet of music framed in a thin gilt Italian frame, and now it hangs above my fireplace.

I also have my grandmother's wedding ring and her golden watch, and a couple of my father's paintings.

From my grandmother (who's still alive and kicking at 92) I got my great-grandmother's piano that was built in 1906, and a fantastic mod chair from the sixties.

From my dad (who died when I was 19) I got a bright red tool chest which I use as a side table, and the giant comfy easy chair where he read the newpaper every morning with the dog in his lap.

i am 30. my parents lived across from my gramother my whole life. i choose to live most of my life over here with her, due to a drunk father and disfunction to the 10 power.
since my gram passed away 8 years ago i have lived here alone. the house is well over 100 years old. its so old that it is one of the only three houses that appear up in this section of my town, on the oldest hand drawn map of my town.

my gram was everything to me. she is my hero.

a few years ago i was cleaning out an old dresser in her old room. after i pulled out the drawers, in the back, was a letter rolled up and tied with a yellow ribbon. it also had 10 one dollar bills rolled up in the letter.
it was her life story. it started by saying "i am (her name) i am the daughter of (fathers name) and (mothers name) i was born in....i have 4 brothers and 3 sisters...my father worked as a mine boss....and so on. at the end of the letter it said part one of 3.
there were 2 more. i ended up finding the second part about a year later. it had twenty dollars with it.
it was the most amazing thing i have ever found. i cried when i read these. and i am a guy who doesnt like to show that side of myself.
its hard for me to type this now.
i have not found the 3rd part yet.
i showed my parents and others and nobody new she did this. nobody knows when she did this.
how amazing was she to do that! to leave these hidden letters behind. and the money, like a gift to the one who finds it.
it is the most amazing thing i have ever seen.
me and my gram were so close. i probably wouldnt be alive without her.
i wish i could tell her how proud i am to be her grandson.

A cloisonne vase given to my great aunt by the Chinese government during the Boxer Rebellion while her brother was taking up arms with the peasants (they were both Anglo-Americans). An amazing story behind it (including a love story) and a cast of eccentric relatives.

AND my great-grandfather's wedding socks! Handed down to me in all seriousness. So, sure, hopefully I will muster the same grave expression as I hand down great-great-grandfather's, um, wedding socks.

My paternal grandmother was, like me, a lover of knicknacks and when she died I ended up with a lot of them--a cute set of little brass owls that I love, a few oil lamps that look like Aladdin's lamp, and a bunch of assorted figurines. And since I'm the only female grandchild, other items have been promised to me, like the kimono my grandfather bought for her in Japan. I also grew up with a quilt she made for me on my bed that had little ladies in antebellum dresses on it, that has gotten too worn to keep sleeping under.

On the other side, my great-grandmother gave me an incredible ruby ring when I was five. Rubies were her favorites, and that ring and a few other of her nicest pieces were actually her everyday rings, which she kept in a little open box on top of her dresser. Her house got broken into a few times, but in the burglars' haste to ransack all the drawers and look for hidden valuables, they always missed her really nice things in that little box.

My favorite family heirloom is a small wingback chair that originally belonged to my great-grandmother and was my grandfather's reading chair. It has great sentimental value and I think it's a really beautiful piece of furniture. I also have several small cherished things like measuring cups from two of my great-grandmothers, my other grandfather's wallet and a cousin's ring.
There are many things that my grandma has that I want someday, but not anytime soon!

This has been one of my favorite sets of comments to read. Cootiefree--that's just incredible. Thanks for sharing.

Wow Cootiefree - makes me want to do something like that for my offspring-thanks for sharing.

My great-grandmother came to America (from Italy) in 1906. I have her complete truseau which she handmade as a young girl in Italy. Non of it was used by her (I'm sure they were saving it should the Pope come to visit) and I don't want to be the careless one who puts a stain on it, so it is packed away unused by me too.

THE most special though is her treadill sewing machine. I remember sitting on the treadill and moving it up and down when I was really little. She died when I was 9 yrs. old.

An awesome antique armoire that my mom found and re-stored. My dad hates it, so she gave it to me. I absolutely love it! : )

My grandfather was in the Royal Flying Doctor Service in outback Australia. When his plane was finally scrapped, he removed the clock from the dashboard and had it mounted in a hardwood case as a mantel clock.

It is my very favourite possession.

Nothing yet though I do have stakes on several things. I already know what I will be inheriting - all my mom's jewelry that has been passed through the family (though it's mostly costume jewelry us Whitis' have never been rich), a beautiful tapestry my stepdad's mother made that does have a little wear and tear to it, etc.

I already got things from my grandmother - most of her vacation photos. My aunt Helen I had her antique sewing box til the fiance managed to fall and break it. The OP is very lucky - I wish I could have lucked out on some furniture since there have been some nice antiques.

A lot of things worth quite a bit monetarily (Chanel and Hermès clothing and bags, lots of jewelry from Tiffanys and Gumps in San Francisco, a full set of Gucci luggage from the 1950s) but none of it particularly romantic as I didn't really like the relatives I got these things from. I have some of my paternal grandfather's schoolbooks, and some books that have been in my mother's family for a long time, and a ton of random books from my great aunt that are mostly from the 1930s. I guess the most "cherished" would be my grandfather's old California history books from his school days. My dad's family has been in California for over 200 years, so these are special to me.

I have my grandmother's china, which is simple, white and gold but means a lot to me because I miss her greatly.

I also have my grandfather's reel-to-reel music collection (put on reels before he and his family moved to Cairo), which is amazingly huge and contains a lot of gems.

But what I love most are the picture books from when my four older siblings and I were kids. I was willing to move them out of my mom's house so I got them. They are not heirlooms in that sense, but they mean more to me than anything else. Many are out of print and impossible to find even used, and they all hold memories.

Though having the stuffed Kangaroo with pouch baby that my siblings, my cousins, and I all slept with when crib-sized (and later played with) at my grandmother's was a coup. Sometimes it helps to be the youngest.

i inherited my great-grandparents' enamel-top table (and four matching chairs). the tabletop has a faux-bois-like pattern and a fire-engine red band around the sides. it did need a little sprucing up, so i painted the base and chairs with white oil-based paint. it is (and always will be) the inspiration for my kitchen.

one thing though: the chairs are starting to get wobbly, but i'm not sure how to repair them. i think they're put together with wooden pegs? how should i fix them? or who can i take them to in the brooklyn area to be repaired?

I have both of my grandmother's marcasite initial brooches. They are from the 20's or 30's and are in the art deco style.
To my sisters- If you snooze, you lose.

I've got a thing for china. Kind of a problem...Single girl in NYC with full service for 36. Two different patterns, but still. A bit obsessive. And definitely an obsession passed down from my mom & both grandmothers.

After my grandma died about 20 years ago, my mom put a few boxes of stuff in the attic for me to take when I had somewhere to bring it other than my college dorm. And then we forgot about it...

A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting my parents. Mom & I had a few glasses of wine and for some reason, remembered the boxes in the attic.

We literally jumped up & down with glee (and more wine) as we unwrapped 12 place settings of the most gorgeous, perfect Aynsley Indian Tree china ever. I'm talking dinner plates, luncheon plates, salad plates, cups, saucers, berry bowls, cream soup bowls, serving pieces galore.....

Other favorites are the bronze sculpture of her prized Airedale Terrier and her diamond ring that I wear every day.

Got to run. I have to figure out how to seat 48 for dinner.

thanks for posting these, everyone. they're amazing, and they're making me cry.

my dad's mom died when I was in college. I was too broke/busy/bereft to go home for her funeral, but my mother had the good sense to put dibs on one of my grandparents' art deco dressers (not unlike the chest Susie originally posted, actually) from the guest room I would stay in when my parents went away for the weekend. it's stunning, and it can hold all my clothing, to boot. because my initials are the same as hers, I also wound up with her pie basket, which I use anytime my friends and I have a picnic.

my mom's mom died in January; I grew up two miles away from her, lived with her for a year during middle and high school while she convalesced. I actually don't think we'd get along that well as adults, but when I was little, she was a second mother to me. I haven't assimilated her things into my apartment yet (bakeware, a big collection of knobbly milk glass table accessories, a gorgeous Louis XV glass-covered coffee table), but I think I already found the piece I'm most attached to -- stark black-and-white portraits my dad (who is nearly a hermit now and stopped coming to family functions in the '90s) shot of my mom and him in the early '70s.

I wear the engagement ring that belonged to my husband's paternal grandmother.

I cherish the bracelet that once belonged to my grandmother.
And I have the quilt my great-grandparents made together (men would pitch in and help I am told). The quilt was my bedspread throughout my childhood.

And I should comment over in The Kitchen that I keep my grandma's Madonna of the Kitchen statue on top of one of my cabinets.

This is so interesting/ironic as I spend yesterday afternoon taking digital photos of all my heirlooms & gifts from each set of grandparents, for an inventory and to make a little coffee-table photo book for my parents.

Among many assorted treasures, I have a marble lamp and marble-topped coffee table that never budged from their places in my grandparents' living room and a small grandfather clock that my grandpa (a clock hobbyist) built for me. My b'day present this year will be to get the clock operational.

That Deco chest is such a score! I managed to inherent a silver set that includes egg cups, creamer, and sugar bowl...it's incomplete but I believe it came with my grandmother when she came to the states. Mostly these things are just precious because they belonged to someone you loved!

http://www.carinagardner.com

Not a 'family heirloom', but I treasure its usefulness: my grandmother's serger (a special sort of sewing machine).

Cootiefree--thanks for sharing that sweet story, it gave me goosebumps. I'm sure your grandmother is very proud of you, it is obvious you two had an amazing connection--one I wish I had with my own grandparents.

Bromelia, my dad was the original buyer of the pearls...no story there. I am enjoying the stories in everyone's comments. As I type this I am under the watchful eye of a young girl in an oil painting left to me by my other grandmother. It is the first thing I see in the morning, and the last thing I see in the evening. On the back of its ornate frame in my granny's handwriting is my name and the date. It was dated 20 years prior to her death. I love that she knew I would enjoy it even then. My daughter has asked for it when I die. I know the legacy will continue.

I have my great-grandma's Eastlake style wood dresser, which traveled with her family from Illinois to California in the 19-teens. It is this HUGE thing with burl wood panels and a shelf on top, and since I move every couple of years my friends have become very familiar with how cumbersome it is.

I had to wrest it away from my step mom when I was in college; my dad was storing it so I could have it when I graduated, and since I didn't have a home of my own (at 17?) she decided she was going to start using it indefinitely.

I grew hearing stories about how my grandpa slept in the drawer when he was a baby and associated the dresses with pleasant memories of visiting my great-grandma, so I basically hated my step mom for trying to take that history away from me. She threw a tantrum of entitlement and we had a falling out about it---my family doesn't fight amongst ourselves, so it was a very uncomfortable situation for my dad and I. Finally she said I could have it if I had a place for it, so I crammed it into a tiny bedroom at my mom's house and prayed she wouldn't have to move before I got my own apartment, which I did shortly thereafter.

I don't have much but I what I do have I love and is very intimate: lovely pottery bowls that my artist grandmother made and editions of the books she wrote. And an amazing flapper gown from my great grandaunt that hangs on my wall as art.

Oh and how could I forget, its the centerpiece of my living room? A giant oil portrait of my uncle and father as children. They HATED it I sort of love it, think Otto Dix's Neue Sachlichkeit in 1950's Ohio and you have the vibe.

The piece I love most is a mid-century green-upholstered chair in which Gran used to sit while she "did her face". It's still comfy!

And isn't it amazing how we attach sentimental value to inanimate objects. When something, like kitchen wear, that used to belong to my grandparents' breaks, my husband will look at my trembling lip and ask, "If it's that important to you, why don't you put it away instead of using it?"

My grandmother was an interior designer with a very modern sensibility, so when she passed away i inhereted a beautiful walnut and glass dining room table along with wonderful flatware and tableware, but my absolutely favorite thing i have from her is my grandfathers cedar chest from the end of WWII. He was on officer in the Navy and when he came home he sent home all of his possesions in a grey chest with his naval address and home address stenciled on it. I keep it at the foot of my bed and will never get rid of it.

when my Grandpa was in kindergarden (20's) he painted a large rock like a frog and it had leather feat. It sat on the hearth of their summer cottage and I always liked it. When they passed away my Mom asked me what I wanted. I wanted the Frog. I am the envy of my brother and cousins.

When my GreatGrandparents passed I got her Heywood Wakefield bedroom set. She was ill near the end and the entire set was moved down into the front sitting room so that she wouldn't have to go up and down the stairs. When we came over we would run through the house (it was a huge victorian with doors that allowed us to run in a giant circle) and always take a break in her room, talk, and then start running again....

I had gotten my grandparents a set of 'rocks' glasses & a shot glass for their 50th wedding anniversary. They were plain glass, but had drip/beaded gold on it in the shape of 3 masted sailing ships. (my grandfather's family were shipmakers & privateers during the revolutionary war and later).

Many years later, when my parents came back from the funeral (I couldn't go due to a family emergency) & gave me the things my grandmother had left me.... and I recognized the green Hudson's box... and saw the glasses inside... I broke down & cried... My mother told me that my grandparents had loved them & used them everyday for their drinks. (we lived too distant for visits in the last years of their lives).... Those glasses mean more to me than the jewelry that my grandmother left me. I don't use them everyday, but I don't keep them "safe" in the cupboard either. Things are meant to be used.. carefully, but used.

I have a little chair that was my mom's when she was a girl. It's cute, but needs recovered - the velvet is faded. I just have to find the right fabric.

As the eldest, I'm supposed to get my great-grandmothers beautiful cedar chest, but only when I have a "proper home to put it in." I did get her kitchen table and chairs. I really wanted the china and kitchen stuff- but I was away at college and it was sold before I had a chance to claim it.

My paternal grandparents passed away within 2 weeks of each other when I was 14 or 15. My father and his 4 brothers and sisters took turns choosing what they wanted. My dad brought me along to help him, although I really had no say since I wasn't that close with his parents (but I did love them, they just lived far away). I was always glad that I was included.

When my aunts and uncles started having a hard time thinking of things they wanted my dad asked me if there was anything that I really wanted. I had been thinking about it and the only real thing I could think of was this tall, ugly, bright orange vase that was always in the guest room my parents and my brother and I would stay in when we visited.

When I was little I could never understand why anyone would own it. It was really ugly in my opinion but over the years I started liking it and when I thought of my grandparents I would always think of it. So I told my dad that I didn't know if they still had it (they had moved closer to their children a year earlier and I hadn't seen it since they moved) but I would like the vase. I mentioned how I always associated it with my grandparents.

Unfortunately, it wasn't my dads turn to chose and it was my uncles and after I told my whole schpeal about how it really was the only thing that I wanted out of the whole house he made this little Aha! noise, said 'sorry' and got up went in the bedroom closet and chose the orange vase for himself.

It always bugged me because I'm pretty sure he didn't have the sentimental attachment to it that I did. Anyways he and his wife had it in his living room for about a year and then it disappeared. It terrifies me that it could get passed to my cousin (from his wife's previous marriage) who I know will trash it or get rid of it.

I did however score their old dining room table which I was indifferent for at first but now am thrilled as its this fantastic mid-century table. When no one wanted it my dad said I would take it (which was odd since I was still living at home). He also volunteered me to take their vintage aluminum christmas tree (which again I found hideous but now love). Its funny how you don't realize the beauty of something until later.

I have an old wind up mantle clock that was given to my grandparents as a wedding gift. It still works...as long as you keep remembering to wind it up. I usually don't because it bongs quite loudly every hour. I also have my grandparent's bedroom furniture that dates from the 30's. Its a lovely waterfall art deco style of furniture with all the original tags still on the back, from where it was purchased.

oh, cootiefree, what a blessing. thank you so much for sharing. i truly believe this was your g'ma's way of insuring *you* have no doubt whatsoever how very important *your* life is, and the power that unconditional love, truly has. that's my story and i'm sticking to it. :>

cweisb: I'm of Norwegian parentage and I remember the coffee in a sugar cube very well. The good old safe days of childhood.

I have a vase that my father got from and aunt that I always liked and my mother gave it to me for my birthday. I did some research and it's Gouda from the 30's. Not particularly valuble, but I love it. And I'm sure the great-aunt would be pleased to know that.

I, too, have an art deco cedar chest. The style is a little different from this one -- it's a Lane model with a clock on top -- but it's essentially similar, particularly if you knock out the sliding trays.

Mine is pretty scratched up and, as it turns out, my grandfather refinished it once before it was given to my mom: it should look more like yours, but instead, it's... blonder. One thing I've found about this type of chest (though I don't advise that anyone leaps ahead before actually looking up info on the subject) is that they really haven't appreciated in value. To me, that says "go ahead and refinish to your heart's content."

(Perhaps not relevant to Susie's chest, but maybe relevant for other people who have received something similar.)

I have a Baldwin upright piano (the kind that's like a baby grand set on end, unusually resonant for an upright), and on the small scale, an enameled metal ring holder in the shape of a dachshund with a long, long tail. I also have two antique telephone tables.

I am upset that my young cousin wound up with the very-Heywood-Wakefield-looking bedroom set that belonged to my grandmother, because my aunt immediately painted it without bothering to prime it. Now it's chipping and peeling and looks a mess.

One more thing -- after my grandparents died, I got several small Pyrex dishes from the late 1950s or early 1960s, both circular and about 6"-8" wide, but at varying heights, with glass lids. They stack.

They are the most useful things ever, and practically indestructible. We make vegetables in them every time we cook at home. They aren't hard to find on eBay or Etsy, and I would strongly recommend picking a few up if you don't have them. Skip any that are gilded, though; you can't use those in the microwave.

I lived too far away to get any big things- but I do have a vintage tablecloth from my Mom, my Dad's brass Navy Man from WWII, Diary's from my Grandfather- most over 100 yrs. old, old family pictures and my favorite old Christmas ornament that was my Moms, and when my Mom passed my sister sent me her favorite Fenton vase. I would have loved to be close enough to have gotten the things she had saved for me. When my Dad passed- was promised a coco

Continued....a old clock he had...My step-mother still has it and has been over 5 years now. So I received nothing when my Dad died. Not to worry my step-Mothers son will get everything when she dies. How nice. Just makes me love more how bad this woman talked about my Mother. But I am thankful for what I do have and the people that were thoughtful enough to think about everyone- me included.

Two items my grandfather got in Africa - a zebra hide and a small table with an elephant illustration made of inlaid ivory. Also our dining room table that I had to rescue from my parents who were using it as a work table while painting the house.

I've inherited some great antique jewelry and vintage evening bags (I even took Grandma's white beaded bag to the senior prom).

I've got an odd one - the 1950s nameplate from my grandparents' old house, made for them by a friend. It's pretty beat-up (it was discovered in my uncle's toolbox last year after going missing sometime in the '70s), and the lettering really needs a touch-up, but as it incorporates the family crest, I proudly display it on the wall, mixed in with miniature portraits of French nobility.

And the one that got away: I still wish my mom had saved her grandmother's Art Deco dressing table for me. But, since I was only three years old when the estate sale took place, I didn't even understand what was going on. I'm still looking for a similar one...the Gothic Victorian dressing table I do have is just too damn big.

We inherited a taxidermy fish from my fiancé's grandfather:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualingual/2099436470/in/set-72157594505190197/

He caught it in the late 1960s, and we also have his award certificate for the catch from Field & Stream magazine. It's an odd [and really large!] thing to have, but love it.

diskothek-depending on the dimmensions of the couch you may be able to ship it via Greyhound. A friend of mine bought a decent size upholstered chair from E-bay, had it shipped via Greyhound and saved a decent amount of money. It's definately worth looking into.

My grandfather lived with us when I was growing up and when he passed away (I was about 12) we cleaned out his room and I came across a small, square, gold locket. I opened it up & on the left side of the locket there is a picture of my grandfather in an overcoat and fedora. On the other side there was a picture of my grandmother (who died when my father was 5) in a fur, all dressed up, standing next to a car. We think the picture is from the 40's. I asked my father if I could keep the locket and he said that I could. I thought it was so sweet that my grandfather kept this tiny gold locket sitting in a jewelry box in his dresser. On my wedding day, I pinned the locket inside of my wedding dress above my heart so that I knew that they were with me on that day.

I pre-inherited the bookcase my grandfather built in shop class about 70 years ago. He's still alive and the family tradition of booklove definitely passed on to me!

http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a377/robotropolis/LR2.jpg

Now it holds china, however!

I have my grandpa's class ring from 1931 and my grandma's locket with a picture of herself and her brother from the late 20's. I like to wear them on trips as a bit of a tribute since my grandparents did instill their love of travel in me.

I also have a fake bonzai tree that was in my grandparent's den for 30 years. It is a little tacky but I love it.

Does anyone notice anything new about this post??? AT finally did it! They said the word "I".

God, its just like an Ayn Rand novel!

I have this amazing marble top table with ornate feet and lion heads. I have no idea how old it is, but it has always been the most elegant piece of furniture in my grandma's house, and then in my mom's, and now it's mine... I love it!

It's actually just like a Yevgeny Zamyatin novel, Studio Starter. Rand totally stole that idea; what a looter. ;)

I have my grandma's baby silverware. It's not a baby size, and it's a four piece place setting with her first name, may daughter's middle name, engraved on each piece, but someone gave it to her parents when she was born in 1930. I really like the design and treasure the set.

I have my grandmother's kitchen table. It is 54" round, oak, and sits on a pedestal. It also has 4 fold down legs for when you add in the 2 leaves. It was so heavy that we had to roll it on a blanket to move it.

while (in my head) it goes w/o saying, the nostaglia and life lived, surrounding an item, reading all these posts... gosh, i can now actually *hear* my grandparents' old 4-octave Ivan Rebroff records playing from my record player back when i was growing up.. course there were many other old russian folk singers being played. thx for the memories.

My grandmother moved in with me and my parents when I was in high school. She had to sell her furniture and I got up the courage to ask for her corner china hutch. I'd never seen anything like it. She was delighted. It housed my cds and random odd and ends. Fourteen years later I now rent her house (she's 95 and still feisty at my parents' house) and the china hutch has made its way back to its rightful place. Once again, it holds her china, which my mom boxed up unbeknowst to me many years ago. My grandmother was beside herself seeing the china and the hutch back in her old home, and was even more excited that I wanted it all.

My Gram recently gave me her old wedding ring. It's beautiful and unlike anything I've ever seen. It also provides a link to my grandfather, who died many years before I was born.

My great grandmother's crystal bowl: she buried her jewelry inside the bowl, buried the bowl in the garden, and fled her home during wartime bombing. When she returned she dug up the bowl and I have the bowl and one of her rings. The bowl is gorgeous alone or as the centerpiece for a table with a few deep pink peonies inside.
My great grandfather's art deco mold (for chocolate).
My grandfather's drawing set in a fine leather case.
My maternal grandmother's buddha.
My paternal grandmother's hope chest and tufted chair.
My aunt's Hermes scarf collection.
My uncle's modern art (his own handiwork).
My father's handmade wooden bowls (his own handiwork).
and finally my mother's china, fine artwork (collected and made), antique rugs, and her garden with many heirloom plants (from family and friend's gardens).