Your prized possessions.

[Hank]

NickieL's tread about her GrandPa's rocks started me thinking. You all know how dangerous that can be!
What are some prized possessions you have that mean more to you because of where(or who) they came from?
Some of mine are my father's Army ring from WWII, and his old pocket watch.
One that is very special to me...Years ago my Grandmother gave me (for Christmas) an old wooden urn that my Grandfather made when he was a little boy for his father (for Christmas). His father smoked a pipe and kept his tobacco in this wooden urn. After all these years you can still smell the sweet tobacco odor when you take off the top.
When I die my ashes are to be put in this urn. Marie will also have her ashes placed in there as well. It will be placed in our little cabin on the back of the farm where we will spend eternity together.
So, what are your prized possessions?

Hank

http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

[Horseyrider]

Interesting idea for a thread, Hank!

I have some porcelain that was my paternal grandmother's. Vases, figurines, china. Also her silver tea service and a demi tasse set. An old triangular curio covered in gold leaf. A mahogany breakfront made by Baker in the 1940s with curved glass and with a leather covered secretary that folds out from a drawer. Beautiful old linens.

From my maternal grandmother I only have two little cobalt blue vases. Paternal grandmother was rich and wore sable. Maternal grandmother was so poor she often didn't have a coat.

From hubby's side, I have several things. His maternal grandmother died giving birth to his mother. His grandmother's family didn't approve of the match; she was a wealthy man's daughter and his grandfather was just a WWI flier. When she died, my MIL was given to an aunt to raise until her father remarried. She was never really accepted by the stepmom.

But she did get to have some things of her mother's, and in time these things ended up with me. One was her engagement ring. A big, beautiful diamond in a platinum filagree setting. Think Titanic; it was from that period, and sadly always in pristine condition. I have a lambskin muff that belonged to her. And the most touching is a book, a sort of diary/scrapbook that had once been hers. Opening to any page is a leap across time. Inside it are pressed flowers, news clippings about parties she attended, invitations to the parties of friends, recital programmes, bits about sorority functions, dance cards with their tiny pencils still hanging from strings, etc. And there are announcements of her engagement, the parties surrounding it, and her wedding. So many hopes and dreams of a young woman with so much to live for, now dead almost a hundred years; yet the pages still speak with an eloquence and urgency about her life and her future. Sadly ended way too young....

[Tracy Rimmer]

I have a few things -- my mother's engagement ring and my grandmother's wedding ring, a family clock that has been passed down for a few generations, now, and a picture of my Mom and Dad that they had taken (professional shot) a few years before my mother passed away. Those are things that I would grab first if we had to leave. But besides my own wedding ring, and in terms of STUFF (not more important things such as the people in my life), there is one thing I will never willingly part with.

When my mom was so ill, I was preparing my boys for the inevitable and sat them down and told them that Grammy was very, very sick, and probably would not survive the illness. My then 5yo was very upset, as he and my mother were VERY close, and he started to cry. He told me that, when he wasn't feeling well, his teddy bear helped, and did Grammy have a teddy bear to help her? We went that day and bought Grammy a stuffed animal. It's a bright pink stuffed pig, and the boys chose it for her.

That pig was with her for the remainder of her life, and even went to the hospital with her at the end. It was on her pillow beside her when she passed away, and my Dad gave it to me after she was gone. I will never willingly part with that pig.

It sounds silly, but I'd rather lose my jewelry, my family clock, even the photo of my parents, than lose that pig.

[Hank]

That's the kind of things I'm talking about!
A book from long ago, a stuffed, pink pig. They may seem like nothing to most people but are priceless because of their meaning to you.

Hank
http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

[danielsumner]

Originally Posted by Hank

That's the kind of things I'm talking about!
A book from long ago, a stuffed, pink pig. They may seem like nothing to most people but are priceless because of their meaning to you.

Hank
http://www.doublemfarmandchuckwagon.webs.com

I know what you mean by priceless. We have also have a little stuffed pink pig. Her name is "Chiclet". If there is ever a house fire or disaster. She will be one of the first things saved.

Daniel

[Sonshine]

We have a small soft, rattle, doll, I think it was McKids or something like that. I have it put up, but it was the only thing that came with my son when we adopted him. I also have a shrimp plant that I always dig up and transplant when we moved that I got when my Grandmother passed away.

[Backfourty,MI.]

I have quite a few items that mean the world to me, things that one of my grandma's gave me, my father in law or a dear, dear friend but probly my most prized is a ring that was my Great Grandmothers engagement ring, which was then passed down to my grandmother & then to me. It is a bloodstone which also use to be my birthstone which has now since changed I believe becuase they don't make or mine them anymore.

[Tiempo]

I haven't had it for a long time, but my husband gave me a birthday present a few years ago that means the world to me.

It's a pendant from the 19thc, an Austro-Hungrian enameled silver St.George slaying the dragon, the dragon has articulated wings and a tiny ruby eye.

St George is both the patron saint of England, and the patron saint of equestrians. I wore it when we got married and wouldn't part with it for the world.

Another is my stuffed panda 'Pandie' I've had since I was a year old, he has an unstuffed ear, one leg shorter than the other and many bald patches

[TnMtngirl]

I have my grandpas oak secetary desk,would not take a million$$ for it.Open the door & the smell takes me back to childhood.Pa kept books in it, I keep what-nots & stuff the boys collected over the years.

[foaly]

My brick is one of my most prized possessions. Okay, so it's not just a brick. It came from the chimney of the house that my great-great-grandparents built in Oklahoma Territory in 1905 in the old ghost town of Retrop, Oklahoma. This is a picture of the house. These are my great-great-grandparents with all their children except one. Their daughter, my great-grandmother, had died in childbirth the summer before this picture was taken. This little house collapsed a number of years ago and I was fortunate to be able to get one of the bricks.

[Country Lady]

I have my grandfather's old fiddle that's worn and wired together. I can still see him sitting in, what we called back then, a straight chair playing his fiddle and patting his foot. He played in a little band when he was younger and loved playing that fiddle.

[Texasgirl]

I have a macrame purse and bridle that my grandfather made for my grandmother as a wedding present. It is made out of some sort of string.

I have them in shadow boxes hanging on the wall.

[Pony]

I have my mother's high school graduation ring.

My grandmother went to the same high school 20 years before my mother did.

I went to the same high school 20 years after my mother did.

My mom doesn't like me or talk to me, but I still have that ring, and it means a lot to me.

[oth47]

My brother has my maternal grandmother's trunk,it has one of her dresses and a pair of shoes and her large print New Testament,several smaller items.We don't have anything except pictures of other ancestors.I have my first pair of shoes and the box they came in and my old Theodore bear.He's much too old to be called Teddy any more.Pretty slim collection considering I've traced our family history back to the early 1700s..

[Txrider]

Hmm..

My grandads little clay pottery boy scout box with the motto and a scene engraved in it.

The old brass surveyors transit from the early 1800's that was passed down from someone to my grandad.

The Ithaca 12 gauge featherlite my dad gave me when I was 12, my first real gun..

[jen74145]

DS's tiny baby stuff. A necklace my DH bought for me in New Zealand; nothing fancy at all, just the sentiment behind it. I dearly wish there were photos of DH and I when we were first together.

I try not to get attached to stuff though, and instead hold tight to memories.

[piglady]

My grandmother was more like a mother to me than a grandmother and so so special. She dipped snuff, Rooster snuff to be exact. When I cleaned out her home after she passed I found an old unopened container and I have it on display in my antique kitchen cabinet. My dad was also a tobacco chewer and his favorite was "Good Money" twist. I have one of his beside the Rooster. Dad was the most wonderful person in the world. Now my husband chews so I hope our son puts a can of his favorite with my collection once we are gone and keeps it for his grandkids. I know, a horrible habbit but it was a part of them and they meant the world to me.

[Our Little Farm]

I have a small radio, a restored wooden chest, a hand made jewelry box (that I gave to my daughter on her 16th birthday), and a few other little odds and ends that mean nothing to anyone else but everything to me.

[HilltopDaisy]

Not a single item that I would freak about if I lost it in a flood/fire, other than my pets....

[springvalley]

I seem to be the collector of family keep sakes, I have so many but one that comes to mind. My Fathers mother (Grandma G) come over to the farm one day, I was a young man in my late teens early twenties. Grandma comes in the house carrying a small brown paper bag, I said Grandma you bring your lunch with you today. She says no silly, I brought something I thought you might like. So I opened up the bag, and inside was a horse shoe and a knife, she said that the horse shoe was from your grandfather and I`s first buggy horse when we got married. I thought that was the coolest thing, she knew how much I loved horses. The second was my Grandfathers castrating knife he used on the farm, my Grandfather died when I was four so I don`t have many memories of him. I also have my great G-fathers garden cultivator, Fathers- milk stool, Great G-fathers oak kitchen table and chairs, other grandfathers hay hook for baling hay. And so many other things from the family I can`t write them all. Some worthless to most, but priceless to me. > Thanks Marc