Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I finally got around to getting a Rockford Watch pocketwatch repaired that's been in the family since the 1870s. I'm going to give it back to my grandfather on his birthday. It belonged originally to a relative who was a railway mail clerk during that period. My grandfather still has the revolver he carried too.


It's probably the oldest thing I think I've held in my hands, which is kinda cooler than I thought it would be. But so that got me thinking: What family heirlooms does dakka have sitting around?

I have a marble topped oak dresser that has a mirror on top which belonged to my great-great grandparents when they came across the country in a prairie schooner(covered wagon) and originally settled in western Kentucky and then moved to Illinois. It was passed to me from my mother.

Well we got this Dalecarlian horse from the 1800s from Sweden, but that is honestly about it.

My Great Great Grandfather died in a mining/construction accident and we think my GG Grandmother got rid of all of his Civil War items he had kept from the war

Nothing. But nothing to loose.

It seems that the grandfather got rid of or lost all the old items when moving house to house multiple times.

That's a beautiful watch daedalus.

My parents had a oil landscape, they were repainting and it no longer suited so they asked if we wanted it. It suited our games room nicely so we happily accepted it, and Dad just clarified it wasn't a gift, that wouldn't be fair to my sister because the artist was a Pastor from the 40s or 50s and his works were worth up to $20k. This was very out of the blue, we're not rich people with walls full of collectibles. I said we would have the painting if Mum and Dad didn't want to sell it, because the painting was nice, but lots of $20k things are really nice. If we kept it though we would need to add it to our insurance. That was all fine, so I went about confirming the value of the painting. A couple of calls later and it turns out Dad had it slightly wrong - a couple of paintings by the artists that about historic, specific events were valued at up to $10k, but the one we had, a generic landscape was one of a few hundred the artist made.... not worth so much. When I asked how much he said the frame was very lovely

My Dad was a lot less disappointed than I thought he'd be.

We've got quite a few older things lying around at home, but the one that really comes to mind when you mention heirloom would be my Great Granda's medal from the Irish War of Independence.

http://www.theeasterrising.eu/020_1917-1921/1917-1921.htm

The colours of the medal were in reference to one of the main enemies they faced called the 'Black and Tans,' because of the mismatched uniforms they wore.

I don't really have anything like that. My brother has a very cool sword that was a gift to him from his boss (my brother works in historical interpretation). If I remember correctly, he said it was 17th century and from the inscription may have been a gift from Cromwell to one of his subordinates.

My family used to be nobility in the Russian Empire. Nothing really remains of that, but we still have three pretty neat Qing dynasty Chinese vases that used to be in the family mansion before the revolution.
We also have the sabre and an officers' Nagant revolver of my great-grandfather, who fought with the Reds. Nothing pre-19th century though. As an archaeologist, I do handle ancient artifacts very often, but of course I do not get to take those home

We don't seem to have anything from before the turn of the century, 1900.

We've got many medals from both wars, lots of my Grandads old tools, my great-great Uncle's Mason's stuff, Albums of photos and that's about it. My family was quite poor back in the 1800s: lots of factory and workhouse jobs, it was only during/after the war that my family started to come into Upper-working class, so there probably wasn't a lot to pass down from generation to generation.

I think going back around 3 generations, my mum's family owned most of a street in Chelsea but it wasn't worth a huge amount back then and all got frittered away...

I've got a Latvian dark wood piano from about 1860 that's come down a very long line of my family. Can't play the thing but it looks nice.That's about it. I believe my uncle has a silver samovar from the same source.

 daedalus wrote:
I finally got around to getting a Rockford Watch pocketwatch repaired that's been in the family since the 1870s. I'm going to give it back to my grandfather on his birthday. It belonged originally to a relative who was a railway mail clerk during that period. My grandfather still has the revolver he carried too.

I was planning on doing exactly that. My grandfather gave me his father's pocket watch which isn't working and the silver is a bit blackened but seems to have all the bits still in there. It's also a pretty common brand so finding parts is not out of the question.

I plan on repairing it and give it as a gift to my father who turns 65 and retires this summer.

My great-grandfather used to own a soap and a steel nail factory, but lost almost everything gambling, whoring and partying. And what he didn't lose at that time, lost it when he ended up supporting the Republicans in the Civil war. I remember folders with papers from the factories, old catalogues and stationery, his passports, etc. in an unused room but sadly at some point my grandparents threw everything away. Only the watch and his theatre binoculars are still there.

Apart from that, there's a bunch of woodworking tools on the family country cottage from my great-grand-uncle (from the other side of the family) who was a wood and wickerwork chair maker and repairman. Never married and he too was a bit of a drunkard and gambler himself but the tools still work, some were probably inherited, too.

An Englishman's home is his Castle and that which my father gave me I will leave to my kids.

My great-grandfather's Rolex has been to Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq across three generations.

 LordofHats wrote:
My great-grandfather's Rolex has been to Korea, Vietnam, Panama, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq across three generations.

Is he Christopher Walken?

I have a watch that belonged to my grandfather, who worked for the railroad his entire life before retiring from them.

It's basically a cheap Timex-style watch, that he probably got as a random gift from the railroad at some point in his career. The face is a replica of the standardized clocks you will find at every German rail station. I picked it out of his jewelry box when I visited my grandma for his funeral.



Also a memento for my grandfather, but not a heirloom: I was able to track down a couple of official "Deutsche Bahn" neckties before flying over and had them shipped to my brother. They are official "uniform" items, so officially they are prohibited from being worn by non-workers or someone who is not on-duty. My brother and I ended up wearing them to the funeral, and his old railroad friends thought it was a very nice gesture.

I've lived a military lifestyle my whole life. At a bare minimum, I've moved 18 times (probably more). Things get lost, a lot.

So no, no real family heirlooms here.

My mother's side has an old sword that goes back to 17th century Europe somewhere. It gets passed around from eldest son to eldest son around the relatives via the masonic arm of the family (who never got on with my dad). Great Granddad, Granddad, several uncles and cousins are/were all masons.

I think my cousin the SDA minister has it currently. I saw it briefly 20 years ago, you have to handle it with specific gloves.

Dad's side were gypsies, they didn't have anything except bizarre superstitions.

That's a lovely pocketwatch! I love those types of things (pocketwatches...!)

No real heirlooms here. I come from dirt-poor, depression-era and asylum-immigrant roots!

My grandfather left me a small collection of coins, mostly pre-decimal british coins. Nothing very valuable, just some Victorian pennies and some nice big half crowns.

I've been working on beefing up the collection however and now I have about 600 coins ranging from East India Company rupees to US State Quarters. My latest achievement was finding (not buying because that's no fun!) every type of commemorative Canadian coin that was circulated save one or two stragglers.

I like to think that in time my insane obsession with collecting currency will result in a nice family heirloom one day.

I have a cedar chest my grandad bought my grandma after WWII and a chest of drawers my other Grandmom bought as my Papa was coming home from the war. That's as far back as my stuff goes but I cherish them just the same. Also have a coffe table made of Tennessee rose marble which is all mined out from my grandad.

 djones520 wrote:
I've lived a military lifestyle my whole life. At a bare minimum, I've moved 18 times (probably more). Things get lost, a lot.

So no, no real family heirlooms here.

Same, but now that I'm out, beginning to get a couple things here and there. Wife got about 20 paintings or so painted by her grandmother. We had 2 earlier ones appraised (while we were still in, we only held on to the two because of moves and space, etc) and they were appraised at about 700 each. . . due mostly to g-ma being dead, and that she was a published childrens book illustrator (we didn't know that at the time). . . also got a bunch of rather cheap, but old "stuff" from same grandma (for instance, wife says she has 2 jade figurines. . . . Upon even my own rather untrained eye, they're plastic, which is kinda obvious given the level of mold line they have )

I don't have, but have read of some stuff that once was in our family, that I honestly wish I had now.