What do you own that have been passed through the generations?

Only things I can use ,cheese dishes and bowls and jugs all from the mid 1800's .Facing clearing my MIL'S house next week and so not looking forward to it .Apart from her own collections there are my FIL's and he died 17 years ago.My SIL told us not to touch some cupboards because they have her things from before she married over 30 years ago.I can see issues looming

My genes

My great grans' perfume burner that looks like a cottage and her cow milk jug. DH has his grandfathers bowls and medals for playing for his county and a hatbox full of photos of his great grandad and his father.

My DM had a small collection of old blue and white plates. When she knew she was dying and had to go into the nursing home she asked me to bring the plates and said there was a special one which I had to keep. I thought it would be one of the valuable ones, but it was a chipped, cracked one with a badly done transfer pattern on it. It transpired it had belonged to my great grandmother. It was the only surviving piece of her first 'proper' plates, as opposed to the tin ones she'd grown up with in the slum where she lived. I've kept it and treasure it as a memory of where my family came from and a strong female line. My eldest DD and eldest DGD already know they will have the plate and will treasure it too.

A Georgian, mahogany, bow-fronted chest of drawers. It came from a rectory in Leicestershire where seven generations of my ancestors were hereditary rectors. It's too big for my house really, and I probably won't be able to take it with me if I go into a retirement apartment. . Apart from that, I have my granny's engagement ring, dated May 1904, which I wear all the time.

Gt gt grandfather's mongrammed silver, dated 1780-ish. Granny especially valued some very plain, ordinary luncheon plates, with a wide green rim-they were in her mother's trousseau (married in 1865), and had belonged to HER mother on her marriage. No-one else in the family would look twice at them, and they are worth nothing, but to me they are so special. I've already given 3 of the 6 to my daughter, so that they are not all in one place, and she will have the rest on my demise. Most treasured possession - Granny's violin, well-known Italian maker, late 18th cent. She adored that instrument, and I love it too.

When my mother died we had to sell most of her furniture - there just wasn't room! I kept an Arts and Crafts oak side board that was my grandparents, which may be Belgian Nothing special to look at but I've always liked it. I also kept a copper jardiniere embossed with mythical birds. When I looked at it properly it turned out to be made by John Pearson in St Ives, a link with my grandfather in Devon perhaps?

Hmmmmm, where do i start ! Well, i have passed on items that are antiques that were my dads mum, then my mum had them then i passed them to my son.

Then when my mum passed away i had jewelry that she owned which i have put in separate envelopes and labelled for my grandchildren when i have departed this earth.

....and last but not least, my huge 6ft CHRISTMAS TREE hahahaha.... true, it has a story with it that doesn't belong on this thread so i just say the Christmas tree is being passed on to my daughter.

Forgot to say in my post that i could have passed a truck load of things on that had been in the generations BUT i knew my son and daughter wouldn't want to be offloaded with it all.... i would far rather MY cupboards were loaded to busting than be hauled off to a charity shop and sold for peanuts.

A Georgian corner cupboard, a cut glass vase from the early 1900s, a set of vegetable dishes there on the table of the farmhouse in Somerset in a photo with fil as a very, young boy!

My great aunt's engagement ring, gate bracelet,canother great aunt's gateleg table which we use every Christmas, my granny's grandmother clock, dh's mum's engagement ring and her omega watch.

We also have a school book used by a relative of dh who was an MP and Mayor of Worcester.

I treasure most the christening robe made for DH’s grandfather in 1866, used by various descendants including DGD1 but I suspect unlikely to be worn again as babies are no longer christened at six weeks old and it doesn’t fit anyone much bigger. And of course, the yards of embroidered lawn and lace insert are hopeless in modern baby carriers. Sad, though.

We also have a bird bath made for DH’s grandmother in 1935 for the garden of their retirement house. We have pictures of DH, our children and grandchildren playing in it, and I hope one of them will give it a future home.

China figures, serving spoons, random odds and ends like baskets, sewing kits. I think ds2 will probably keep our bits and pieces as he is very sentimental, but ds1 and his wife are fairly ruthless and live minimally. Ds1 also has made many disparaging remarks on my taste so I doubt he’ll take any of my knick knacks either when I eventually kick the bucket.
A little sad thinking about that. Having cleared out 3 houses over the past few years, it’s remarkable how little myself, DH and our families have that is valuable or heirloom quality. (I’d say almost nothing at all!)

At NfkDumpling what a wonderful family story and object. I read that after I posted, (naughty I know, I see complaints about people not reading others posts before they post) and your story is a reminder that heirlooms need not be monetarily valuable.

I have a bracelet that was my granny's. She thought it was gold, but it's only gold plated. But it has a lot of sentimental value. My DGS has books that I kept that belonged to his mother, my DD, as a child. He loves knowing I read them to her as a child.

Nothing. My maternal Grandmother gave me a ring which (aged eight) I was convinced was solid gold with an inset of diamonds.

On mature reflection I think it probably came from Woolworths but I wish I hadn't lost it on a beach on the IOW because it was too large.

I used to dream that my brothers and I found it on a later holiday.

I never owned anything of value, heirloom or otherwise, until the year my mother died. Her older sister came to see her and gave me my grandmother's engagement ring, with her name engraved inside and her and my grandfather's wedding rings. My mother was the only one of 4 sisters to marry and both her parents died when she was a child so I never knew them. I felt a strong bond because her rings fitted perfectly even though I have large hands and fingers so I guess I have inherited them too.

I have no daughters but 4 grand daughters so have no idea who they should go to next.

Grandma 2213 Maybe the eldest

I have a grandmother clock which belonged to my grandparents. It has little monetary value but priceless in sentimental value to me and hopefully will eventually pass to one of my children.

Sadly we have nothing that has been passed down through the generations - I always watch the Repair Shop with envy thinking how lovely it would be to have something that evokes such treasured memories! One of my favourite programmes!

My family was very poor. I don't have anything in terms of possessions but I had a wonderful childhood filled with happy memories thanks to my parents. I hope I have been able to pass on the happiness I knew to my own children and through them to my grandchildren.

The usual China and cut glass but the oldest is a huge mixing bowl, and I mean huge,which belonged to my Welsh Nain, then my Mum, now me and the black oval boiling pot with her Christmas pudding recipe. We have a Pudding Day each October and now my grandchildren do the mixing. It will be their Mum's next. I am 82, Mum lived to 94 so they have to be getting on for at least 150 years I reckon.

I have a letter which was sent to my mum from her dad when he was at sea she was only 11. A few days later the ship went down he was the only one that died as he was fast asleep in his cabin the rest of the crew all survived. I cherish the letter along with his log book. Other than that I have kept her purse and shopping bag as these mean more to me as she used them everyday. They didn’t have anything of value furniture wise or accessories but I don’t need them I have my memories and that’s enough.

Family stuff has always been passed down? Most of my furniture, curtains, cookware, china, cutlery.... Most things that last including some of my mother's clothes, clocks in particular as my partner was known to be a competent mender of all mechanical things. I have always recycled, altered and renovated things. I am now starting to try and move some of this 'treasure' on but the kids don't want it!

Unfortunately there was not a lot to.pass down after being bombed out of our homes 3 times during the war. However I hope my GD will treasure the messages to me from my Father when he was serving with Montgomery. They are the special fax type paper with phrases which were allowed. Also his war service records and medals, together with my late Husband's Fleet Air Arm service records. Also have some petrol coupons and ration books!! Luckily none of these precious items take up too much room to keep them safe.

I have a small wooden trunk that my great grandparents took to Canada when they immigrated from Ireland to homestead in Ontario in the 1880s. I moved to England in 1968 with my British husband and, when my parents died, brought the trunk (my only big heirloom) to London where it has pride of place in our hall. I wish it could relate the story of its trip from Ireland to rural Ontario and what life was like for my hardy pioneer ancestors.