Inherited Ornaments

I'm with William Morris who said words to the effect of "Have only those things in your home which are useful or beautiful". This would entail ditching at least 60% of what we own, which would be fine with me but not with my husband.

I have an "Old Uncle Tom Cobley" musical jug that my much-loved granddad bought in Widdecombe years ago. It's worth nothing and the handle has been glued back together after my daughter dropped the mug when she was little but I treasure it (and my granddaughter loves singing along to it).

We have been left numerous pieces over the years from close relatives,things that I do not really like and things that I love,when clearing my mums house I was collecting the dinner set that was for me then for my DD it is Royal Albert Roses design and I had always loved it only to find my sister had taken some of it and refused to return the pieces to me,but I can live with that mr G was clearing his fathers house and brought a vast amount of old Shipyard tools and two Dockers Hooks not very interesting to me but he loved the history attached to them,he passed them on to the Museum at Albert Dock who use them in their history displays so the youngsters can see the old tools used when the Port of Liverpool was at its busiest.

I have a Woods "Indian tree" Jug which was Mil's, its not worth much but I just like it.
I also have a Royal Doulton "Cascade" design tea service C late 1950s 1960s
chinasearch.co.uk/buy/royal-doulton/cascade---d6457/
This is a lovely design in a sage green. The problem is the cups are so wide the tea cools too quickly.
It was another one of my mother's futile attempts to be "posh". I have that on display. Keep it for another 100 yrs and it might be worth something.

Remember how many Cornish Miners went to America Galen I imagine they took all the stories with them (as well as the pasty recipes )
I inherited one houseful of stuff when my mother died, and another when MiL went into a home. An awful lot went to charity shops and auctions but I kept some favourite pieces to pass on to my children.

My maternal grandmother had a green and white Gog and Magog, but I didn't inherit those. They went to a cousin. A few things are worth a few hundred I think, but not many. My grandfather was in the navy and he used to go to China before the war. He used to buy little 'mud men', not new ones but old ones as they were cheaper, for my grandmother. They were made in around 1870 I think. They of course are now antiques and worth several hundred pounds - in America. Typical. Over here they can be bought quite cheaply on Ebay as the modern ones are still available and they are used as ornaments for bonsai trees. I think they are clever but don't like them particularly, DBH has been saying for years that he will advertise them on Ebay but of course never gets around to it so they will go in the loft with anything the children want. Limoges - why couldn't they have left me Limoges.

She also left me her collection of Poole Pottery dolphins. They used to live above the front door on a shelf and one day a visitor came in and the wind caught the door and slammed it so hard that the row of dolphins fell down and crashed on the floor. We cheered and the poor visitor was in a state of shock. Apologies to anyone who loves Poole dolphins.

Has anybody else seen any green and white ones?
I don't know whether to keep or chuck! I've had them for about 45 years.
I also inherited a lovely long case clock.
DGD today asked if I had it with me?
It's left to Dd

Basher!

Just wondering where the husband bashed is?

I've my fil's inspectors mining lamp(I hope! In the garage somewhere!)

Is that why mine have always been known as Gog and Magog? I didn't name them.
BT the way, they were Cornish giants of legend allegedly, so why in America?

My dad kept his dad's and his grandad's Davey lamps for similar reasons, nfk. My mum still has them.

My house was crammed with inherited bits and pieces from my mother's large family and from my mama herself – she was the last one of her generation. I gave some things to charity shops and sold some others when I put the house contents in store while we were doing a major refurbishment. When they came out of store, I did another sort as I unpacked and found that there were still quite a few things I really didn't want, so I sold them or gave them away. After all, you don't need things to remember the people you loved. We then moved out of London and did a further cull and, finally, did the same thing before we moved to New Zealand. I have ended up with the things that I really like – and use – and those which are somehow special. Whether absentdaughter will want to keep them once I have popped my bucket I have no idea. It's up to her.

I can see the point of keeping the plate. It has a chunk of family history and a story connected to it.

I've just inherited a blue and white patterned plate. Well, it would be white if it weren't for the terrible glaze, badly done transfer, enormous crack and chips around the edge. Apparently it belonged to my maternal great grandmother and was the first thing she bought after marrying 'up'. She came from one of the worst slum yards in Norwich and married a blacksmith so could afford to buy a proper plate just for decoration.
I have instructions that it must be passed on to my DD1 and then to her DD1 so we remember where our roots are. It's wrapped carefully in bubble wrap in the loft. I'm terrified of that crack giving way!

I really think that if one has banged on for several years to children to 'take their pick now' and they keep coming up with excuses why they have not done so it is probably code for 'Thanks but no thanks'

I have never been left specific items, although, I have inherited houses and contents as part of an estate and also been an executor or had a POA for someone in care and had to dispose of house and contents.

The first house I dealt with was my sisters and the family as a whole kept almost everything. She had such a distinct style and died suddenly in a road accident when still quite young, However we all found that time 'cleansed' many of the objects we kept so that what we couldn't part with when she died we happily gave to a charity shop five years later.

I agree with vampirequeen. I have been lucky in that anything I have been left has been my choice except for 2 things an aunt left me. The first was her best teaset which had 2 cups with hairline cracks which leaked all over the place and the second was her oak trolley which was so light weight it could be picked up by a child ! The teaset went to a charity shop (with a note about the 2 cups) and the trolley holds my wine stash.

I'd find a decent auction house, sell them and spend the money on something I really wanted. That way you can enjoy what you have but thank Aunt Agatha, Granny Mabel et al for providing you with the means to buy it.

I have a few old pieces but some of the stuff I have managed to pass on DD who loves vintage china ( thank goodness). I am still over stocked as we are going through stuff from two houses and getting it into one. We have been sorting through a few boxes today and been quite successful in what we have found and what we have managed to dispose of! I am also sorting kitchen. Cupboards and swapping some items. I have a glut of cutlery at the moment which I am trying to deal with - non solid silver or ancient unfortunately!

I had an old necklace of my paternal Grandmother's and thought I would give it to a charity shop. However I decided to have it valued, just in case!!
I had always thought it was some kid of plastic or whatever was used over 100 years +. The jeweller told me it is real amber, very old and worth rather a lot of money.
So janerowena do be careful, as what I thought was junk, certainly was n not.
On the ornaments front I have a stack of Limoge that my mother collected, it is in the loft. No-one wants it and I just can't bear to throw it out.

We have just sorted the loft which was ful of ancient artifacts including ,to my mind, a hideous chinese vase. We sent it all to auction and the chinese vase realised £1,500. My colleague and I have lots of interesting old things that are no longer in everyday use and we have turned these into an interesting talk which we do for WIs and other similar groups. The next generation are not particularly interested but the one after seem to be. Grandson was quite overcome when he put on his Great, Great Grandfather's opera hat.

That's the problem with DBH, he lives in hope! I do think the idea of taking photos first is excellent, just to remind us of all the crap treasures we possess. I shall force the kids to decide, then they can bear witness to each other's choice should we throw 'the wrong thing'.

Am I alone in this then? Does no-one else have this problem, or were you all blessed with relatives who sensibly left you money only? My latest bequest was money with a side order of the elderly salt and pepper pots, because I (apparently and stupidly) agreed one day that yes, they were very pretty.

I glanced at this thread whilst de-cluttering my bedroom and wondering what on earth to do with a wooden hand mirror that used to belong to my husband's grandmother. The other things I inherited from her were a few bits of costume jewellery and a beautiful silver candleabra and a crystal decanter; the latter things I gave to my daughter who really appreciates such things.