(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Tough question???? Nostalgia??

G

Greg1959

Well-known Member
Okay, here goes my question....I know many of you have dealt with this already and now it is my turn.

Both of my parents have passed away over the last 15 years.

They started collecting antiques starting in the 1960's. I also was born into that collecting aura of collecting antiques.

I have plastic totes full of glassware from the 1400s Venice(couple pieces) to the Depression era. I can just about tell you the provenance of each piece.

Furniture, glasware and ironworks. My house is full stacked to the ceiling. My kid says get rid of it, I can't. I can point to a box and tell him that is the China that his Greart grand parents got for their wedding gifts (Royal Doulton, dating back to 1815).

It's not cheap quality or yard sale stuff.

What have you guys done with you plethora of 'stuff'?
 
That is a tough question and really the only one who can answer it is you. When my Dad died I tried to keep as much as I could. No one was interested in it but me and it became too expensive. I finally settled on a few items that meant the most to me and either sold or gave away the rest to charities and items to his friends that may have had special meaning to them. The larger items were sold.
In my area an auction is usually held to sell off family items. Sometimes it works out very well but the economy today may be a factor.
 
Greg,
I'm probably not the one to ask as I am afflicted with this disease as well. You name it, china, glass, cast iron, tools, and my favorite .... what the heck is this? If you like it, keep it. If you don't have enough room, buy another house like I did. I do have an advantage as I don't have any kids trying to tell me what to do.

I would suggest that you try to write down any family history etc and put it with each piece or in the box. Someone will appreciate it later.

Good luck, Larry
 
we only have one daughter,,she could care less,,,lol,,so we might as well downsize now. I just brought some pictures to my nephew,been asking my brother and him to come sort them out for 7 years.He was happy I brought them to him so that worked out well. We had a bunch of stuff in the attic,my wife and daughter and I Spent a morning at a flea market and sold it,,had some good time together doing it,so that went well too.
 
Well lets see go to an auction and buy more?Guess I'm not the person with an answer.We had to buy a 12X20 building to store my wife's antique cookware,cast iron etc etc collection.Then there is the 21X40 building packed full
of garden tractors.
 
Just went through this with my MIL. 40+ years of family heirlooms. We moved a bunch of it. More than she will ever need or can fit in her house and had an auction for the rest. The way I see it, I will get to move it all again someday when I'm in my 60's instead of my 40's. Yipee.

You have a couple options...

1. Take care of it now (auction) so your kid(s) don't have to. Use the money for something you've always wanted to do, or save it, set up a college fund for the grandkids, or whatever makes you happy (which is what the people who left it to you wanted you to be).

2. Leave it for your kid(s) to deal with after you are gone. They will have the auction and use the money to make themselves happy (which is what you want them to be).

3. Leave everything to someone who isn't your kid(s). Maybe a charity. They will have the auction and use the money how they want to.

Regardless, you can't take it with you. It's just stuff. It may have belonged to Grampa, but it isn't Grampa.
 
I'm in a similar situation. I was always a collector with my dad. Mostly farm toys and old iron and can tell you where nearly every piece came from. My brothers and sisters have become awfully sentimental about stuff that they thought was junk until my dads death. I'd like to sell it and have it settled sooner rather later but the market is way down on a lot of these things. They think I should build a building and house all these things. I don't want to be curator of a tomb. It just makes me sad to look at all these things now. Not a lot of help but know you're not alone in this type of problem.
 
My father-in-law collected antique dishes and furniture. He had a thing for walnut. If a piece of furniture wasn't solid walnut, he didn't want it.

He died in 1980 and my mother-in-law in 1985. My wife and I have had several auctions to get rid of surplus. We still have a lot, both displayed in our home and in storage.

If you're thinking of getting rid of any, find an auctioneer who specializes in the type of antiques you have. If you don't have enough for a full auction of your own, most auctioneers are happy to fatten out someone else's.

You have to watch it, though, and watch the bidders. I caught one lady putting a high dollar dish in with a box of nickel and dime stuff. She figured she'd buy the box for pennies and have the high dollar piece with it. I took the high dollar piece back out, sat it by itself, and watched it until it sold.

On another auction, a cut glass vase of ours sold for $385. The buyer then claimed he could see a minute crack in it, and complained to the auctioneer to try to get the price reduced. The auctioneer came over to my wife and I and said, "I've had trouble with that SOB trying that before". We called it a "no sale". If the auctioneer had run it again, it's doubtful it would have brought the same price the second time. We still have it.

There are tricks in every game.
 
Greg I have pared most of the type of stuff your talking about down to the family pieces. Meaning they had value because they where owned by my ancestors. The rest I have had the kids over and had them pick out stuff they would like to have. I actually gave them most of it now. What is left will sell when I am gone or no longer able to live here.

There are a few other things I am having trouble with. These are things that have ZERO value to anyone but family and even them more than likely just me. I have every letter my wife ever sent me. I have a worn out quilt that has holes in it but my wife made that the first year we where married. It kept us warm in our marriage bed. Anyone else looking at it would think it was just a rag. So what do you do with these type of things?????

Now then tractor related stuff will be largely up to my sons to decide what they want to keep. Some have sentimental value but there is a boat load of stuff that I just "wanted". That they can worry about. LOL
 
Greg1959,

It's a sickness... I am also afflicted. It's not just possessing "the stuff"... it's mostly the memories/nostalgia about said items. :(

I am fortunate that I only have a few things from my parents and grandparents. What I cannot use, I display on top of an old Hoosier.

I guess eventually, I will offer things to our kids (as we cannot take it with us when we go). But I'm not ready to do that yet.

That however, is why I've begun to "collect" items by taking photos of them: antique furniture and doo-dads, dilapidated old buildings, and RUST. It's cheap to collect this way and my collection takes up very little room (except for the computer memory that it hogs-up). LOL

Pics of some of your old stuff would be fun to see.
 
My folks both passed away long ago in their 50's So I didn't have that problem. But my kids will. LOL
 
Mom passed(last parent) 2 1/2 years ago. Ain't been there much. Locked the doors and left.

The few times I went in I opened the door and said "I'm Home". Said the same thing today when I entered to pack up some stuff.

Ill try to answer y'all in a few days after we get stuffready.
 
SweetFeet- I'll post some pics in a few days, gotta but another camera. I think you may like the pics.
 
Good idea Larry, on antique road show an item is usually worth more when the history of it is documented.
 
JDNewbie- Seems you left out the most important thing of these items....the history and
story behind eac of them.

I have a 'Tulip' vase made in the 1920''s that was given to a teacher in the 1940's(IIRC)
with a handwritten note as a gift to the teacher.

To me, each item holds a dear place in my heart.

It's not like I look at it like it's something that I can dispose of and gain monetary value
from.
 
Awww, that would make me cry.

I was fortunate that my folks moved off the farm... so we kids were only dealing with their "stuff", not with having to empty out our childhood home.

I've only ever been back to the farm one time. Walked around the yard and cried like a baby... too many great memories there. It was overwhelming. Never plan to go back. :(
 
Goose- I've been to Antiqe Auctions for decades and have dealt with them and they stll teach me new tricks. LOL
 
I guess I have a different take on heirlooms, I have my Dads shotgun and his WWII DD 214, my Wife refinished his dresser and bedstead and both are in use in our guest room, I also have his ''sorting stick'' and use it every time I work cows, we have my Mothers desk and it is in use in our bedroom, I do have 1/2 of the set of my Mothers china but we have never used it. Point is, everyone has to determine for themselves what items truly represent their memories of their loved ones and which items are just accumulation, could be that your parents would have preferred that you sell some of the collectors items and use the money for your own enjoyment. Years pass and some collectibles turn into just junk, most collectibles are generational just like everything else.
 
Tough question I have known a couple times that people have saved stuff and then after there gone the start filling dumpster. When my aunt passed she had some stuff I would have given anything to have because of the history of the item but my mom grabbed everything she had not grabbed before and as before sold everything . My aunt had also given stuff to a museum but unfortunately even though it was a large and popular museum they sold out and all those were lost.
What I'm doing now is being alone with no close family I'm trying to give stuff that would have meaning or a story to people I know that want them the rest will go to a local museum. The reason I like a museum is that not only does everyone enjoy it but if I could right down the story with it that will always be preserved.
 
LAA- " items are just accumulation, could be that your parents would have preferred that you sell some of the collectors items"

They never said that nor implied that.

Here, we never had much and what we had we held dear to our hearts.
 
Was eating at the local restaurant and a fellow I knew for a long time was at the next table over. I knew his wife had just past away not to long ago. He was taking to another couple in there and was telling them he had been married for 72 years. They milked cows all them years and it was the same farm his wife was born and raised on. He said the place is for sale now. He choked up and never said another word after that. It would be a lot easier for me to move off this place if I knew one of the kids would want it.
 
Seems like a lot of us have had similar experiences. My parents were lifelong pickers and antique wholesalers. As they got older, they kept buying and accumulating, but kind of forgot about the selling part. They both passed in 2012, leaving a house and and an old church packed to the rafters. As another poster said, this isn't flea market stuff. There is everything from silk carpets to Royal Doulton figurines. I've had three auctions, but our area is in a downturn, and the market for fine collectibles just isn't there. I'm going to try the e-bay and Kijiji approach, but for the time being, most of the stuff will just take up space in my shop. Looking back, I wish I had given my parents more encouragement to deal with their treasures while they still could. We're not spring chickens, and would like to get on with our lives. A lot of "stuff" isn't as important as it used to be. Unc
 
All these comments sound like a replay of my own thoughts. I too have a large collection of "stuff". Some of it is old, unusual or even unique: tools, guns, war relics, old jugs and bottles, signs. Some things were built by my father (table, desk, etc.) None of it is particularly valuable, but I've enjoyed it and display much of it in my home. Most of it come down through my family, and now it has reached the end of the line--me. I have two daughters, but neither have any interest in most of my stuff, other that what they might bring on Craigslist. I have a project underway to help them out when I'm gone (I'm 75 now, and live alone), so I'm trying to photograph the antique stuff and my tools to develop a "catalog" in order to give them an idea of what each item is and an approximation of how much it might be worth.

Lots of things that hold just sentimental value to me will, I know, simply be tossed in the dumpster when I'm gone. For instance, I have an old bloodstained shirt that my great grandfather was wearing when he was murdered in about 1876. Neither of my daughters gives a hoot about the shirt, and why should they? Oh, well, when I leave here I guess I won't much care what happens to my stuff. Problem is, I do care now.
 
Greg: This post has hit me hard.

I have been setting here the last few hours thinking about all of the family/friends that are gone. Then the real sad thing is when I die the little everyday memories I have of them, that were just a little pieces of their daily lives, will be gone too. I have written a lot of the family stories down but my mind has volumes of just simple little memories that are not really the things you would write down but stick with you.

An example: I would have been 4 or 5 years old. I know I was not in school yet. The county was rebuilding the road that went across the back of my Great Grand father's farm. This included making a big cut in the hill to cross a new bridge that crossed the creek. My Great Grand Father and I walked back there to watch them move the dirt with bulldozers and pull pans. I do not remember what we talked about but I remember holding my Great Grand Father's hand and how wrinkled and rough it felt to my young soft hand. It seemed to me we set here for hours but it more than likely was not that long. I can still "feel" his hands. He has been dead over 55 years now.

So material things get sold or passed down. How do we deal with memories????
 
Greg1959:

For your high value collectibles you might try Christie's or Sotheby's in New York, they both handle "high dollar" Antiques.

Years ago my Father sold two of his books at Christie's in New York; one was an Autograph Book with autographs of famous people, important News clippings, and other rare memorabilia, - he had Amelia Earhart's autograph plus a personalized photo & autograph on the day she took off on her round-the-world trip; newspaper articles on the Hindenburg Disaster (he was 1/2 a block away and saw it happen) ; a piece of the wing fabric, photos, autographs, and newspaper clippings of the US Navy's NC-4 Flying Boat on the historic FIRST Trans-Atlantic flight. - And a whole lot more.

The other book that my Father sold was about the RMS Titanic. The book contained actual photographs of the construction of the Titanic, photos of the completed ship, Captain & Crew, the Ballroom and the Grand Staircase, Passengers boarding, actual fold-out Blueprints of different parts of the ship, a complete Passenger Manifest, and a list of all the survivors. This book contained anything and everything that you would ever want to know about the Titanic.

My Father found out years later that his book on the Titanic had been purchased by a movie producer, and that it was actually the basis for the 1997 movie "TITANIC" .

I used to look at those books when I was a youngster.


Doc
 
Wellllll LOL I'm not even gonna tell you how many buildings I have full..

I always can find a nook to pack more stuff in.

Larry
 
At some point, keeping everything becomes too much of a burden. All of these items will have more value to you as memories of times past. You might want to single out some of the more important items and document and distribute some of the rest. Some to descendants, some to museums, and some just sold.
 
Some things will be worth something to someone and some items wont. With the way a new generation looks to the past, some of the market might be gone. I always figure as long as you can keep something in good shape it will hold its value. If something gets broke or deteriorates it turns out to be junk. Im sure we all have known people that have something and tell you its worth only to see it fall apart and be junked. You seem to have a decent place to take care of it which is good. In a way you can think of it that your parents gave you some retirement money.
 
Your comment below about never having much stuff says a lot. To those who have money to burn and buy anything they want, stuff means nothing to them. To those of us who had to work hard to acquire what we have, every item has a history and a story to tell about the trials and victories in our lives. Unless your kids have some kind of connection with the items also, it's just stuff to them.
 
I guess I was lucky. Growing up as an Army brat and then being a soldier for 20 years makes it easy for me to get rid of stuff because of all the moves.

On the other side of the coin these are your memories, no one else's. Once you are gone who's going to remember? Kinda makes you sad but think of it. Visit a cemetery where no one you know has be buried. Walk past some of the elaborate headstones that were put in place decades ago. The graves of people who died and no one even knows who they were unless they were famous. We die and in a couple of generations no one knows who we were, what we did or if we were good people. Your great aunt's vase may have monetary value and may bring you comfort but besides you who really cares? Good case in point. Wife's grandmother passed 2 weeks short of her 102nd birthday. Other than the family who actually knew her who's going to remember her in 50 years? Her friends all died years ago. In 50 years my youngest daughter who knew her and was 20 when she died will be 80. Add another 20 years and people won't know who she was. No one will know that she had 116 great, great grand kids. Most of those were far too young when she died and they won't have any memories of her. The only person who will see her grave will be the person mowing the lawn and they won't be looking at the name, only cussing something else to have to mow around.

My MIL has photos from way back. She's 80. She loves to go through them with people telling about each one. These are people I never knew. My kids never knew them either. When she dies I'm sure my wife will want some of those because they were her moms. When my wife dies I'm sure someone will burn them.

About the only way to preserve these items are to donate them to a museum.

Rick
 
Jerry,

The catalog is a good idea. In my case I'd hate to imagine my wife selling my tractors and tools for what I told her I paid for them!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top