Question of the Day Wednesday Sept 7, 2011

catkiki

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I am posting this now so I don't forget...

Do you have any antiques? What are they if you do?

I have a few antiques. We have a WWI era bugle that belonged to DH grandfather. I have one of the first electric sewing machines that I bought for $25 back in 1974. It is in a nice cabinet. I have my grandmother's trunk that we use as a coffee table.
 

jcat

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I gave the antique furniture (19th century oak) that I started collecting in my teens to my brother and sister when we moved to Europe, but I have "old" (early 20th century) crystal and china, plus some jewelry that dates back to the Civil War era.
 

3catsn1dog

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I have 2 things I consider antique. My 1918 Singer sewing machine with the original wood shelfy tablely dooberwally and a 1954 Singer sewing machine with the original table thingermabobber but the top piece was removed *grrrr*
 

Winchester

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We have a few things. The hutch in my kitchen was built by my great-grandfather for my great-grandmother. It spent decades in Mom's kitchen and then, when they down-sized, it came to me. I'm not sure exactly how old it is, but it's pretty old.....well over 100 years. Someday, I'll have to figure it out.

I have two beautiful sets of blue china that also belonged to my great-grandmother; they were given to her on her wedding day. I'd love to display the pieces, but with seven cats in the house, that's just not going to happen. If one of those pieces broke, I'd probably break down.

When I was a little girl, I lived with my great-Grandma during the summer and for all school holidays. I would rock myself to sleep on this little rocking chair and then Grandma would carry me up to bed. The rocking chair sits in our computer room. The caned seat and back are starting to get very fragile and one of DH's aunts has offered to replace it for me. I don't know what to do about that.

When my great-grandparents adopted my mother (she was seven when her mother, my grandma, was killed in a car accident....I called my great-grandmother my Grandma all my life), they bought her a gorgeous desk. The desk is at the back of our hallway. On the wall above the desk is a beautiful old mirror that hung in my great-grandma's living room. Mom was really angry when Grandma gave me the desk; she thought I should give it to her because it really was her desk. But I knew Mom would sell it because that's what she's done to everything that ever had any value....she sold it. So the desk stays in our home. And that's the way it is. I've had that desk for about 35 years and my mom still tells me that I "stole" it from her.

The bureau in the bedroom that has our tv was Grandma's, too. It has a "secret" drawer in the very bottom. The mirror of the bureau has a weird cast to it now; it's no longer clear. To replace the mirror would, no doubt, take away from the value of the bureau, so we haven't done anything with it.

I don't know if these count as antiques or not, but I have my Grandma's cookie cutters, her old spice jars, her old lard cans, and her old rolling pin. I can't even begin to tell you how many dozens and dozens and dozens of sticky buns and cookies and the hundreds of pie crusts that old rolling pin has made! I still use it and when I roll my dough out for sticky buns and I shake the cinnamon onto the dough with Grandma's old cinnamon shaker, I know that she's right beside me in my kitchen saying, "Just a little more cinnamon, Pam; you can't have too much cinnamon!" Nobody ever, ever baked sticky buns like my Grandma did. Or apple dumplings. Or sugar cookies.

I have a set of gorgeous crystal glasses that belonged to my great-grandmother, too. An old, old roaster in granite brown, another one in granite blue. Grandma gave me these things because she knew that I would really use them and that I would cherish them. And I still do. I don't know what's going to happen to these things when I'm gone; our son will probably sell them....things from our family don't mean much to him anymore.

DH's bureau is a very old Pennsylvania House bureau that was given to us by one of his uncles. We have some old, old, old braided rugs that we're going to use in the basement....Grandma made them. Remember how women would use old coats and clothing in their braided rugs? Grandma did that.

Sorry, I got off on a tangent about Grandma. Anyway, I think that's about it for the antiques in our house. Everything is well used around here. And I don't think anything would really be valuable.
 

cat person

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I have some
. List is as follows: A 100 year old Hope Chest, a 80 something year old marble top table, two 100 year old secretaries, A Louie the 16th Armoire, tons of depression class (many colors) and I think that is all that is out
. There is tons more in boxes in my garage cause the Savannah broke a lot of it before I could box it up and put it away. The depression glass is in cases under lock and key
or he would take it out and brake it
. He did not mean it but he loves to take stuff out and fling it. So I now eat on and with plastic stuff cause he broke tons of my dishes
.

Wow, sorry for the book.
 

libby74

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We actually have a lot of different items, from antique dolls to antique furniture to jewelry that belonged to my great grandmother. I have her mourning brooch that contains a tiny lock of red hair. She lost 2 little boys in the 1880s, so I'm not sure which one this hair is from but it's absolutely priceless to me.
My oldest doll is pre-Civil War.
I have a woven wool coverlet from my Mom's side that dates to the mid-1800s, plus a glass compote from another side of her family.
Quite a bit of our furniture is antique, but it's stuff we use every day---our high-backed oak bed, an oak serpentine front dresser, an oak side table, an oak wishbone washstand, a bird's eye maple chest---and that's just in the bedroom!

We obviously have too much to list. Like Pam, I don't know what will happen to our 'stuff' someday. I refuse to let our daughter have any of it because it means nothing to her and will end up being sold. At some point, I'll probably divide the family pieces between nieces and nephews that I know will care for them and pass them on.
 

rubsluts'mommy

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I don't have much right now, but will most likely inherit my mom's sewing machines... yes, plural. I know I'm getting the Singer Featherweight, but will likely get all her other not-so-portable machines as well... eventually.

I do have some antiquarian books, from around the late 1800's. I also have two turn of the century knives. One isn't sharp at all... I think it was more for show, and the other is a folded steel blade that was a 'tourist' piece for anyone who ventured into the Middle East around then. It's a gorgeous blade, carved on the sides of the steel, etc... and it is sharp. I also have some of my mother's jewelry, which some may have been her mothers, but no one knows.
 

lotso'cats

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I have 2 1950's kitchen tables (one large and one small) and one of them has the 6 original chairs with it. I also have several 1950's/60's livingroom pieces, 1 dresser I just repainted from the 50's...I think that's it.
 

amberthe bobcat

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Not many in my home. But I have a couple. My old Lionel train set. Was my dad's when he was a kid. I also have 2 wind up record players. I have a floor model and a table top RCA Victor model.
 
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