Show us your most precious vintage item .

[Shearer]

Wow Daisy...that's...amazing.

As for my hats those are my most precious purchases. Family heirlooms are a different story entirely. My most precious is a set of pearls that are from my paternal grandmother. I received them when she died. They need to be restrung though. I'm going to look into doing it myself as I trust no one with those pearls.

My maternal grandmother gave me this:

She said it is an antique broach. But I haven't the foggiest how to wear it. [huh] Any ideas ladies? That's how it came to me.

When I first saw the brooch like that, I thought you were using it as a choker. So cute to wear something a little low cut and tie the ribbon in a bow in the back or a little on the side.

How pretty!

 

[pigeon toe]

You can get the film developed, there are still places where they do that! But super8 film, like any other film will they have an expiration date. So, maybe just give it a try. It's not that expensive!


Naama

I should definitely do that. I want to use the camera too, as far as we can tell, it's still working! Battery sizes have changed since then though, so you have to push in the battery compartment the whole time to get it to work!

 

[Pink Dahlia]

When I first saw the brooch like that, I thought you were using it as a choker. So cute to wear something a little low cut and tie the ribbon in a bow in the back or a little on the side.

How pretty!

So is it supposed to be worn like a choker? I'm confused.

 

[Shearer]

Oops, sorry, that wasn't the most literate of sentence I wrote there I meant that when I saw the brooch on a ribbon, I thought that you had already been wearing it as a choker.

I don't know what the back of the brooch looks like, so I'm not sure how it SHOULD be worn... I'm assuming there is a clasp on it, like on a modern pin? I know some old brooches only have a straight pin on them meant to be stuck into the clothing item w/o a clasp (if that makes sense!) I don't really wear brooches or pins just because I don't have the wardrobe for it. They look really smart pinned to lapels, collars, and sweaters, but then you have the pin holes to contend with.

Hope this explanation makes sense to you, because it's not looking so eloquent to me, hehe.

 

[Pink Dahlia]

No, that's how Grandma sent it to me. I've never worn it because I haven't a clue how.

Here's a close up of the back. Forgive the quality.

It has a straight back but no clasp like you can feed something through it but not pin it to anything. I wouldn't have a clue as to what part of any outfit you could feed it through (besides a belt).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Everyone's shown so many lovely things in this thread, it's kind of left me at a loss to decide what I wanted to display. I've had to think hard about what item really has the most personal meaning to me -- and I guess I've finally decided on this:

My grandmother's pie board.

It actually belonged first to my great-grandmother -- it's probably a hundred years old, and I can't begin to estimate how many thousands of crusts, loaves of bread, biscuits, cookies, and other doughy treats were rolled out, kneaded, and slapped together on it. But when I look at it, and I see how the edge has been almost completely worn away by four generations of women, I feel a connection to my past, and my family's past, that becomes a fully tangible thing. The hours I spent as a little girl in my grandmother's kitchen, cadging scraps of pie crust and learning how to bake are memories as real as every crack and stain and splinter in the wood.

It's not worth much moneywise. But it's the most valuable thing I own.

 

[Joie DeVive]

Oh, and there's a Super 8 camera that was my grandfather's in the late 50's that still has half-used film in it. I still wonder what was captured on that film and if I'll ever be able to find out.

Actually, we've dealt with something like this my family. I don't personally know about Super 8 cameras, but we've had old film found in family cameras.

Go to a specialty photo shop. A Wolf Photo shop will do, but local independent ones are often even better. They can tell you exactly what to do.

With ours, they told us to put the camera up to a pillow and use all the unused shots, and wind the film, and then they specially processed it. I guess that over time the film develops a red cast, but if specially processed, that can be avoided. But, that was for ours, like I said, go ask.

Good luck with it! Goodness knows what wonderful images you'll find!

 

[Mojito]

Here's the Rudolph Valentino falcon claw set he gave to Pola Negri, that I mentioned in another thread.

I'm going to have to find that other thread! These are fantastic - I love Pola Negri's look. One of my favourite screen vamps.

So many great personal items in this thread - the photo recreations are magic, as are the human, personal items like the pieboard. And the jewelry is just gorgeous.

Don't know what my most precious item is...I have lots of Nana's pieces. Some lovely lapis lazuli rings and necklaces set in silver...when I was a small child, they looked to me like the world as seen from space. A signed photograph of one of the Titanic's officers, given to me by his family. Letters from a popular Australian Prime Minister to my grandfather, one of his old friends. Photographs...old family silver...I'd hate to part with any of it.

 

[beaucaillou]

Wonderful Lizzie. That is indeed a valuable item. Would you ever consider writing the names of the women who used it on the underside? May be something a daughter or niece would want one day and could add her own as well.

The kitchen items I have of my family's are so important to me... my Great Grandmother's flour sifter and milk pitcher, the potato peeler of my Grandmother's that my Grandfather carved a handle for, the knife my Dad used...etc. Using them now as an adult makes me feel connected to a history I feel a duty to perpetuate and even better, which feels like a fine power to wield.

 

[CanadaDoll]

Some of my treasures are my grandmas bread bowl, it's so big I can barely fit my arms around it, I love baking bread in that thing.

A pair of black fingerless gloves that she wore to my great aunt's wedding, at which she was a bridesmaid, in the 30's.

And a necklace and earring set that my mama gave me for my birthday one year, it's an antiqued gold look laurel leaf pattern, I have no clue as to its age or providence, but the sentiment behind it is better than anything.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

This dress was my great great grandmother's. I'm guessing it's from the 1900s/early 1910s. Maybe even earlier than that. My grandmother gave it to me and wasn't sure herself. She just told me that she remembered getting into her grandmother's things when she was a kid. She told me that great great grandma had all these big hats with birds and feathers on them! Ashame none of those were kept.

I wonder why this dress got left behind. Grandmom has no idea. The front has beautiful detail. Unfortunately you can't see it in this photo. It's also not done up in the back -- it was meant to be worn with a corset because the waist is TINY!! I'm surprised I can get into it as good as I can!

 

[Rosie]

No, that's how Grandma sent it to me. I've never worn it because I haven't a clue how.

Here's a close up of the back. Forgive the quality.

It has a straight back but no clasp like you can feed something through it but not pin it to anything. I wouldn't have a clue as to what part of any outfit you could feed it through (besides a belt).

I have a Grandma's brooch with a back like this too. I've worn it as a choker and as a belt. Too lazy to get the camera now but, I'll participate soon.

 

[Lady Day]

I had to think on this one.

I have a few things, like the diamond earings my Great Aunt left my Mama, and she gave to me when she died, but like Lizzie, my most precious item isnt worth much money.

My Granny's high school diploma. I posted this in an older thread, as to how I have hers, my mother's and my high school diploma all shadow boxed and hanging in my apt.

I look at it and think wow, she had a high school diploma back then, what an achievement! It makes me proud.

And here is a pic of her holding it (the shoes the shoes!!).

LD

 

[Pink Dahlia]

I want the shoes. Period. The end.

 

[Helen Troy]

My most treasured item is a wooden toy zebra. One of my grandmothers best friends gave it to my father when he was a child. This friend later on became a great friend of mine too, when I was 18 and she was 76. She was a wonderful lady, an artist like my grandmother, and travelled a lot. The zebra reminds me of her, and I also like the connection to my dad. It is also the most beautiful item I own, it's so simple and clean and just perfect! It's made by the danish designer Kay Bojesen, in the 50s I think. Mine is played with, so it is not as perfect as the one in this pictures, the paint is rubbed of in places. I think that just adds to it's charm and history.

 

[Sunny]

an amethyst (my birthstone) brooch that she gave me. it also has a loop on the backside of the top to wear as a necklace.

Kitty, that's amazing. It looks like a dead ringer for the Etruscan style of jewelry that was popular immediately after the Civil War, from 1865 onward. Fantastic! Amethyst and gold were extremely popular in that period as well. And amethyst is my birthstone, too!

 

[GoldLeaf]

Oh, Shelly, how cool! I can understand why you would be so proud. You family must have some amazing stories to tell!

I have to admit, I lost my most precious vintage items Somehow in all the moving I have done in the past few years, I have lost the hand embroidered hankie that my grandmother did and the 1920's hand bag that my great-grandmother gave me. The Handbag was very interesting. It appeared to be crocheted and it hung from the wrist. There wasn't an apparent opening, but if you grasped the front and the back and pulled apart, the threads/string pulled apart and revealed the pouch. I guess so your items wouldn't fall out while dancing.

I don't have much connection with my family. We moved around a lot because my Dad was in the Army. I don't really know any of my family, so those items were quite precious. I really, really hope that I find them. I always stored them in one of the drawers in my dresser. I found the soap from Spain, one of my Easter gloves from when I was 5, a couple other treasures, but not those two things.

Oh, wait! My aunt gave me my grandfather's clock! I almost forgot! My grandfather died when my mom was 8. I guess my mom had mentioned to her sister that she had nothing of her dad's and that she really liked the clock, and wondered where it had gone. My Aunt gave it to me as a wedding gift. It is in a box because I carefully tried to wind it, and it didn't seem like the key would turn, so I just put it back in the box rather than damage it.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

This is a real nice topic. Would you all mind if I move this to the OB, so all can contribute?

LD

Go for it! I'd love to see even the guy's most precious items!!

 

[Shearer]

I'm going to have to find that other thread! These are fantastic - I love Pola Negri's look. One of my favourite screen vamps.

Actually, I think I just mentioned The Claws (as I like to call them) in passing in that other thread and I can't even remember which one it was

My great grandmother was a wardrobe mistress for Paramount during the heyday... my grandma says the stars used to call her Mother Anyway, she was with Pola Negri after she and Valentino got into an argument (one of many, I guess) and she threw The Claws down and told my great grandmother to just keep them.

I'm glad my GG was no fool and did keep them, but I've often wondered why Pola Negri didn't ask for them back after Valentino died, especially since she took it so hard. Who knows, she probably had a lot more jewelry than that from Valentino [huh]

 

[Kim_B]

Here is one item that I'm so happy to have in my possession...this was my paternal Grandmother's book when she was a little girl.

The Cover:

The only writing in the book:

And a couple samples of the contents...