Show us your most precious vintage item .

[Pina Bridgette]

Pink, I love your cookbooks. They look so well-loved.... the best kind! I just got one dated 1954 that I remember my mom cooking from called Anybody Can Cook by Gwen French (Grrr, my other sister got this lucky falling apart family prize). I've already made a few things from it. With luck, one day mine will be as marked up as her's was.

As for precious items...

We don't have alot of old family things. My sister got most of the photos but I have always taken care of the silver and that is what I have. Just an odd assortment of butter knives, cocktail forks, spoons, souvenir spoons (my great-aunt was a collector), and (I believe) salt cellars but I treasure them all.

Here's one of our family favorites:

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[Pink Dahlia]

Wow...I mean wow...

 

[Shearer]

Wow...I mean wow...

Yes, I think Dahlia took the words out of my mouth

 

[Sweet Leilani]

she pulled out this old ziploc bag with a little frozen bit of something and told me it was a slice from her wedding cake! I doubt it's been in the same bag all that time (did they have ziploc bags back then anyway?), but that's not something I could have made up. I bet she tossed it out, no one keeps anything in my family!

That's really something, Pigeon Toe- I have the same thing from my grandmother, and I was just going to post about it when I read your post! My grandmother got married in 1939 and her wedding cake was fruitcake. Anyway, on my wedding day, as I was getting ready to go to the church, she came upstairs with this tiny white box and a note. Since you're supposed to carry "something old", she said, I should take this little white box. I opened the box and inside was a tiny piece of cake wrapped in wax paper from her wedding cake. I'm amazed that it still is in great shape, and it still makes me a little misty when I think about it.

Here's the story she wrote for me:
"In 1939 when I was a bride, my wedding cake was a fruit cake (it cost $35.00).
After the guests had gone home, the wait staff showed me that underneath the cake were several wrapped pieces of cake. These were supposed to be for the guests to take home and dream on.
It was believed that if you dream on wedding cake, which you would place beneath your pillow, you would dream of the person you would marry.
I have saved it all these years, throughout many moves. When your mother and Aunts came to visit, I took this piece of cake out to show them. We all decided that you would appreciate it and it would qualify for 'something old'."

I Love you, Gram...

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

Pie Birds! (my new family heirloom)

Well the sad news is that my parents are moving away. One of the nice thing about the move is that my mother has passed down her collection of pie birds that she started when I was a little girl, and are now living in my home (and will eventually get passed to my daughter).

Does anyone else here have pie birds? Some of these I actually use ( and my mom used) for baking pies, and some of these are too old and fragile to bake with anymore.

The cabinet is a gift from a dear friend of my mother's who moved back to St. Thomas. I'm not sure of it's age, but it looks like 40s - 50s to me...

Anyone else have an unusual heirloom that's been passed down?

 

[Snookie]

How adorable, Hamilton Honey! I've never heard of a pie bird before, but those are super cute! How are they used?

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

You put a bird in the cent of your top pie crust before baking - it vents steam as it cooks, thus preventing the dreaded boil over in the oven! =)

[they are also known as "pie vents"]

Works great and it's terribly charming - I'll bake a pie with one and show a picture!

 

[Foofoogal]

"How interesting! He had one cent for every year they ended up married! "

this gave me goose bumps. Something similar happened to show fate when my daughter married her hubby. Long story.

That art nouveau spoon is fabulous and so are the pie birds. quite a few people collect them.

Those love letters are priceless.

As an antiques dealer I have lots of beautiful objects but this is my most prized possession. I gave it to my mom for Mothers Day about 2 wks. before she passed away suddenly in her sleep. I was 27 and it cost very little. My children know this is the one you do not break and it is in a special place of honor in our home.

This is another favorite of mine as I found her in an awful, awful flea market a few minutes before they shut it down as it was pouring down rain even on her. She was calling out to me in midst of piles of clothes and junk and not even one tiny chip on even her extended finger. She is from the 1950s and I love her rescued her and she is mine. lol

 

[Novella]

I was finally able to take a picture of my most precious vintage item - my great grandmother's necklace. I tried to take a closer picture of just the necklace, but my camera wouldn't focus that close. I think my great grandmother must have received the necklace in the 1910s, although the pearl was lost and replaced in the 1950s.

 

[Decayla]

My most treasured item

Its a locket from when my grandmother was younger. She put her and my grandfathers pictures in it. I actually have a lil love story to share about these two. Her name was Cora. She was raised from a religious family. She was not alowed to date or talk to boys. Her father was VERY strict. My grandfather first seen my grandmother at church. They secretly wrote eachother letters. They never went on a single date. Nor did they speak to eachother because of her father. Their love blossomed from the letters encouraging my grandpa to ask for her hand in marriage. He took the priest over to her house and asked her father if he could marry his daughter. My grandmother passed away in 97'. Since then my grandpa has never taken off his wedding ring. He told me that once him and my grandma got old they burnt the love letters togeather in the fireplace so once they passed away their children wouldn't read them. Hehe.

Her pearls are also on there. I think their glass.

Another thing thats importaint to me is this picture of her when she was only 14 yrs old.

 

[tuppence]

Decayla your Grandmother is beautiful.

 

[Decayla]

Decayla your Grandmother is beautiful.

Awwww thank you

 

[SweetieStarr]

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.

Yes, it looks like it is supposed to be worn as a choker necklace. Put it around your neck with the brooch in front, tie a secure bow in the back of your neck to keep it on.

 

[SweetieStarr]

Yes, it looks like it is supposed to be worn as a choker necklace. Put it around your neck with the brooch in front, tie a secure bow in the back of your neck to keep it on.

Here is a random photo I found online as an example:
http://elitechoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/necklace-300x370.jpg

 

[J.J. Gittes]

My most precious vintage possessions are my great grandfathers belt buckle (a 1922 Sterling Silver Dollar and his tie clip-no picture), and my Great Grandmothers Kepi.

 

[Decayla]

most precious vintage item

My most precious vintage possessions are my great grandfathers belt buckle (a 1922 Sterling Silver Dollar and his tie clip-no picture), and my Great Grandmothers Kepi.

Those are REALLY great pieces.

 

[Michaelshane]

I was finally able to take a picture of my most precious vintage item - my great grandmother's necklace. I tried to take a closer picture of just the necklace, but my camera wouldn't focus that close. I think my great grandmother must have received the necklace in the 1910s, although the pearl was lost and replaced in the 1950s.

A girl came to my studio with a pendant that is a family heirloom,all the women in her family own it.She wanted me to copy it and make a matching pair of earrings so she could get married in them.These are the ones I made for her,very similar to yours aren't they?

 

[Warbaby]

Nearly everything in our house is vintage, and I love it all - but if I had to pick the most precious it would prolly be this large porcelain vase that my grandmother painted sometime around 1910-15...

...and this painting by my grandfather c.1918:

 

["Skeet" McD]

Nearly everything in our house is vintage, and I love it all - but if I had to pick the most precious it would prolly be this large porcelain vase that my grandmother painted sometime around 1910-15...and this painting by my grandfather c.1918

Just to say something you already know : this is some pretty serious "amateur" art of its period....if it is, in fact, amateur. Professionals, or just quite talented?

Great stuff under any circumstances! Thanks for showing it to us.

"Skeet"

 

[Shangas]

A mixture of antique & vintage...

I'd love to say that they were all family heirlooms...but they're not!

The watch is a Waltham M1895. It's a size-14 pocket watch made in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA, in 1899. It sports a 5-year gold-filled case which houses a crown-wind, crown-set, seven-jewel movement. I bought it as a 21st birthday present for myself. I wanted something memorable. The chain is a gold-filled brass Albert, 11 inches long. The gold thing on it is an Australian 50c coin, commemorating the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II, which I occasionally wear as a watch-fob. The badge on the right is a souvenier from my schoolboy days, and bears my school's coat of arms.

The fountain pens are a 1928 Parker Duofold (big red one), 1930 Sheaffer Balance (marbled green one), and a 1914 Conklin Crescent-filler (black hard rubber one).

I'm a firm believer in using your posessions, regardless of what they are. So yes, the pens do work, yes, they are filled with ink, and yes, I do write with them. Daily. They're in my coat right now. Likewise, the pocket watch is wound regularly, once a day. It's been serviced and keeps time...and I'm wearing that at the moment, too.

Truth be told, I hate wearing wristwatches, so my Waltham is the only timepiece I use. If you can't see a watch-chain somewhere on my clothes, it means I don't have the time on me! No, I don't own a waistcoat, so I'll let you fellows guess how I wear my watch and chain...