My great-grandmother's iron skillet. My dad's painting of a bird. An add-a-pearl necklace that was a "welcome baby" gift to me.

An antique parlor size guitar that my grandmother played in a Salvation Army band in the late 1800's - early 1900's.

My grandmother's Swedish Bible. My mother used it too.

And my teddy bear from when I was a kid. My dad got it for me. My cousin Rob ripped off one of the arms so my mom sewed it back on. He was a mean cousin, lol.

My walking doll that I got 56 years ago. She lost all her original clothing so I bought her an outfit from the goodwill.

My piano. Maybe not the best piano, but it’s a black console that looks good everywhere, from mid-century living room I grew up with, to the rough-paneled family room in the 70s-era house, to, well, it would have looked great in the MC Split-level, and now in our traditional living room.

Some jewelry. Great-grandfather was a jeweler, so grandmother gave me some nice pieces. Not precious gems, but nice gold, like a charm bracelet and some lovely charms.

My manicure set. Mom gave it to me when I was a teenager, it’s from Revlon and is in a sturdy blue-suede case. My college roommates coveted it. I still use it, though have replaced some of the instruments.

terilyn, the dress I wore for Easter when I was about 4 or 5 still hangs in my old bedroom closet. It is so adorable! Also the black velvet dress I wore for a couple of big events in the early 90s.

A lazy girl’s tank top I have had since I was 14 years old.

I have a stuffed dog, dubbed Fluffy, which my mother made for me around age 6. He could use some new stuffing, and one eye fell off years ago. But he lives on the bed in the spare bedroom.

What looks like a locket with a gray pearl on one side and the original owners initials on the other which my grandmother received when she and her sister took care of a woman back in the 1930s. I did have the original chain four sided chain but when I asked for it to be repaired if possible it was replaced with a simple chain. Supposedly the original chain had already been melted.

Hiking boots with Vibram soles and bright red laces.

I bought them new when I was about 14 years old for hiking in the mountains.

I was about to say one thing but terilyn’s comment about a baby dress reminded me that I have a lot of baby dresses of mine. Several of them were made by my great grandmother. A few are Feltman. I was born in 48. I washed them and dressed my DD in them. Then my DD used them for my DGD 21 years ago this month. Both were brought home from the hospital in one.

I have a maroon velvet cap and I don't know who made it for me. Why didn't i ask my mother? I think I probably thought she made it as she did a lot of sewing.

A book of poems my grandmother gave me when I was a little girl.

I have a plant that I had since I was a teen.

A paperback dog breeds book I remember looking at when I was 6 years old.....lots of pictures...... and a cookie cookbook I got as a "prize" for selling Campfire Girl cookies in the 5th grade.

Corning Ware set of mixing bowls...was a wedding present, and I have

used then regularly. A raggedy with bare patches brown teddy bear...my

Lovie. ;) Better Homes and Garden Cook Book that was my Mom's...her

only commercial cook book. I have moved around a lot, and sadly I

got rid of a few things that I wish, now, I had kept.

I have my baby shoes. I'm 76.

Almost all of the furniture in our home came from my parents or hubby's parents. We have been married 55 years & most of the furniture I can remember as a kid. I have a telephone stand that I can't find anything like it anywhere. It is made of wood, has a domed top that has a hole in the back so you can put the telephone cord through. Under that there is a drawer , guess for the telephone book, pen & pad. Anyone who has seen it never guesses it is a telephone stand. Love the old furniture, it does weigh a ton though but looks so good as hubby has refinished every piece.

I have a bible that my friend gave me on my 9th birthday. I think that's one of the few things I have from my childhood. Oh, and my American Girl dolls and books.

The hospital bracelet with my name on the pink and white beads that I got 71 years ago.

I have my baby shoes. Old. Also a silk handkerchief with pictures of various German officials that my father brought home in 1919 from WWI.

My baby blankets. I have 2 and I sleep with one. It is just a piece of precious moment fabric that my mom sewed satin edges on. the edges are always very calming to me. And a huge teddy bear one of my brothers got me for Christmas one year.

My mom has possession of most of my childhood "treasures" because she knows when she hands them over, most of them will get trashed. Sorry mom, I have no interest in a poem i wrote when i was 8 or my 6th grade report cards.....Or my baby book.....

The only thing I mourn the loss of is a rosary that my maternal grandfather engraved my name on when I was born. My mother swears she doesn't know what happened to it. I have a suspicion that one of my sisters swiped it, or that mom is holding it hostage. Either way, I don't have it.

We have some treasures! Where do you keep them? Are they in use, on display, in the safe, or in a box under the bed?

I also have my pink and white beaded hospital bracelet with my name on it from 68 years ago, so that would be the oldest thing I have. Second oldest is the Stangle pottery divided dish my mom fed me from. It's decorated with yellow chicks and a bunny. I have that displayed in an informal china cabinet in my kitchen.

I have something that is even older, in a way, that I really treasure. It's a Christmas cactus plant. I brought some cuttings home last year from my 88 year-old mother's plant and they rooted successfully. Her plant came from similar cuttings handed down through her family and the original plant traces back to my great grandmother who would have been born in the last part of the 1800's.

Too many things to mention. First shoes, baby blankets, christening dress, even the little metal potty that my mother had used as a planter.All my childhood books, lockets, jewelry. I also have all the antique furniture I grew up with. I was an only child.

I don't have much left due to the flood but I do have an antique gold small pocket watch that was given to my dad when he graduated. It was very old then. The engraved name and date inside the watch is in the 1700's. It was a family heirloom. I am so thankful that I had put it in a case in the top of the closet in the RV and it survived the flood. With it were my mother's wedding rings and a few other little pieces of jewelry.

Many things, probably too many to remember right now. I have the maracas from a dance recital when I was about 4. A pair of white gloves that were mine as a toddler....we always had new white gloves on Easter ;0) My girl scout sash with badges. My grandmothers bible and a pair of salt and pepper shakers from her collection. The brass bell from my fathers boat. In the early 60's he had bought a charter boat and was turning it into a camping/family liveaboard when he got sick. My mother returned it to charter boat status (salmon, ocean) and used it for supplemental income for a few years.

I have the cabbage shredder my FIL made for use with his sauerkraut. The net mending needles (handcrafted too, of wood) used for mending nets the years he fished in Alaska. A large crocheted table cloth (or bed covering depending on ones wishes) my mother in law made me before she died in the 70s.

And, I wear the plain gold band my mother was married in - 1945. It's always on my right ring finger, I never remove it.

The memory of my parents leaving the house on their night out when I was five years old is still fresh. He looked dapper in tan color office uniform and she was so chic in a short sleeve light dusty rose top and dark blue bell bottom pants. Other than that I can’t recall what the nanny was doing to keep us kids occupied while they were out.

My mother's stepfather was a rough and tough rowdy in his younger days. I have a pretty platter that he stole from someone's house in the 30's. I wish that I could return it to someone in the original owner's family. I have no clue.

My corking tool from when I was 7...and my Barbies...

I remember corking! My sisters and I used to make yards and yards of rope and never knew what to do with it.

What's a corking tool. Corking?

It’s a spool with wire loops on the top that you wrapped yarn around and made a cord, sort of like knitting.

Mine was painted like a woman.

Stuffed tiger that was given to my older sister when I was 2--don't remember when he became mine

Stuffed dog from day we moved when I was 3

framed baby photos

both my and Moms bronzed baby shoes 1925, 195_

Menorah given to me as a child that I remember opening the gift box. Another Menorah that I can't remember how old I was when it was a gift.

Huge oil pinting that is focal point of my living room. It was also the focal point of my parents living room.

Corking! I recently bought a wood female corking tool to use eventually when grandchildren are old and interested enough. I never knew the official name of the craft.

Stuffed rabbit from before day 1 for me, fragments somewhere from security blanket, and lace up ice skates, probably dating from high school in the 70's because they fit my adult feet. The last time I used them was maybe 5 or 6 years ago; there was an outdoor rink in a town I was visiting for work. They still work, LOL!

Vinyl records (45s plus LPs) are what I've had the longest. When I was a teenager, my mother told me that when I got older I would not want them, but I am glad I still have them. I have a lot of records autographed by Del Shannon, from when I was president of his fan club in the mid 1960s. I wish I still had the tapes I made when I was 16 of the phone interviews I had with him for the fan club bulletins. I also wish I had the concert programs I had collected when I was a teenager, but my sister burned them when I was not at home. She was always jealous of me, and she still admits this today.

Re "corking". We called them horse reins.

Lars - reading here and your past posts it sounds like you have very complicated relationships with your siblings. I can identify with a lot of what you write.

I still have my pony's bridle that I got when I was 9 years old and that would have been in 1944.

Sue

Roxsol, I remember those. Mine wasn’t as cute. Horse reins!

looks like they had other names as well.

I live in the house I grew up in so there are lot of things in my house that were here before I was born. In the attic I have of our games, dolls and toys, all my school books and projects, LPs and 45s, lots of books including my Dad's spelling books and my Mom's books like Jane Eyre, Little Women. Lots of Golden books, Nancy Drew, Bobsey Twin books. Many paint by number pictures. My very first doll I received as a gift the day I was born, so tiny but it needs to be repaired. When I was about 8 my sister gave me the most beautiful large bride doll for Christmas. I remember waking her up on the couch where she was sleeping to show her the doll and she told me it was a special doll and not to play with it like I did with my baby dolls or Barbie dolls. So, I never played with it. I did "borrow" the veil or flower bouquet for my Barbie dolls but never played with the doll. The doll went into a trunk in the attic and there it still sits, never played with. haha I used to tell my sister her telling me not to play with that doll is the reason I never got married. I could never pretend to be a bride. We laughed about that for a long time.

I also have all my diaries starting from when I was 10. This is my diary from 1972 and some things I saved in it.

A small figurine that was given to me for my birthday seventy years ago by a neighbor. It went through a house fire and was found in the ashes by a family member, and given back to me.

I have an infant's dress that was mine, then worn by my DD. I also have a little rabbit fur hat and muff that was given to me when I was about 5.

Other than those (excepting handed down furniture from my parents & family heirlooms), my oldest personal possession I think is a Clairol "Swing Setter" heated roller set that my brother gave me for Christmas back about 1968 or so. It still works and I still use it on occasion!

My hubby. lol Well at least it feels like forever. We started dating when I was 14 and he was 16 and been together ever since.

functionthenlook - wow! I guess you two were meant to be!!

living with covid ... at least it seems like it

I have a letter that I wrote to a pen pal when I was fifteen, and she saved it over the decades and sent it back to me a couple of years ago. She was in Brooklyn at the time while I was on a farm in Texas, but when she found me again, I was in Los Angeles. I finally got to meet her at her house in New Jersey last year.

I do have a lot of poetry that I wrote when I was 15 to 18 years old, but the letter I wrote is quite different. My poetry was extremely serious, but the letters I wrote were evidently quite silly, although I did not think of them that way back then. When I read the letters, I could not believe that I had actually written them, and they were quite hilarious - at least to me. I have to wonder how Doreen took them, but evidently she like them, as she always wrote back and did save them for forty-odd years.

The diaries that I've managed to save only go back to 1975, although I started writing them in 1968. The early ones got lost along the way. When I read my old diaries now, I can understand why people thought they were funny, even though I was dead serious when I wrote them. I may have been a bit overly dramatic at times, especially in my 20s.

My oldest things:

o Selected College text books from 1954 through 1960 (BSME)

o Selected text books from 1973 - 1976 (MEME)

o A sack of marbles from 1945-1947.

o A folding tourist camera with Prontor II lens and shutter by Gauthler G. m. H. Calmbach. It uses 120 roll film. Bought n a pawn shop in Davenport, IA.

o A small wood carved chess set sized for a checker board, made in France, ca 1955.

o Argus C3 35 mm camera

o A law book on Usury published 1832.

o Mission style bookcase ca 1910.

o 8 Day Shelf clock, weight driven, made between 1830 to 1833. It is in working condition.

o My Dad's history school book ca 1910.

o Worn, French coins, few dated late 1800s. These were in my Dad's pocket when he returned from WW1.

Oldest things

A child's cloth book, for little readers .Probably early 1900. My great aunt gave it to me when I was about 5. She was a teacher She would have been pleased I turned out to be a teacher also.