Often, the things that were made generations ago are made to last. Do you own anything from older days that is better made than the new stuff?

Do you have anything from the past that you cherish?

For example, I have a little brass incense buddha that belonged to my grandmother. It's not worth a ton or anything, but it is meaningful to me.

I have a dresser in the attic that I store momentos from my parents, who have both crossed over.

Susan, is there anything special to you in that dresser, or something unique in some way?

I have an antique vanity - it is solid wood and the drawers all have dovetail joints.
My Mom's side of the family was really into antiques. We had all of these crazy things around growing up, some were definitely better than modern devices. Like the old hand crank shaker style peeler/corer/slicer for apples. Pampered Chef sells them today. They are really good.
My grandma had something called Sweetheart Wear pans for cooking and roasting. I took it for granted that they just lasted, never warping, always able to get them clean, just good, simple things.
a lot of the home furnishing and decorating things that are antique never really go out of style, so you dont get tempted to throw it out after a few years and get all new stuff. Maybe changing things up a little, but that is it.
My .22 rifle my Dad gave me is pretty old - older than me. It was made in the US by Browning before they started having stuff made overseas. It works really well, it is just solid. Shot plenty of grouse and rid my homes of problematic squirrels. The model I have is nothing fancy, but it is incredibly reliable. If it jams at all, it just needs cleaned, and it has been well used!
these are not items that would eve rake it on an episode of Antiques Roadshow, but they are very useful, and some do hold sentimental value.

Jilly, my mother left 5 rosaries which are precious to me. If my kids are reading this, they each are left one of them.

That's lovely, Susan. My grandmother gave me a rosary when I was a young girl, and more than 35 years later I still have it.

My grandmother also had a big plant in her house, like a tree. It is called a corn plant. When she cut the very top down because it hit the ceiling, the plant produced baby plants at the place it was cut. I received one of the young shoots when I was about 10 years old, and I still have it. It grew into a small tree and broke in half once. I rooted the top portion and both parts of the tree survived to make two plants which I still have.

Because they will grow as tall as your ceiling they have been cut down and rerooted a few times for convenience, especially for when I had to move, but I still have two plants that I know came from my grandmother's original plant. She started out with a little shoot that her youngest son gave her as a present when he was a boy.

Not exactly heirlooms or antiques, but these things and a few other items I have hold great sentimental value.

Susan and Debbie, i love the stories behind the rosaries and the corn plant. Very cool, indeed. I love that Susan is passing them on to her children (and mentioned it here! A scoop! lol), and I love that Debbie still has that plant and several incarnations of it going strong.

These are meaningful things.

AKlisa, those are some really nice things. Dovetail joints on a bureau - that is a score. Things used to be so much more nicely made. I've seen those apple peeler machines - very cool. I've been looking for things like that in the thrift stores. I do have some hand grinders.

What are sweetheart wear pans?

Your dad's old gun is a nice gift, too.

I do have some of my grandmother's (mom's side)jewelry and some pretty candy dishes that I display the jewelry in. I don't think i have anything from my father's side, since he was the youngest child of five. If there were heirlooms in his family i am sure they were long since gone before he grew up.

Also my father used to make jewelry and make metal sculptures, and I have some of those. I have some blankets my mom knitted. Those handmade things I treasure.

My mom has some artwork i made, framed in her house...is that like an opposite heirloom?

If I understood what grandma said correctly, sweetheart ware was sort of like Pampered Chef back in the 1950's - ish time. You went to parties and they had really good solid cookware you could order.

Oh, so like a Tupperware party!

Is Tupperware even still in business anymore? I know some vintage Tupperware made it into the Smithsonian.

My parents were just visiting and I asked if we had anything from dad's mom or dad. Turns out we do have two Xmas figurines from them that I love. Dad is going to think if there is anything else.