The heirlooms
I thought I'd devote a separate posting to a description of the heirlooms themselves.
This musical porcelain statuette was handed down from my maternal grandmother, Lily McCluskey. Before it was given to her, it was supposedly a gift from a Prussian prince to a Russian princess. Anyway, whatever its provenance, this object fascinated me all my young life. I vaguely remembered that, when I was a very small child, I had somehow broken the internal works of the music box. I know for certain I hadn't heard the statuette make a sound in the last 45 years. Imagine my delight, then, when just before my trip, while tilting it from side to side searching for a maker's mark, it suddenly started to play! I was completely amazed! I couldn't recognize the song at all, though. It was no popular melody of the 20th century, that much I knew.
If Antiques Roadshow ever came to our area, I would definitely have wanted this piece looked at! The next one, too...
This was Mother's dolly. When I was growing up, it was always in my parents' bedroom, but I hardly ever paid one fraction-of-a-second's worth of attention to it. I knew it was special to my mom, but that was all. I didn't care one whit about it back then. Even after I started collecting stuffed animals in my 30s, I still couldn't connect with Mom's doll. Just the same, I recognized it was a very special object, if for no other reason that it was obviously quite old and in absolutely pristine condition. I couldn't bring myself to sell it to a complete stranger, though. I'd been made a very generous offer for it some years ago, but no amount of money seemed right. If I didn't want it, however, I knew Mom would have wanted me to make sure her dolly somehow stayed in the family.
Fortunately, Joan has a doll collection herself, so this worked out perfectly!
There was also an old English silver tea service and a pair of antique silver candelabras, but it was getting to be rather late in the evening by then, so I didn't take photos of those.
The aforementioned objects were not the first heirlooms I passed on to Joan, however. There was one other that I gave her back in 1999. I think that particular family treasure is deserving of its own posting, as well...
This musical porcelain statuette was handed down from my maternal grandmother, Lily McCluskey. Before it was given to her, it was supposedly a gift from a Prussian prince to a Russian princess. Anyway, whatever its provenance, this object fascinated me all my young life. I vaguely remembered that, when I was a very small child, I had somehow broken the internal works of the music box. I know for certain I hadn't heard the statuette make a sound in the last 45 years. Imagine my delight, then, when just before my trip, while tilting it from side to side searching for a maker's mark, it suddenly started to play! I was completely amazed! I couldn't recognize the song at all, though. It was no popular melody of the 20th century, that much I knew.
If Antiques Roadshow ever came to our area, I would definitely have wanted this piece looked at! The next one, too...
This was Mother's dolly. When I was growing up, it was always in my parents' bedroom, but I hardly ever paid one fraction-of-a-second's worth of attention to it. I knew it was special to my mom, but that was all. I didn't care one whit about it back then. Even after I started collecting stuffed animals in my 30s, I still couldn't connect with Mom's doll. Just the same, I recognized it was a very special object, if for no other reason that it was obviously quite old and in absolutely pristine condition. I couldn't bring myself to sell it to a complete stranger, though. I'd been made a very generous offer for it some years ago, but no amount of money seemed right. If I didn't want it, however, I knew Mom would have wanted me to make sure her dolly somehow stayed in the family.
Fortunately, Joan has a doll collection herself, so this worked out perfectly!
There was also an old English silver tea service and a pair of antique silver candelabras, but it was getting to be rather late in the evening by then, so I didn't take photos of those.
The aforementioned objects were not the first heirlooms I passed on to Joan, however. There was one other that I gave her back in 1999. I think that particular family treasure is deserving of its own posting, as well...