Featured "NOBODY WANTS YOUR PARENTS STUFF??"

While some of that stuff I would definitely keep, there's certainly stuff there that I would agree - has no real 'keeper' or 'collector' or 'hold-on-to-this-stuff' value. Silverplate, I can promise you - very few people these days are interested in.

SILVER-SILVER - yes. Some people might hold it. But silverplate? Urgh. I used to work in a thrift-shop. We sorted through literally BUCKETS of the stuff every day, and it sells for peanuts. Nobody wants it.

 

The only use for silverplate is holding potted plants, or scrapping if it's silver on copper. It's worth its weight in scrap metal. Some Americans do collect Victorian silverplate if it's unusual and in good condition. Old trophies and the like can also be exceptions. Get a car racing trophy from 1912 and it'll find an audience, guaranteed.

I've been known to rescue old family photos if they're interesting enough - WWII snapshots or the like. I've also got wedding photos here from 1936. I've got someone's entire 1960s trip to Hong Kong too.

 

my kids already have the stuff i've collected divied up, and I'm not even dead yet lol

 

We already handed my sister most of the family jewelry and some of the breakables. My niece is the only grandkid, so that's where it was headed anyway. It's just as well if it's done in advance. Less to fight over or get thrown out by mistake.

 

and looking to the future, i see things in say 30 years from now, it will be 2048 and a lot of the things we have now will technically be antiques or close to it . so I guess I'm saying things change and i hate trying to predicting the future .

 

I'm beyond tired of everyone gloating about these things like it's something that has never happened before. It's just fashion and in 20 years the mid-century modern furniture could well end up in the bin again. Look at the '50s and '60s and how 20 years later the 1980's had a completely different look.

People like things when they're fashionable and hate them once they're "out", because they probably didn't really like them to begin with. Just followed a fashion for the sake of it. It's odd how most of us only see value in something once it's been validated by a trend, celebrity or a movie. Steamer trunks? Wasn't it just trendy 5 years ago to make those into coffee tables?
Trends are necessary but does it have to mean everything else always loses its value?

Maybe just once people could be rational and not be in a frenzy of accumulating only the latest trend item and throwing in the bin what's not trendy. There's so much more than in / out thinking would have one decorating with.

 

That explains my family; I don't think any single generation has ever know what a trend was. It could also be that since some of them were broke farmers they never threw anything away that could be useful later. My great-grandmother's wedding gown was made of striped wool (ook!) that became kids' clothes later on.

As for 80s stuff, some of the clothing has come back into style, and some of the furniture has too. In this area the lacquer look never went away entirely; one segment of the population loves it and never let go. (and I still think 70s home dec tends to be seriously ugly)

 

I totally agree.
I have to add that I have been the inheritor of family photos of several generations of in-laws, great-aunt-in-laws, etc. all of whom are deceased. I can't bear to throw them out but I have boxes upon boxes of the stuff, and I've never met the people. I have even gone online to try to find children and grandchildren, to write to them and offer to take the things.

These aren't photographs of grandparents of me or of my spouse. These are relatives many generations earlier, e.g. one of us had a great-grandparent who was one of 12 children, so there are photos of these other relatives from the early 20th century.

Any idea what to do?

 

Genealogy websites? I'm betting there's a distant cousin out there somewhere who'd pounce on those photos.

 

That is worth a shot. I even have birth announcements from decades ago, with the baby's full name and date of birth. Even with that, it is hard to find them. We would never part with war photos, but these are photos of middle-aged married couples taken at some dinner event over 60 years ago. Because some of those couples were childless, they went to another childless relative decades ago, and really we are the only ones who wanted to keep them. They have no sentimental value but I just can't bear to throw out photos.

 

Silverplate is scrap or worse?

Some is, some is not.

Generalities are a dealers dream

Send me your tired candlesticks, your poor chambersticks, your huddled galleried trays yearning for a fresh owner, your wretched silver plate that often sells much better than many people think

 

However it takes time & patience to learn the difference between the tons of silver plate that brides received in the 1950's to 1970's ++ & the silver plate that is desirable.

I have 2 round trays that will be 45 years old come this September. I can count on one hand the number of times that they have been used. The only reason they are still around is they fit in the bottom of my china cabinet, they are not worth selling & if I ever do need one I know where to find one.

 

I've given some of the big ones away to family members.....to remind them of Mom........they were quite pleased with the sentiment !!!

 

I am quite sure neither of my boys know they even exist & I would bet you a million dollars my husband has no idea either even though both trays were given to us by someone on his side.

 

The old 1950s and 1960s silverplate is only worth something if it's plated on copper; then it's worth its scrap weight in copper. Today at the thrift I found trays made to look like the silver-plated ones. They were chrome made in China. What I want to know is ... why did anyone bother?

 

It's the same thing with all the junk particle board furniture that people buy instead of getting nicely built vintage/antique items for a fraction of the price.

I'm sure to some people it's the though that buying used is something only poor people do.

 

Need to get hold of kids coming up now who are acutely aware of the need to reduce consumption to save the planet but who will still need furniture, pots & pans, etc., that vintage is the answer. Dictum has been that they want experiences, not stuff. Let's see them eat off of, & sleep on, that trip to the Galapagos!

 

Yes, I have been to quite a few like this and it seems that there were no family members who cared or there were no family members period.
I strongly dislike seeing icky dishes in the sink at sales, never know how many bugs or critters have been cruising this place and I do not want to bring that home with me.

 

Dead dishes in the sink and food in the fridge should have been dumped before a house is opened for that sort of sale. It's not just icky; it's probably a health code violation.