My father had sent my mother a set of china and some Hummel figurines when he was in Germany while in the Army many years ago. She recently passed away and he is in assisted living. They have been sitting in my basement for a few years and I have no interest in keeping it all, but feel guilty for wanting to hand it all off to any antique dealer or where ever. And I should add that both of my parents' choice was to not have a close relationship with me since childhood, so I guess that also plays into having no interest. I have no other siblings. What do I do?
I left a lot of stuff (things that had memories for me)--mom's creche, old vases, kitchen bowls--out in front, where folks could pick them up. Pretty soon, there were cars stopping and nice folks getting out and picking up stuff to take home with huge smiles on their faces. An middle aged Hispanic woman cradled mom's creche in her arms; I could see it was going to be loved.
Let someone else make good memories from your mom's tchotchkes.
You will feel sad not guilty. And even sad is misplaced.
Perhaps you are stymied because by letting those items go you'll be letting go of a pretend relationship. Why you keep souvenirs of people who didn’t care about you is a great curiosity. Free yourself.
Have you heard that commercial that goes something like - Hey ladies, why are you keeping that engagement ring given to you by the guy who ditched you. It’s full of bad vibes. Get rid of it.
Don't even keep one cake dish from the set. It's keeping something dark. You’re just pretending you had a good relationship. They represent yearning. It’s your parents that missed out. Those things are weights. They’re hurtful reminders. Get free of them. Give them away.
As for Hummels, omg. They make me think of Norman Rockwell dishes, agggh. Young people are so removed from that era. And it will never ever be in style again.
Do you skeet shoot? Some cultures believe in warding off evil spirits by breaking dishes during a party. Opa!
I give things away. If it ends up being worth something, someone else can make the profit. When I cleaned Moms house out, I only kept a few things. One of them I just gave a friend who was close to Mom. You just can't keep everything. Its a shame the amount of money people spent on China and Crystal. And now, our children do not want it. It doesn't fit in their lifestyle. My oldest, I bought her a set of Pfaltzgraff with serving pieces. Thats all she uses. If she has a crowd its good paper plates.
Time to part with them.
Also on the Hummels unless you have paperwork to show provenance from 1940’s, they aren’t worth much. There was a Hummel trend in the 80’s? and lots of them sold. It may have been Bradford Exchange type of “collectible” sold which are basically garbage now. But it muddled up the market for them.
Ceramics! and more Ceramics! 4 out of 5 Aunts & my mom did ceramics. Couple of kilns in the family too. Ton of ceramics! Maybe 6 pieces which I kept out of dz’s. But all the other ones (boxes & boxes of stuff in bubble wrap from Xmas ornaments to ring holders) I put into a plastic bin and broke them. I used the shards in the bottom of planters to help with drainage. I was repotting last month and low & behold there was bits of ceramic Easter eggs and the spike of a ring holder and parts of ash trays. I know it sounds odd, but unearthing them gave me a sense of calmness, like mom & Aunties enjoying a garden 🪴
Mother made it a big thing that they were worth a lot of money. Actually, they're not, and while I know she has split them up amongst the great grands-I can state emphatically that no one wants them. They are not my taste and I would probably have to display them out of 'guilt'. IDK.
I think that once she passes, we'll have a quick look over of her stuff and most of it will be sold at an estate sale and the rest will go to GoodWill. It would break her heart, but she is the kind of person who equates 'owning' something with the person who gave it to her. She doesn't have relationships with people, she has the junk they gave her.
I've asked my kids to please stop giving me 'stuff', as I am trying to cull down 'things'.