Antiques

There's a lot of news and excitement when someone finds something old, maybe in Grandmas attic, and it ends up being worth a lot of money.  How we all wish we could find something incredible like that!! 

Is this the kind of thinking that causes people to buy stuff ... and hang on to it,  hoping for a big payoff someday?

A lot of that kind of thinking was happening in the 80s and 90s.  My mom went to antique sales and flea markets all the time, buying a piece here or there to finally have a whole set of .... whatever.  But the big payoff never came, and all that stuff was donated when she moved.  

I caught that same bug for a while in the 90s.  Mom started me on a set of dishes by Vernon Ware, not especially attractive, but quite colorful.  When I shopped, I was attracted to depression era glassware, especially pinks and greens. I didn't just hide them away, though. I used them on a regular basis.  If we were having hot dogs and chips for supper, the relish just might have been served in a pink depression era bowl! 

But here I am, nearing the far side of life, and I don't use as much as I own of the stuff. My bathroom counter has a pink candy dish to hold my hair clips. And another clear pink coffee cup holds my toothbrush. 

Maybe these items will be worth something more than I paid for them in another hundred years. In another 14, most of it will be 100 years old!  Most of them are 1930s.

I love things with age. But I think the thing that causes us to buy old things is nostalgia .... Grandma had one just like this!  I remember seeing that in an old photo.... !!  

But with families spread further apart than ever, geographically, the young generation doesn’t have that nostalgia. So they probably won't buy something because of an emotion that speaks to them.  Its like Grandma's china, they don't want it because it's not practical, but they also don't remember having Sunday dinners on them either.

If you have "special" items that you're saving for that special occasion, use them now.  Feel the joy in having them, using them, create memories.