What is the oldest piece of memorabilia of your family do you have?  

I have a pair of diamond earrings that were my grandmothers, God rest her soul. I wear them mostly on special occasions. I also have some of my grandmothers knick knacks. I have the little ceramic Dutch people that you can't find anymore.

i have a silver dagger type knife that came over with my irish side of the family.i'm actually not entirely sure how old it is,but i know it's from the late 1700's somewhere abouts.

I was just thinking about this tonight because one of my friends said she was getting her grandmothers ring. But I am sad to say that I don't have anything from my grandparents, not even pictures. Well, thats not exactly true, I have a recipe for cookies that my grandmother always made, except I can never get them to come out like hers.lol. There is something that I have of my mothers that I cherish. Its an old turkey platter. Its cracked but we still use it. I threatened everyone in the house not to break it or they would be in big trouble.

I have color crystal plates form 1920, sawing machine from 1910...most get lost during the second war...my family lost house and land....

We have a set of containers that are china or percelian. They are to hold things like flour, sugar, and coffee along with matching smaller ones for spices. They belonged to my great grandmother. We also have a cake serving set that belonged to my grangmother along with some depression era glass plates. It's great to have them but they aren't worht anything though. It's still nice to have that connection to them.

I have many old photos from my grandmother. My maternal grandparents were naturalized citizens of the US, they came from Finland, so they had books from there and plenty of other things. I have her china cabinet and my sister has her other china cabinet and her old singer foot pedal sewing machine. I do remember my grandmother had an old victrola record player the kind you had to wind by hand I used to play it for hours when I was very little.

By means of photos...the only old keep sakes of old photos I have are digital.

But I do have somethings from my father and my grandmother.

My father left me a vase. I have no clue what the sentiment is about the vase. Something about it was handed down to him from his mother. I wish I knew the history of it. But I do not. It sits in a box all cushioned for protection. Having seven children, I fear bringing it out because at some point...everything in my house gets broken. My father was so dear to me...my heart would be shattered to loose something that meant a lot to him.

Then there are scarfs and table coverings that have been passed down to me from my grandmother. A couple rings also. Which...they are not really worth anything but it is the sentiment. The table coverings were things my grandmother and great grand mother made themselves. So, they are also tucked away until the kids get older.

My partner has a musket from the Civil War. The kind that they poured gun powder down the barrel and packed it down with a long stick. It does look very old and well worn. So, not all the lettering can be read on the side.
His father wanted to donate it to a museum...but then wanted my partner to have it before he died also.

So...we have a few things that are old and interesting.

Oh! And I also have a couple school books that were printed in the 1900's when my father went to school. My father was born 1929 and they still taught religion in school back then...so one of his school books is based on what they taught about religion back then too.

Hi Pyewacket, For me, I think the oldest piece of memorabilia, would be carrying the knowledge that was taught to me by my grandmother. The knowledge of knowing my family geneology which goes back 8 generations, and when the times right I will teach my children and teach them to also pass it on to the next generation, so our geneology will never be lost to this ever changing world

The oldest keepsake that I have is a string of pearls that belonged to my grandmother on my mom's side of the family. Before I go on, I need to explain something. If my parents were still alive, they would be the same age as most people's grandparents, so anything I have in my possession that was my grandparents' is definitely antique. If I remember right, the pearls may have actually belonged to my great grandmother. They need to be restrung, but I don't trust anyone to do it unless they are willing to do it in front of me. So I just keep them locked up. I also have a watch that belonged to my mom's mother. My aunt had given it to me years ago, and I have proudly worn it ever since.

I have a Gold Wedding Band that was my great grandfathers. It is about a half inch wide. Inside it is just stamped 'solid gold' and the jewelers signature can still be read. It is amazing and beautiful. I remember my mom whereing on the same finger with her own wedding band and diamaond for most of my childhood. It meant a lot to me when she decided to give it to me.
It is about 100 years old.