What have you found clearing out the house of a relative?

[Gingerrogered]

I'm clearing out my Grandma's house. Very interesting. You can see it's a house belonging to somebody from the 'greatest generation'. Everything is neatly saved from threads to buttons.

I knew my Gran loved travelling, but I didn't know how much until I went through her stuff. Franco's Spain and postwar Paris. I even found a medal for someone who fought in WWI but I have no idea who that was awarded to.

Still sorting through the stuff. But I just wondered if anybody else had found something remarkable when they were doing the same.

A sketch pad and art materials I had never seen my godmother ever with or in use. Each page had a family photo paper clipped to it and she had expertly done either pencil or fine pen and ink complete replicas of each photograph.
There were several of myself & my sibling as children and one of myself holding my newborn to which she had also attached a little velvet pouch containing a gold cross and chain inside that we had previously considered her to have lost. Most touching discovery I have ever made and I cherish these today....

There was a long standing 'story' that my great auntie was a gun runner for anti treaty IRA forces in Limerick in the run up to the Irish civil war. Everyone thought it was romantic nonsense until my father and uncles helped clear her house and found cache of weapons in her shed at the end of garden. I was very annoyed as a 10 year old that I did not get keep one of the half dozen German built Mauser G98 WW1 rifles or any of the numerous pistols.

Which was fine as far as these things go, but when she rinsed it through our bank account...
I’m probably being stupid, but I don’t understand that? Did you get to keep the money?

My mother's wedding flowers, pressed and kept for 76 years.

And my parents' copy of the Kama Sutra.

Almost nothing. My grandmother was aware she didn't have long, and had cleared out everything apart from 2 outfits, very minimal toiletries and spare bedsheets.
It was very sad.
But then we opened a drawer and found the wedding programs from her children's weddings, photos of all the children and grandchildren, my grandfathers wedding ring etc. All the things she couldn't part with neatly organised into one drawer.

After helping to clear my grandmothers house (needing round the clock care, not dead) we didn’t discover anything odd but there was just so much stuff! I’m am going to try my best to do a Swedish death cleaning type declutter as I would hate for anyone to have to deal with all my crap when the time comes.

My grandad was in the navy, when we were clearing out his house we found gorgeous china teacups that when you lifted them up to the light there was a face of a geisha girl in them. We also found Dutch clogs that we’re obviously hand made and painted with fine gold paint. Lots of souvenir plates and a wonderful old box camera

Thanks to everyone who has replied. Had to deal with her clothes today, it was very difficult. I took a lot of comfort from reading about other people in the same position.

Really sorry for your loss op. Clothes are really hard. All the best.

Aww ginger - I'm sending you a virtual hug - clothes are sooo hard. My dad was very old school and every single jacket, coat or pair of his trousers had a proper handkerchief in its pocket, it's always the little things that get you, and particularly with clothes it's their smell 

Thank you heron and inknow. It szz very bittersweet. Hard, but brought back a lot of good memories too.

@PanGalaticGargleBlaster

My great grandfather was a chauffeur in NI for a very large estate and used to run guns back and forwards over the border. Was never stopped apparently as the car was too respectable and expensive.

74 (!) packets of polo mints. Grandad was clearly anticipating a shortage...

Just loads of amazing photographs. I kept asking PILs if they had any old photos and the answer was always no. When we cleared the house found a holdall in the understairs cupboard crammed full of them, going back to pre WW2. I am still sorting them.