To think family pieces should not be sold?

[paperclusters]

As a family we are fortunate to own some family pieces of furniture. Nothing very grand, things like a bureau that has been with the family since the 1770s, a side board with cupboards that were fitted in the captains cabin on a ship 1850, a billiards table from 1900.

My elderly family are down sizing and have decided they should sell them. AIBU to think that everything should be done to keep them in the family? They have lasted this long.

The same member threw out hundreds of old family pictures and a painting from the 1800s-1930s and kept the "best" ones. I understand they knew many of these people and so don't seem far removed, but for my children or grandchildren in say 2060, they will be hugely interesting.

@Tawdrylocalbrouhaha Teeth?! Amazing.

It depends on the furniture! I love the furniture and ornaments we have, but we were lucky. My grandad was a furniture buyer for a department store and my dad an architect so we've a mix of antiques and mid century stuff. Actually I don't! My siblings do, i just have ornaments coz I moved abroad, but I still love them! Then we've also got photos, war diaries, illustrations and paintings by my grandad. Loads of nice stuff!

I don't know if I like all of it coz of sentimental value or coz it is nice though actually!!

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha Teeth?! Amazing.

They aren't that nice, but they have gold in them. I like to think they came out naturally rather than being pried from the mouth/s of the deceased ancestor/s...

When DMIL died there was a long list of stuff she'd inherited from her family that must not leave the family ever - but who wants a Sevres dinner service that can never go in the dishwasher - although it was a least quite pretty. It also included a load of ghastly continental Baroque religious statues and crucifixes with gory bodies on etc - some are sitting in a box - one day I'll have a house with an open fire and burn the lot.

There is a liking for the jewellery. If DIL`s are going out they borrow stuff. I suppose now that I rarely wear it, I could divvy it up.

Nobody wants 'brown furniture'. There is literally no market for it

I also deal with deceased estates and here is still a market for nice quality or quirky items - I really wish people would start promoting the bargains rather than grumbling that no one wants it. A Georgian mahogany chest of drawers will have lasted 200 years to get to a saleroom today & will last similar in the future. And can be yours from a local auction for less than £200. Bargain!

Clark was an insufferable old snob, but it's pithy .

Funniest bit though is that Heseltine didn't give a fart what Clark thought
(apparently)

Depends whether you're expecting them to bear the burden of storing the pieces in their home or not. If you're willing to take the stuff yourself, I can see your point that it should stay in the family. You could always offer to buy it, but then they got it free, so I think it's reasonable to suggest they should pass on heirlooms that came to them from someone who evidently wanted it to keep being passed down. If however you think they should hold onto it so you can enjoy the idea of it being there but not have to have it in your house, you're taking the piss.

Describing yourself as an “established family” honestly just makes you sound like a knob

You’re very keen to tell us all how established your family are, but I’ve not seen any explanation of why other people should be forced to keep something that you don’t actually want for yourself, you just don’t want them to get rid of it.

I remember watching an antiques programme a few years ago. A young couple were showing some old silver items that the woman's much loved Jewish grandmother had smuggled out of Nazi Germany to England, just as war broke out. She had risked every thing to preserve the family heirlooms, and they now belonged to the couple. They had decided to sell them, and use the money to buy a very collectable modern painting, which they said they felt they and their two children would really enjoy far more. The silver items raised hundreds of pounds, and the last shot showed them proudly displaying the new painting. I felt saddened by the whole thing. One day their children might be horrified at the loss of something so precious.

If there is a nice shape to the furniture there does seem to be a market for slapping on the Annie Sloan paint.

My great-grandparents had a billiard room - my uncle always reminisces about it at family reunions! Sadly the family home and business were pretty much gambled away in the early 1970s by a family member so I never got to see the place but I have a few ornaments that my grandmother had.
If you have a spare room, take the billiard table and stick an air mattress on it!

I must have a very unusual family, in a good way.

If my GPs or parents had such items they would GIVE them to me, not expect me to pay for them.

That’s how we roll. Close family and generous.

Yes I agree, heirlooms are important to me.

I remember a while ago now someone came in saying she was going to see her GF’s war medals. WTF!!

So many families renting or living in houses which have 'bedrooms' barely big enough for a bed - it's inevitable that bloody great lumpy heavy wooden furniture is going to become unpopular.

For what it's worth my grandparents had a billiards table (does this mean we're ''established''? ) which thankfully my father got rid of after pressure from my DM. However i have orders NOT to sell the ugly rare one handed grandMOTHER clock (got one of those OP?) or the queen anne table (ugly and wobbly) and i feel quit put out about it. I won't be setting any such guilt trips on my 4 DCs.

When my grandmother died we had to leave the concert grand piano (3 pedals) in her living room as it was too bulky for any of our houses
and several of the family already had their own grand pianos