Honoring a Collector
My Nan was a prolific collector of souvenir tea spoons.
Although she never travelled too much herself, she had loads of people around her with 2 common threads. First, they loved her and second they loved travel.
I'm not really sure how it came about, but someone way-back-when got her a tea spoon from Cornwall - the birthplace of her grandparents before they emigrated to Australia.
This spoon was her most prized possession and it created a monster.
From then on, everyone that went anywhere interesting knew to get 'Beb' a tea spoon.
In her days she had acquired around 800 spoons, most of which were on display in expertly fashioned custom-made cabinets handcrafted by my Pop.
After she died, no one knew what to do with her collection. All of its value was sentimental, there was no real commercial value to it. It was placed with an auction / antique house who managed it and a number of other items for us.
That was it. Her collection when out the door never to be seen again. In writing this, I wonder where some of these spoons may have turned up? We'll never know.
In recent times, we managed a funeral for a seamstress who collected thimble's.
During conversation with the family, her son mentioned her thimble collection, to which Kathryn made the suggestion to place a thimble on each chair, like a 'reserved' sign as a memento for each mourner. A keepsake for each person to take away.
In our time, we never thought of this for my Nan... I wish we had.
What a wonderful why to keep her in our hearts, minds and hands.
An item of almost no commercial value.
Yet; priceless sentimental value.
Every person is unique. Every family is different.
With us, every Funeral is Individual.
Contact Northern Beaches Funerals at any time :
-- 0455 285 041
-- kathryn@northernbeachesfunerals.com.au