Sad sourcing tale...

[sin-n-dex]

Last night I got a text from the B&M store owner that he obtained a box of stamps with butterflies on them that he wants me to sell. He told me what he paid for the box, but without seeing how much he got for that price I couldn't be sure if he got a good deal.

I went to the store this morning and it was the size of a medium storage tote. There were envelopes with 100's of each type of of stamp, uncut sheets, singles, etc. They were the type of stamp that was made for a poor country to make some money. (The stamps have cancels on them, even though they are not used on envelopes, the cancels indicate mid 1960's).

In the box when I got home, I found a duotang with a list of the inventory and a three page display of what's in the box (a sample of each stamp). This will give me an idea of what I can put together to sell.

Now for the sad part... there was an envelope containing some photos of a gentleman at a trade show with a butterflies display (not stamps, images of real butterflies), and a few photos of the gentleman with other people.

I called the shop owner and asked if he had the customer's address so I could return his photos. Then I found out he passed away. The family just dumped the box at the store and the shop owner bought it because he knows I can deal in stamps. I don't think the family looked at what was in the box before they dropped it off.

Anyway, I'm currently trying to see if there's someone in the family I can return the photos to, but this whole situation makes me feel very sad.

C.

[donsdetour]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

Last night I got a text from the B&M store owner that he obtained a box of stamps with butterflies on them that he wants me to sell. He told me what he paid for the box, but without seeing how much he got for that price I couldn't be sure if he got a good deal.

I went to the store this morning and it was the size of a medium storage tote. There were envelopes with 100's of each type of of stamp, uncut sheets, singles, etc. They were the type of stamp that was made for a poor country to make some money. (The stamps have cancels on them, even though they are not used on envelopes, the cancels indicate mid 1960's).

In the box when I got home, I found a duotang with a list of the inventory and a three page display of what's in the box (a sample of each stamp). This will give me an idea of what I can put together to sell.

Now for the sad part... there was an envelope containing some photos of a gentleman at a trade show with a butterflies display (not stamps, images of real butterflies), and a few photos of the gentleman with other people.

I called the shop owner and asked if he had the customer's address so I could return his photos. Then I found out he passed away. The family just dumped the box at the store and the shop owner bought it because he knows I can deal in stamps. I don't think the family looked at what was in the box before they dropped it off.

Anyway, I'm currently trying to see if there's someone in the family I can return the photos to, but this whole situation makes me feel very sad.

C.

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Modern world: Thanks for trying, but it most likely is whom ever dumped the stuff does not care....

[1grandmashope_1]

Hurts my heart. 

G.

[sin-n-dex]

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@donsdetour wrote:

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Modern world: Thanks for trying, but it most likely is whom ever dumped the stuff does not care....

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There is some good news that makes me feel a bit better... after I wrote this I got an email from the shop owner. He's asked I return the photos and he will get them to the family.

You bring up a valid point. A lot of customers coming into the shop don't care about the things their loved ones left them. We have a few middle men that go to people's houses buying up stuff really cheap and selling it to us. I listed some military stuff last year and was contacted by someone who knew the collector and wanted to know if something happened to him. (That was a detail I didn't have... but the collection was well looked after by someone who cared about it. All his diligent notes on each card containing an insignia helped me identify the items for selling here).

C.

[inhawaii]

I would contact a detective at your local police department. A compassionate detective would love to help you track down the owners or the  owners family, even on his own time. 

[nobody*s_perfect]

It is sad that the family overlooked those pictures, but possibly not as sad as you think.  It might be that they have a ton of details to deal with and lacked the time and energy to go through every box, rather than just not caring.  

In my dad's attic is a box full of pictures on which my mom wrote, "pictures to label some day." It's full of all the photos of their friends and family get-togethers from the 1930s to 1960s.  My mom never found time in her 89 years to do it, and I have no idea who these people are.  Those are her memories, not mine. Guess where that box is going when we clean out their house. 

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@sin-n-dex 

     "C" I deal with this all the time as a volunteer at a thrift shop and also being a Nurse. The families dealing with estates really don't care, they want the money from the house and maybe some "gold" they found in the drawers. I swear, we have gotten family heirlooms from 3-4 generations, diamond rings, birth certificates from the early 1900s, it breaks your heart that these people don't care about history of their families. 

     Really does break your ❤ indeed.

[silverstatetreasureboxes]

@inhawaii 

     James, that is a really good idea! Never thought about that.

[patd3283]

I have several family photo albums probably going back up to 100 years.  Very few were identified.

I made copies of all of the pictures and sent them to all the older members of that side of the family.  I know a lot of the pictured people are family from the hair line, eyes, nose, etc.  They  were only able to identify about 6 of them :-(.  I know one was in the Confederate Army and was incarcerated in a Union prison for stealing Union horses near Martinsburg WV BUT which one is he?

Lesson learned.  I have left notes on all the pictures - older and modern - that I have so someone wont have to wonder in the future - if they care.

[chapeau-noir]

This is why I'm getting rid of almost everything - I'm not going anywhere soon, but I don't need a lot of stuff around me, and I sure don't want whomever is left to have to deal with it. I don't need much, anyway.  Sometimes those memories escape and the items really have no meaning for others.

Oh yeah, and definitely label those photos.  My family is photo crazy - we all have surfaces and walls covered with family and friend photos.  We've gone through the boxes of unknown photos and gone crazy trying to identify them, too.  When I die I'll probably leave two bicycles, a box of books, a pair of worn-out running shoes and 1,496,347,932 photos lol.

[redmodelt]

General reply;

Mom has done of work to put together a family album for both sides of the family. Most everyone is identified some going back to pre civil war. On one hand it is great, on the other, they are just faces that I didn't know and no back story. The people that would have known are long gone or at the time thought they would be around forever, you know how kids are. The ones I grew up around and knew, that is different.

[sin-n-dex]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

It is sad that the family overlooked those pictures, but possibly not as sad as you think.  It might be that they have a ton of details to deal with and lacked the time and energy to go through every box, rather than just not caring.  

In my dad's attic is a box full of pictures on which my mom wrote, "pictures to label some day." It's full of all the photos of their friends and family get-togethers from the 1930s to 1960s.  My mom never found time in her 89 years to do it, and I have no idea who these people are.  Those are her memories, not mine. Guess where that box is going when we clean out their house. 

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I can see this to some extent... I'm sure all my photos of people that no one knows will get tossed as well (if there's even anyone left in my family go to through my things... I'm an only child and my partner is 20 years my senior, we have no kids). I left all my assets to people in my life that I care about, but none of them are family. Just people who played a significant part of the happiness I've had in my 40+ years.

I think probably why I felt sad, is when I saw the butterfly exhibits (to go along with the butterfly stamps), I knew the pictures belonged to the collector and that butterflies were his passion... but I guess no one else cares about that. I'm sure whomever ends up with my coins and stamps probably won't care much about them either.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@silverstatetreasureboxes wrote:

@sin-n-dex 

     "C" I deal with this all the time as a volunteer at a thrift shop and also being a Nurse. The families dealing with estates really don't care, they want the money from the house and maybe some "gold" they found in the drawers. I swear, we have gotten family heirlooms from 3-4 generations, diamond rings, birth certificates from the early 1900s, it breaks your heart that these people don't care about history of their families. 

     Really does break your ❤ indeed.

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I did a book 20 years ago about the history of my family (the part that comes from England) and passed it along to all my extended family so their children would have information about where the family came from. It's the kind of project you can't really do in life because you don't have time until you retire (I spent 4 years working on it), and when you retire all your ancestors have passed and can't answer questions for you. I accomplished this while living in the US because I wasn't able to work.

I went through a pretty bad inheritance dispute a few years ago where my mother caused all sorts of problems for the settlement of my grandfather's estate. (Trying to prevent people from getting their share, saying she's entitled to more). What ended up happening is it went to court, and she got nothing. My aunt tells me the money is part of her estate now and will go to whoever inherits it (which I'm doubting is going to be me...)

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@redmodelt wrote:

General reply;

Mom has done of work to put together a family album for both sides of the family. Most everyone is identified some going back to pre civil war. On one hand it is great, on the other, they are just faces that I didn't know and no back story. The people that would have known are long gone or at the time thought they would be around forever, you know how kids are. The ones I grew up around and knew, that is different.

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That's what my book project was... family tree charts followed by birth announcements and obituaries I tracked down. And photos too, which I've identified. I traveled all over Canada to track my family down and get photos. This was around 1998-2001 when the computer wasn't helpful for getting information. This has since changed and I wonder what else I might learn if I were to work on it again. (But I don't really want to...) I've done family tree projects for a few other people, including my ex husband who had a colourful family history. We went to visit his family to share what we were learning and get copies of documents for the book.

C.

[1grandmashope_1]

I have 2 large boxes of my memories and pictures taken throughout my life. I haven't looked through them in about 4 years. The boxes bring both smiles and tears, but they are my memories. I guess that it is time to go through them and package things for my daughters and granddaughters. 

Thank you for this post. Really. It has reminded me of what is important. 

As an aside,  years ago, my husband and I went through a fire and had to scramble into the car. You know what went in?

Our daughters 🥰

A sewing machine 🙄

My file box🙃

Need I say, I  had one special box at that time, and I didn't even think to put it in the car. Do not even ask me why the sewing machine was important! My husband would tease me about it for years. 

This may be a way for me to move forward on somethings. Thank you.

Grandma