My Adopted Ancestors

My biggest pet peeve is when people dispose or sell heirlooms. I personally don't have any heirlooms in my family because they were either stolen & hidden away or people were just plain ol' unsentimental. I have lost family over asking for copies of photos of my mother who I lost in childhood or even my own baby photos- it's sore sensitive subject to me. It would of meant the world to have something that was a grandparents or older so I cannot understand why some people simply sell these items or get rid of them. Photographs in the old days were so precious to them even then and it breaks my heart that their future family may have not felt the same. To be fair, in reality they could of been lost and found in the shuffle by strangers. What pulls on my heartstrings the most are the children photos because so many had short lives and that photo may be the only thing those parents had. A huge part of Victorian culture is Memento Mori , mourning fashion, jewelry , art and keepsakes. Most people would think it's morbid but if you think of how much effort & love that went into expressing their grief for their beloved- it's quiet beautiful.  PMs ( Post Mortem) Photographs are fairly common for that time and they are collectible hence making the expensive at time. I didn't even know normal original Victorian photos were accessible, purchasable or even existed like they do until I across I saw Victorian lovers like myself cooing over PM photos for sale. I don't think I would seek them out personally but if I found out I would buy it if reasonable just because I feel it needs to be cherished in honor of the family who originally owned it because it obviously meant a great deal to them. Okay so the whole Memento Mori / PM photographs is a huge subject that is going off track for the purpose of this post but wanted to touch on how this fascination began. Rewind about 7 months ago I was strolling through my local antique/flea mall and saw a lil box with card photos. I found Victorian cabinet cards & original photos! I was probably holding onto my chest with the amount of excitement I felt and I believe I spent $50 on photos that were probably $1-$3 a piece.

The start of my collection, I lost count how many I have now.

I feel primary drawn to ladies and children ( sorry you boring ol' fellas!) I had a couple more times I couldn't stop myself from buying a stack of photos thinking " I have to adopt them!I have to save them because there is no family to honor these precious snapshots of time of their ancestors" Part of me gets sad that they are not related to me but in protecting these keepsakes as my own, there is this sense love- these are in some way part of my family now, I need them like they needed me to honor them. Then I discovered there are entire photo albums for sale, I don't know if my heart is sinking in sadness for them or jumping for joy that I have a chance to " save" them too. Actual  Victorian photo albums are a work of art,  gorgeous ornate covers, brass latches , stands to hold them in display even the photo insert pages are pretty decorative. A filled albums from what I seen normally fetches $200-$300. Last night I found one on EBay, no auction but a Buy It Now for $35- you better believe I own it now! It wasn't in perfect condition but I love overlooked imperfect items so no loss to me. Green velvet damask like pattern cover with brass ornamentation with about half of it missing but pretty feature regardless and 17 portraits , there was only 5 shown but very unique nice ones so I am really anxious about seeing the ones not shown. A really odd unique feature I never heard of before was it has a (nonworking) music box built into the album. Just an incredible unexpected find I am so grateful I snagged but there are still soooo many online that are tempting to go on a auction frenzy for but trying to have some will power.

Imperfectly Perfect for me

Man, wonder if there is any chance the music box is rehabable? 

How amazing are those 2 babies on the right?