Memento
I can't let go of the small antique frame with a work of art made of real hair.
It gives me food for thought...
I bought it because I liked it and I also know that it was a memento of a loved one who passed away.
That's what people used to do, to have the hair of the deceased processed into a beautiful work of art. A beautiful keepsake, subtle and so close...
Only when I get it home will I take a good look at it, just like my other treasures.
And then I see behind the convex glass in beautiful handwriting that they are the hairs of a six-month-old baby from 1873. And that touches me. What sadness this must have brought. I imagine how someone (usually a nun in a monastery) made this with a lot of love for the parents for whom the music of life was no longer audible. They will have so cherished this frame with their child's hair.
But then a family dies out or relatives no longer attach value to a memento because it means nothing to them. And then all value is lost, it is thrown away or disappears into an attic and perhaps eventually traded
This came to me through an antique dealer, not as a souvenir of course. But beyond a product to sell, I attach value to it. A value that cannot be expressed in money, but a value that comes from within, an inner value.
The sadness that was attached to it is long gone and I only cherish the beauty.
I once didn't understand how a memento could just end up on the 'street'.
But will our children still cherish my grandmother's sewing scissors and thimble and see them as a keepsake? From an old grandmother they don't remember?
And the paintings of mom and dad that hung in the living room when I was little? Where I made up beautiful stories as a child? If it's not their style, they will definitely move elsewhere.
One day all our stuff will be forgotten. And because that's how it works, we have the opportunity to buy and sell so many beautiful antique and antique products, which gives it a different dimension. So often it is about something that was once someone's memento. And it is precisely that mystery that often makes it even more unique.
But such a hairpiece remains very special, as a souvenir it goes further than a photo, so much more tangible
It gives me food for thought...
I bought it because I liked it and I also know that it was a memento of a loved one who passed away.
That's what people used to do, to have the hair of the deceased processed into a beautiful work of art. A beautiful keepsake, subtle and so close...
Only when I get it home will I take a good look at it, just like my other treasures.
And then I see behind the convex glass in beautiful handwriting that they are the hairs of a six-month-old baby from 1873. And that touches me. What sadness this must have brought. I imagine how someone (usually a nun in a monastery) made this with a lot of love for the parents for whom the music of life was no longer audible. They will have so cherished this frame with their child's hair.
But then a family dies out or relatives no longer attach value to a memento because it means nothing to them. And then all value is lost, it is thrown away or disappears into an attic and perhaps eventually traded
This came to me through an antique dealer, not as a souvenir of course. But beyond a product to sell, I attach value to it. A value that cannot be expressed in money, but a value that comes from within, an inner value.
The sadness that was attached to it is long gone and I only cherish the beauty.
I once didn't understand how a memento could just end up on the 'street'.
But will our children still cherish my grandmother's sewing scissors and thimble and see them as a keepsake? From an old grandmother they don't remember?
And the paintings of mom and dad that hung in the living room when I was little? Where I made up beautiful stories as a child? If it's not their style, they will definitely move elsewhere.
One day all our stuff will be forgotten. And because that's how it works, we have the opportunity to buy and sell so many beautiful antique and antique products, which gives it a different dimension. So often it is about something that was once someone's memento. And it is precisely that mystery that often makes it even more unique.
But such a hairpiece remains very special, as a souvenir it goes further than a photo, so much more tangible