Exciting Finds in the Antique Cabinet 🍂

     Well, we finally finished going through my Dad's antique cabinet in his basement. I'm happy to report nothing fell about when we opened the doors. But let me tell you, I was scared. As you can see in the photo, it was filled to the brim, ready to just burst out. My daughter likened it to a game of Jenga. 

    I don't know how long Dad had been collecting these pieces, but I do remember as a kid looking at this cabinet dying to go through it. Yes, even as a kid I viewed this as a treasure hunt. So to be able to go through this was something I'd been waiting to do for 30 years or so. I just wish Dad could have been here to go through it with me. I'd asked him multiple times about this cabinet and the significance of the items inside, but he just said, Oh it's just stuff I collected over the years.
    Well, after going through it, I can say some of it is not "just stuff". I found a few interesting and exciting items buried deep in this cabinet that I REALLY wish I could talk to Dad about. And a few items that I was just so happy to find. So I wanted to share a few of these items with you. While they may not be of any monetary value, they have significant value to me.

This is a clipping of a newspaper article sent in by Aunt Patty
George is my grandpa

This little picture appears to be a birthday gift from Clemantine to Anna.

It's possible this was from Great Great Aunt Clemmie Strawhun to my Grandma Ann Fuchs, but that's unconfirmed at the moment. 

This I was most excited to find!

This is my Papa Fuchs taken during WWII in Ventura, California

Coral Court Motel Matchbook

My dad lived at the Coral Court Motel for a time

    Now obviously these are just a couple items out of hundreds of items I looked through. There were a ton of collectible Beer Bottles, some coffee tins, old beer cans, soda bottles, kitchen items, and some other odds and ends. I found a couple things that made me smile, some that made me laugh, but also others that made me sad. It was like opening up a treasure chest of items that my dad considered special. There were some items that I made in school growing up, some gifts from people, and lots of sports memorabilia like posters, scorecards, schedules, etc. I still wish I could have done this with dad, but that's not the case. 

    I don't plan on keeping everything, but I do hope to share items with family if they will have them. I will have to sit down with some of my dad's siblings and ask them about some things. I'm not a huge antique collector so I know nothing about a lot of these. I just know that dad kept a lot of these for a reason. I just wish I knew what that was. 

So have you gone through antiques that belonged to your family? What did you find? What meant the most to you? Let me know in the comments.