I'm afraid that a few things that were my mom or dad's will probably be given away to strangers or to the junkyard......because the kids really do not want a lot of stuff.....can't blame them....
I find the same attitude with my nieces and nephew. I had two very valuable oriental rugs in perfect condition and offered them to a niece and husband. Finally told them that I could sell the rugs for $10k which finally got them to come get them.
All of the "valuable" treasures it took my parents a lifetime to collect were marked for sell at a reasonable price but well below what was originally paid.
I recall how sad it was to come back to my folk's house after the estate sell. The rooms were bare as were the walls.
The home I grew up in was no longer my home....it was just a building that I would soon be selling to someone.
It is a poignant reminder that we brought nothing into this world and we will not take anything with us from this world.
Having recently downsized to an over-55 condo community, my wife and I have had the same experience. Our children took a few pieces of newer furniture we had in our house but wanted nothing in the way of relics or other items passed down. We got rid of pretty much everything because to tell you the truth, we didn't want all that stuff ourselves.
I also got rid of my extensive record/CD collection - now that everybody can stream any music on demand, no need to have that taking up space. Thanks to e-books, my library is scaled down to just a few bookcases in my new study. Our TV is now a flatscreen mounted on the living room wall with a few wireless speakers around the place to send music to.
Went from a 4,000 sq ft home to a 1,900 sq ft condo and it actually seems bigger in my new place because we took virtually nothing with us.
The best thing about moving to a new house is getting rid of all the crap.
Although I still think we have too much crap, but the wife disagrees.