My necklace. By Héléna B.

I’m not a materialistic person, so I’m not attached to objects even if they do remind me of my various trips. Furthermore, I don’t, because of family history, have something I could call a family heirloom as such… But, I do have a particular attachment to my necklace.

It is made up of three pendants:

The first one on the left is a medallion showing Saint Anne. It reminds me of a period of my life. It was a difficult period but I was happy nonetheless. So, a mix of emotions.

The second one in the middle is a triangle with, in its centre, a Celtic symbol. The triangle is a symbol of my beliefs, and I wear a Celtic symbol because I’m fond of Cernunnos, the Celtic God (I bought it in Ireland and it was supposed to be made of silver but actually it is not, so I got "ripped off” but I don’t mind).

The last, but not the least important, on the right, is a spiral. You can see this spiral drawn in most prehistoric caves but, for me, it just represents life, like the spiral of life.

It isn’t a heritage object as such, but it’s a necklace that I wear every day, even when I sleep, so it means a lot to me. I won’t give it to one of my children but I will buy a necklace with a triangle for each of them as my parents did for my brothers, my sister and me. So, it won’t become a heritage object, but a family custom!

My Dad's stamp collection. By Yann M.

My father was a philatelist; he collected stamps as a hobby. He collected more than 600 stamps mostly from Europe, because he travelled a lot throughout Europe. He managed to collect many of his stamps by swapping with other philatelists or by buying them in foreign countries.

I think stamp collecting was a really popular hobby when my dad was young.
He began when he was a kid and stopped when he was about 25.

He gave me his stamp albums to show me that it is important to persevere: his collection needed travel, time, patience and a lot of motivation.

My collection of microfossils. By Raphaël W.

My great-grandfather was an amateur paleontologist. I inherited his collection of microfossils. One of these microfossils is a new species discovered by him and to which he gave his name.

I only met my great-grandfather when I was a baby and I don’t know a lot about him. When I asked my father about him, he seemed happy to talk to me about his grandfather. The collection of fossils reminds my father of his ancestor and it is a link to my own past.

Pocket watch and lace spindle. By Thomas P.

Two objects are very important to me and my family.

The first one is an old pocket watch. It belonged to my great-great-grandfather who was called Louis Sénégas. He was born in 1878 and died in 1934 at the age of 56. He was a bus driver and, in fact, this watch belonged to his father who gave it to him for his 18^th birthday. This object is so old that the chain and the top are missing.

The second object is a lace spindle that belonged to my great-great-grand-mother, Marie. She was born in 1901 and died in 1934 at the age of 34 during childbirth. At this time, women started to sew and make lace at the age of five. My family still has some of her lace creations (like the gift to my great-grand-mother Alice, with her initials embroidered on it).

These objects are very important for my family because they represent our origins.

My quarter dollar collection. By Camille G.

The 50 quarter dollars (in red, the ones I own)

I have chosen to show you my American quarter dollar collection. I started it this summer so it's still quite a small one!

The 50 State Quarters Program was the release of a series of commemorative coins that feature unique designs for each of the 50 states on the reverse (back) face of the quarter coin, from 1999 through 2008. This program was to encourage a new generation of coin collectors. And it became the most successful numismatic (that means the collection or study of currency) program in history. In fact, half of the US population collected the coins! The U.S. Federal Government actually made profit from the collectors taking the coins out of circulation.

The quarters were realized by the US State Mint (the producer of coins in the United States) every five or ten weeks over a year, in the same order that the States signed the Constitution.

Each quarter commemorates one of the 50 states with a design representing the history, traditions, and symbols of each state.

I have six of them right now: Massachusetts, Iowa, Texas, New York, Georgia and Missouri.

To take an example: on the Georgia coin, there is at the top of it the name of the state in capital letters and right below there is the statehood date. In the middle, there is the shape of the state, a peach, and oak sprigs because it is the state tree. And there is a banner with the state motto: "Wisdom, Justice, Moderation". So, each element of the design symbolizes an aspect of the state by representing the symbols of its history and traditions. At the bottom, there is the motto of the United States ("Out of many, one") and the date of the coin’s issue. It's exactly the same design for the other ones.

I found a website where you can buy the quarter dollars, each costs about $3.49: http://www.dollardealwholesale.com/State-Quarter-1999-2008-P-Philadelphia-Brilliant-Uncirculated-Choose-Your-Quarter-_p_160.html