Ida is 74 years old. She collects Avon dolls. And she has already decided which granddaughter will inherit them.

Not because the dolls remind her of happy times. Not because they bring her pleasure. She plans to pass them down because, as she told researchers, they are “collector’s items, they are beautiful and they are a symbol of my hard work.”

Ida’s instinct, it turns out, is not random. It is a pattern so consistent that researchers Daniel Grossman and Ryan Rahinel spent four studies and 448 participants trying to understand it. Their finding, published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology, upends what most of us assume about why certain objects become heirlooms.

The common belief: we pass down things that made us happy so our memory lives on.

The research finding: we pass down things tied to our achievements because we want the next generation to achieve, too. Our memory is secondary. Their motivation is the point.

The Hypothesis That Failed

Grossman and Rahinel called it the “Personal Legacy Hypothesis.” It seemed obvious enough. People want to be remembered after they die. Objects carry memories. Therefore, cherished objects become heirlooms because they preserve the giver’s memory.

The data said otherwise.

When the researchers ran mediation analysis on 211 adults with children, the Personal Legacy pathway showed no significant effect (F(1, 211) = 2.64, p = .106). People were not choosing heirloom gifts to be remembered. Something else was driving the decision.

What Actually Drives Heirloom Creation

The alternative pathway lit up. When participants selected objects tied to personal achievements, their stated motivation was “Encouragement to Achieve,” the desire to inspire their children and grandchildren to strive, accomplish, and build their own legacies.

The researchers put it this way:

“Heirloom creation here appears to be less of a byproduct of one’s attempt to facilitate the memory of one’s personal legacy, but more so a function of the creator’s attempt to leverage their achievements to motivate the creation of a larger, collective legacy by their families.”

The gift that becomes an heirloom is not saying “remember me.”

It is saying “you can do this too.”

Testing the Theory: From Surveys to Experiments

The research team did not rely on a single data point. They built their case across four distinct studies, each designed to address a different skeptical objection.

Study 1 asked 48 adults who had actually received heirlooms to describe the stories behind them. Achievement associations (M = 4.88) scored significantly higher than enjoyment associations (M = 4.36), t(47) = 2.19, p = .034. Real heirlooms, in the real world, already carried achievement narratives.

Study 2 flipped the perspective. Instead of recipients, 129 adults described their own cherished possessions and rated how likely they were to pass each one down. Achievement associations predicted heirloom likelihood (b = .25, t = 2.81, p = .006). Enjoyment associations did not (b = .07, t = .80, p = .424).

Study 3 controlled for everything else. Sixty adults over 55 were shown the same object, a set of high-quality kitchen knives, but with different backstories. One group heard the knives were connected to a time of great accomplishment. The other heard they were connected to a time of great enjoyment.

Same knives. Same positive feelings. Same sentimental value.

The achievement group rated heirloom likelihood at 5.92 out of 7. The enjoyment group rated it at 5.00. The difference was significant (p = .027).

Study 4 found the boundary. When 211 participants were asked about “daily use gifts” instead of heirlooms, the achievement advantage disappeared. The effect only emerged when the gift was explicitly framed as something to pass down through generations.

The Stories That Get Passed Down

Beyond the statistics, the researchers analyzed 88 interview excerpts from previous heirloom studies. The patterns were striking.

Of 30 excerpts with achievement associations, 16 (53%) described items the owner planned to pass down. Of 24 excerpts with enjoyment associations, only 5 (21%) mentioned inheritance plans.

John, 48, wears his great-great-grandfather’s ring from the California Gold Rush. “Every time I look at the ring I appreciate it more,” he said, “because I know what he had to go through, walking all the way to California to pursue a dream.”

Bhikhubhai treasures a grandfather clock bought when he first got a job in America. The clock symbolizes, as the researchers note, “the movement of his family from lower-middle-class to upper-middle-class status.”

These are not stories of pleasure. They are stories of striving.

What This Means for Gift Selection

At SleekNova, we score every gift across four dimensions. MOMENT (25%) measures whether we can envision the gift scene: the unwrapping, the first use, the story told years later.

Grossman and Rahinel’s research reframes what “years later” actually means. The gifts with the longest MOMENT are not the ones that brought the most immediate joy. They are the ones that carry achievement associations, objects that whisper “I did something meaningful with my life, and you can too.”

This does not mean achievement-adjacent gifts are always better. The research found a clear boundary: the effect only applies to heirloom-caliber gifts, objects intended to be passed through generations. For everyday presents, enjoyment associations work fine.

But when you are selecting a gift meant to last, meant to be kept and eventually given again, the research suggests a counterintuitive strategy. Do not optimize for their immediate pleasure.

Optimize for the story they will tell their own children.

Objects That Carry Achievement Forward

Some gifts arrive pre-loaded with multi-generational achievement narratives. The maker’s story becomes part of the recipient’s story.

The Carl Auböck Brass Egg ($245, MOMENT: 8.0) is cast from molds Carl Auböck II created in the 1950s after training at the Bauhaus. The Vienna workshop has operated since 1906, five generations of metalworkers. Seven of their pieces sit in MoMA’s permanent collection. When you give this egg, you are not giving a paperweight. You are giving a tangible link to a century of creative achievement.

The Jacob Bromwell Model One Flask ($125, MOMENT: 9.0) has not changed its design in 207 years. The company was founded in 1819 by a War of 1812 veteran who floated down the Ohio River on a flatboat with wire looms. HiConsumption named it “Best Heirloom-Grade EDC Flask.” Five artisan hands touch each one before it ships.

The Caran d’Ache Metal Sharpener ($209, MOMENT: 8.0) has remained unchanged since 1933. Switzerland’s last remaining writing instrument manufacturer made a sharpener so complete that, as their own website acknowledges, “fanatical pencil-sharpener collectors (yes, they exist!)” hunt for vintage models. The design has not changed in nine decades because there was nothing left to improve.

The Makers Cabinet Høvel Pencil Plane ($99, MOMENT: 8.0) was created by three Central Saint Martins design students who asked: what if sharpening a pencil felt like an act of craft? The brass body develops a patina unique to its owner. This is not for everyone. It is for the person who notices.

The Suwada Japanese Nail Clipper ($98, MOMENT: 8.0) comes from Sanjo City, a region that has produced blacksmiths for over 400 years. The same workshops that forged samurai swords now forge nail clippers. Craftsmen train for years before they are allowed to work on the blades. Suwada offers lifetime resharpening. A Japanese reviewer sent theirs back after nine years. It returned with the edge restored.

Lab Note

A few caveats on this research.

The studies focused predominantly on American and Canadian adults. Studies 3 and 4 specifically recruited participants over 55 with children, a demographic particularly primed to think about legacy. The research does not address whether recipients of achievement-laden heirlooms actually achieve more. It addresses motivation, not outcomes.

The taxonomy also focuses narrowly on event-based associations (times of accomplishment vs. times of enjoyment) rather than relationship-based associations. A gift from your late grandmother carries meaning regardless of what it represents about her career.

Finally, these were survey and scenario-based studies. Real-world heirloom decisions unfold over decades, not in laboratory conditions.

What the research establishes clearly: when people think about which possessions to pass down, achievement beats enjoyment. Not because we want to be remembered.

Because we want to inspire.

Citation: Grossman, D. M., & Rahinel, R. (2022). Achievement-Based Sentimental Value as a Catalyst for Heirloom Gift-Giving. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 32(1), 41-56. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcpy.1235

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