The Inherited Object
Starting at €2,800,00
An object arrives in your hands already full — of the hands that held it before yours, their grip, their intent, their silence. You may know some of the story. You almost certainly don't know all of it.
Every inherited object is dense with history: the decisions that kept it safe, those that nearly lost it, and those that eventually brought it to you. You may know fragments of its provenance — a date, a name, a country — but the deeper narrative is often obscured, passed down in half-sentences rather than a complete record.
We trace the object's journey through time, from one set of hands to the next, each transfer marking a small decision about what was worth preserving. We examine both the verified record and the gaps, treating each with the same integrity. Around the object, the lives of its previous keepers become visible, revealing the weight of a history you are now entrusted to hold.
Choose Your Scope
Origin
For the object with a clear line of descent. A precise account that gives exact form to known history, while honoring the integrity of what remains unknown.
Passage
For the object that has traveled — across borders or through rupture. This edition maps the complex layers of meaning that accumulate when an object outlasts the world that first gave it context.
Tailored
Define your own pagination and interview parameters with your editor. Pricing is adjusted from our starting rates according to the scope agreed.
On Incomplete Provenance
Very few inherited objects arrive with a full paper trail. More often, the history exists only as fragments — a remembered date that may be a year or two off, a name half-recalled, a story told differently by two different relatives. This is the rule, not the exception, and it does not make an object's history any less worth documenting.
Where records exist, we verify them against independent historical sources. Where they don't, we rely on careful, cross-referenced interviews across as many living memories as are available, and we are always explicit in the final text about what is documented fact and what is recollection — so the finished volume is honest about its own certainty, rather than presenting family memory as settled record.
Created For
- Descendants who have inherited an object and recognize that it carries a history larger than they can name.
- Families assembling a definitive archive before the final living memory of an object's true origin fades.
- Anyone who has held an inherited artifact — a ring, a watch, a title deed — and felt the gravity of a life they wish to fully understand.
What Is Delivered
- Private listening sessions conducted to document the exact provenance and original intent behind the object.
- Independent background research and historical verification to contextualize the object's lineage.
- A fully original manuscript that transforms an artifact's history into a definitive narrative record.
- Professional editorial revision to ensure clarity and narrative flow.
- A masterfully bound, heirloom-grade printed volume, accompanied by a complete digital archive.
Commission Details
We begin with a private consultation to discuss your vision and confirm scope. Payment is split into three installments: an initial deposit to begin gathering your story, a mid-point payment before writing begins, and the final balance upon delivery.
As each volume is an entirely bespoke commission, all agreements are treated as final. Our collaborative process — including listening sessions and review cycles — ensures complete alignment before fine production begins. Any rare printing or logistical issue is resolved personally and promptly.
Your heirloom volume is packaged and dispatched via secure, fully insured transit. We serve an international clientele, and all shipping considerations are included in your initial project quotation.