Having these items helps us to feel part of the lives they led I guess, it does for me anyway. Coins are a good one, I've got some of my dad's (deceased) and also his stamp collection which he spent the first third of his life building on. There's some cool stamps in there too. Another thing that will be passed along.

You mention china tea cups. I have some that have bene in my family for well over a hundred years, passed from my nanna (mum's mum) to my own and now me. I suppose quite similar to the ones you have and probably the same era. Sipping tea from them is pretty special, not that it's done a lot, I'm too stressed one will break.