I never cared much for genealogy and never had many special ties to "the old country." And in my case, that was two different old countries. Everyone was pretty happy to get the heck out of Europe. That said, though, numismatics awakened something ineffable. 6 kreutzers (krajczar) 1849. Hungary. For my mother's side of the family. Syracuse, Sicily. Arethusa and cuttlefish. c. 450 BCE. Litra 1.8 grams for my father's side of the family and their side of the island. Speaking of Dad, this would have been current when he was in uniform, stationed in Korea, after the (ahem) armistace.
Geeez Mike ya went and made things difficult ! Ya see, my ancestors on one side had coins, but my ancestors on the other side never had any coins - not ever. Oh well, I guess I can pay half the game. From my mother's side - gold ducat 1730, Germany. Struck to commemorate the bicentennial of the Augsburg Confession.
Having just joined CT I thought this was an interesting subject. One of the tokens it appears was issued by my family in 1846. (assuming I have uploaded the pic correctly!)
