What's The OLDEST Thing In Your House?

[arwalden]

Here... it's a King James bible that's about 90 years old, and some baby photos of my grandmother about 95 years old. A 1945 Kodak box camera and an Underwood typewriter (still works) from 1899 or 1900 (or so.)

-- Allen

[bif]

1. A wall clock from the 1860s

[Phillycat]

2. The house itself.

150 years old.

[tech3149]

3. me?

[mindfulNJ]

4. my husband is!

:-)

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. Some gorgeous

genealogy photos of my great great aunties (in the height of 1890s wear), a piece of my GGgrandfathers union tunic from the civil war, and my Ggrandmother's beautiful Jacobean cedar chest.

FSC

[SemiCharmedQuark]

6. I like to collect and frame old newspapers

So mine would be an original paper from 1865 containing the Emancipation Proclamation.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. A photo of my great-great grandfather in his new gray uniform

Another picture of him after the war, only 10 years later, looks like he aged 40 years.

And his Bible... from 1857.

[Blue-Jay]

8. I have a Hop-along Cassidy lamp.

Apparently, it's a collectors item of sorts.

Aside from that, there's a Cornish game hen in the freezer that was there when I moved in two years ago. I'm still waiting on the carbon dating results.

[johnnie]

9. A book about Edgar Allan Poe from 1892

A few other old books but I don't know the dates. The Poe book is probably the oldest thing in my house.

[Worst Username Ever]

10. Great grandaddy's shotgun

1890

[Ladyhawk]

11. A 1500-year-old Roman coin. n/t

When I hold it, I wonder who struck it and how many hands it passed through to get to mine.

[Guy_Montag]

16. My Grand-dad used to collect coins,

after he died, before they were sold, I looked through them. He had coins from Roman onwards including crusader coins, European, North African & Middle Eastern. As each one passed through my hands I tried to think of who had owned them, lost them, stolen them, borrowed them, killed for them, died for them. Given them to their sons & daughters while lying on their deathbed. What they would have bought with them. It was quite weird.

[Ladyhawk]

38. It would make an interesting premise for a story, don't you think? eom

[SaveElmer]

12. I collect Revolutionary War Artifacts

But the oldest thing I have I think is a 1660's wine bottle excavated from the James River (Virginia) many years ago.

[demnan]

13. A silver dollar from 1895

n/t

[flamingyouth]

14. My 1914 furnace - the oldest appliance

It's been converted to natural gas and still works great.

I have several books from the 1870s.

[arwalden]

17. That Reminds Me (In A Way) I Almost Forgot To Mention...

... that I got one of my great-grandmother's kerosene lamps. It's very plain and utilitarian. I imagine it's over 100 years old, but I've never found out for sure.

It still works, but the gears and clamps are so delicate-looking that I don't give it much use at all. It's on display in the guest room, but the last time I lit it was when the power was out for so long during hurricane Isabel last year.

-- Allen

[skygazer]

15. Old photos and my great great Grandpa's belt buckle

from his Civil War uniform. The oldest of the photos is a daguerrotype from the 1840's or 50's of one of my ancestors.

[EstimatedProphet]

18. I am

unless you count the house itself.

[Kellanved]

19. a few fossil shells

I picked up while hiking in Burgundy.


Man made: I have no idea; a few of the neighbours probably have really old stuff.
I have a few old family photos, an old Goethe Edition (1902), ...

[CatWoman]

20. that "mystery meat" in the fridge

:hi:

[TXlib]

21. Carbonaceous chondrite meteor fragment

probably about 4.55 billion years old.

[MissMillie]

22. the toilet

I think

[Bridget Burke]

23. A chunk of Roman marble--part of a column...

Brought back by an uncle stationed in North Africa in the 50's. It's probably from Leptis Magna.

Yes, I disapprove of carting off ancient ruins. But my uncle has been gone for some time now.

[crimson333]

24. a chunk of the Berlin Wall

[Ron Green]

25. A history of the rulers of England, printed in 1628.

I mean, the latest king in it is, like, James or someone.

[sdfernando]

26. Dinning room ensemble

A circa 1900s Spanish Revival dinning room ensemble. Solid walnut, table w/2 leaves, six chairs, and matching side board. Really quite beautiful.

[Zero Gravitas]

27. A book

printed in 1614

[Misunderestimator]

28. A 17th century dining table and chairs from France...

...that was handed down through my family. I have bunches of other antiques (gotten for bargains at antique auctions in upstate NY) from the early 19th c., but the table's the oldest by far.

[SheilaT]

29. A mirror and hairbrush

that used to belong to my mother's mother. It's at least a hundred years old.

Oh! I also have a photo of my father's mother that's about 120 years old.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

30. Lame -- some books from the late 30's or early 40's. Technical, mostly.

[DemoTex]

31. A painting of "Canis Major" from 1605.

The painting is called Canicula, which is the Latin name for the alpha-star of Canis Major, the dog star (Sirius in Greek). To put it in perspective, Shakespeare is thought to have written Macbeth in 1605.

[FunBobbyMucha]

32. An original McGuffey Reader Primer.

No idea how old.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. A Devonian fossil fish

409-363 million years ago.

[DS1]

34. The tree that's holding it up. No, really.

:7

[Quahog]

35. A Javanese keris

It's a dagger with a serpentine blade, forged from meteorite and the blood of the warrior for whom it was made. The handle and sheath are relatively new, but the blade has been dated between 250-300 years old.

[medeak]

36. russian madonna painting

by French painter...was a fad to have French painters in Russia for a while....was hidden under house for 100 years...dates back to late 1700's

smuggled out of Russia...a treasure to me. First thing I look for after a trip away. Feel terrible responsibility to be caretaker of it.

edited...no..oldest thing is pottery my kids dived and found in mediterranean...def time of christ

[BiggJawn]

37. Victor Red Seal from 1908.

Some from 1910, 1916, 1909....the "Marconi-Victor course in Radio-Telegraphy" from 1916, My grandmother's high school grad pix from 1921...

[bigwillq]

39. Not too old but a light bulb in our foyer light

It's the same bulb that my parents put in it when they bought the house 28 years ago.

[miss_kitty]

40. I have a Native American basket of an undetermined age;

some jewelry, a 5 foot long solid Tennessee red cedar chest, and some letters to an ancestor dating from 1860 to 1893. Oh and a lacquered chinoiserie style stand made in England in the 1860s

[neebob]

41. I have some rocks

Otherwise, my great grandmother's engagement ring (1910ish) and me (44).

[newsguyatl]

42. i'm told my bed

was made in the late 1800's.

glad it's had time to see some action before its present owner. :shrug:

[greatauntoftriplets]

43. My mother????

:shrug:

She will be 93 in January. House is the same age. I have some things that are older than that.