What is the oldest thing you own?
Asked by
downtide (
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October 7th, 2010
(Not including your house). How old is it? Is it an antique? How did you come to own it? Does it still get used?
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52 Answers
My grandmother’s sterling silver flatware (Circa 1900) still gets used on occasion. I know there’s other stuff around here, but that’s the first that comes to mind. (It’s a bitch to clean, but very pretty!)
A tiny wee model plane. It was made by my Grandad during the second world war. Fashioned from bullet casings too. Treasured, I shall most likely pass it on to my kids when the time comes. Should be a long time coming yet…..touch wood!
I have a picture of my grandmother from when she was five years old. It’s almost eighty years old. I keep it in my room and have to get it properly framed. It’s a weird size and it didn’t come in a frame.
@JilltheTooth: What about your grandfather’s old footlocker that he took to WWI?
@KatawaGrey ; It’s younger than the silver, but still very cool! Thanks for reminding me!
@JilltheTooth: Is it really? Wow! That’s some old silver! And you trusted me and Chris to clean it. :P
I have a couple of arrow heads that, judging from the design, date to the Paleo period 14,000 years ago to 9,000 years ago.
The chest of drawers that came over from Germany with my Great(x4)Grandmother in the 1840’s
The oldest thing that I own that I won’t have once it’s used as intended, is a 1797 coin.
The oldest thing I have that it isn’t really used in a utilitarian sense, is a photo of me that was taken in 1947.
The oldest thing that I own that I still use is a 1950 (I think) gas stove.
The oldest thing I have that isn’t human-made, is a crystalline rock that could be about a billion years old.
An orange Syracuse University shirt that seems like it dates back to @YoBob‘s arrow head time frame. No, but seriously, this thing is from the 70’s or something.
Not counting the various gems, minerals, and rocks in my collection, I have a few fossilized vertebrae from a Meiocine (I think?) era ancestor of the crocodile.
Out of my man made objects, I have a brick from the city of Pompeii, a book or two from the 18th century, and so on. I have a massive antique collection, and it’s hard to say what is oldest.
I’m pretty sure its the 1863 Bible I bought off eBay. I brought it with me to the Sunday morning church tent meetings while I was a Civil War Re-enactor.
…not counting rocks. ^_^
I have some books over a hundred years old.
I don’t have anything much older than my baseball glove I had when I was a child. I had a massive baseball card collection back than as well, but my mother threw it out when I went off to college.
@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard
“I have a brick from the city of Pompeii”
That’s awesome!
Damn! I was in Pompeii about 40 years ago. Unfortunately I had zero interest in history then, so I didn’t think to bring a hammer and chisel with me. :-p
The elements that make up my body.
I have a few coins that have Julius Caesars name on them. They are not exactly rounding but shaped similar to round. My wife was a client manager for a firm and one her clients gave these to her and she gave them to me because I collect coins.
A pair of underwear. I could write an entire history book about the multitude of holes, stains, and other foul substances that are displayed throughout.
Any of several family antiques from the 1820s
unless it is a small Equadorian sculpture,
one of several I bought from my car air-conditioning serviceman when i was in my 20s. They were rattling away on a velour rug with the images of JFK, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King that was covering an old window air-conditioner in his office waiting area. I was reading my art history 101 Janson’s History of Art and he looked at me looking at the Venus of Willendorf, and said, “Do you like art?” He gestured to the small clay sculptures and said that his brother brought them over via diplomatic pouch. He offered me the bunch for about $100. I bought them and took them to a friend at the Smithsonian who said they might be very old but refused to state that. Instead he scolded me harshly for trafficking. [he was usually a lot of fun and told great long shaggy pun stories]. So I kept one and sold the other 4 to friends for about $20 each. Who knows?
An early teens phonograph.
I have a two volume set of Tennyson’s poetry that appears to be from 1898. These were a gift from my first girlfriend because I really love the poem ‘The Lady of Shalott” and I also love old stuff. One of the best gifts I’ve ever received.
I also have a nice lump of WV coal that I want to get cleaned up and put in a little plastic case.
Several coins from early 1700’s. Gave away a couple of coins from 350 AD.
A framed beveled mirror over 175 years old and the mirror is in perfect shape!! It is my prized piece my ancestors brought here with them from the old world.
I have a complete works of Shakespeare from the late 19th century (it’s packed away for my move so I can’t check it’s actual date)... and a 5 volume 2nd Edition Groves Music Dictionary, which I believe got to almost 30 volumes before they stopped printing it and made it digital a few years back.
Having those things above I still think my wife may be the oldest thing that I own. LOL Ha no respect.
@MissAnthrope I gave the same sort of thing to a dear friend of mine once, for the same reason. It was a late-1800s volume of Tennyson’s work. Only one volume, though. It was one of the most fun gifts to find. The two months between coming across the book at the used book shop and her birthday were nearly intolerable. ^_^
my old truck. 1965 Ford F-100. Still runs great although it is now on reserve status since getting a newer truck this year. I have owned it since 1984 ,second owner.
edit. oops I just remembered my old Mosin Nagant 91/30 rifle made in 1936 in Tula, Russia
The oldest tool/appliance would be a pair of vanity table lamps from the 1920’s. They’ve had their electrical cords changed somewhere along the line before the 1970’s but they’ve been in our use since then.
The oldest non tool/appliance things I own and use are a pair of stamped copper bracelets that were originally bought for a great aunts wedding anniversary in the 1920’s. She gave them to my while she was still alive and I’ve treasured them and worn them frequently as favorites since the 1980’s.
An engagement ring that a distance cousin of mine gave to his girlfriend before going to fight in WW2 (I’m not sure if he bought it new or if he got it from someone else in the family). He became a POW (was never found) and his fiance gave the ring back to his mom. It has been in our family since then. My mom got it when she was 16 and she passed it on to me when I was 16.
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I have my grandfather’s medal from 1867— orangemen? fenian? I am ashamed that I don’t know the history.
I have a pair of brass candlesticks, dating from around 1860, so they’re about 150 years old. They were a Christmas gift from friends one year, and they do occasionally still get used (on the rare occasions I use candles).
I have a piece of obsidian that is probably millions of years old, made into a knife blade for me.
I have a very old library desk make by the Abernathy Furniture company in the 1940’s and purchased for the school library in Montrose, Colorado. My Uncle was the principal of the school when it was torn down and replaced by a new building, and eventually the desk came into my possession.
I have jewelry I inherited from my grandmother that is pretty old.I do wear some occasionally.A few pieces of furniture,my mother’s piano that gets played when my sister stops over and my car is 45 years old.My favorite though is a black and turquoise silk dress from Japan that my mom once owned.That I do like to wear very much :)
I forgot to mention my dressers and dining room furniture- from the 1890’s – a neighbor in the farming community had brought them with her from the States and sold them to my parents in 1945.
A four-foot tall pendulum clock that belonged to my grandparents in Russia. Dates back to the 1889s or 1890s and still keeps good time.
I think a pair of hiking boots, that i still wear and are in almost perfect condition….? Or maybe some little ornament or toys from childhood that i haven’t wanted to throw away. Nothing interesting, i have no antiques.
I have a football jersey that I got when I was 15, and still wear sometimes. I am now 46…..........
I’ve no idea how old this bed is…it’s my grandson’s bedroom when he visits me. All this stuff was bought at yard sales, estate sales, etc. Pretty neat room.
http://i51.tinypic.com/dggfmw.jpg
Also, bought this desk and chair at an estate sale. Paid 75 bucks for it. Anyone have any idea how old this is?
http://i54.tinypic.com/s4163r.jpg
@BoBo1946 What a gorgoeus room for your grandson! Very magical!
@BoBo1946: My guess on the desk and chairs is late 30’s to mid 40’s provencial style. Yours look nice quality :)
@harple thank you….for the money that was spent…not much, it turned out good. My ex is/was the creative one. Most of that is her doing.
@Neizvestnaya okay…we bought it at an estate sale and they had no idea. Thank you for the info.
The carbon atoms in my body. They were manufactured more than 6 billion years ago.
I have a small piece of limestone I grabbed off The Great Pyramid, and it looks like it could have been apart of outside when it was smooth. I also have a piece of The Colosseum.
I have a tin cup from the 1800’s that belonged to my grandfather. It was passed down to him. It looks like this, but it’s very aged. It was very special to him.
A doll that I bought at a garage sale. The owners found it in the attic of the house which is over a hundred years old. The owner collects dolls and estimated that it was about the same age as the house.
She sits in a glassed in case with my other dolls.
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