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arwalden Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:38 AM
Original message
What's The OLDEST Item In Your House?
Specifically... NOT including people or the house itself... what's the oldest thing you own?

My oldest item is a 1900 Underwood typewriter that looks like this one:
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nini Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:39 AM
Response to Original message
1. a crucifix - circa 1850 from Portugal
It was my great-grandmothers. One of the arms is broken off but I still have it up on the wall in her honor.
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underpants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
2. Probably my wife's grandmother's dresser
we repainted it and are using it as a our coming baby's dresser/changing table.
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Magrittes Pipe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
3. dolo amber
*ducks*
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Beware the Beast Man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:41 AM
Response to Reply #3
6. ahem.
:rofl:
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arwalden Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:54 AM
Response to Reply #6
21. .
Edited on Tue Jun-28-05 10:55 AM by arwalden
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arwalden Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:55 AM
Response to Reply #3
23. Sorry... Your Response Must Be In The Form Of A Question.
... and the clue specifically stated "NOT including people or the house itself"...
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Dogmudgeon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:58 AM
Response to Reply #23
27. Hey, Trebeck ...
... that's what your Mother said last night.

--p!
Not in the R's, either.
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Magrittes Pipe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:59 AM
Response to Reply #23
28. What are dolo amber's bones?
:shrug:
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arwalden Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:50 AM
Response to Reply #28
44. Well Done!
:hi:
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benburch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:40 AM
Response to Original message
4. Some Mastadon Ivory jewelry...
Well, at least the ivory is 10,000+ years old. It was made into jewelry much more recently.
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Scout1071 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:41 AM
Response to Original message
5. A painting my great-grandparents picked up on a trip through "The Orient"
back in the 1920's.
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:41 AM
Response to Original message
7. I have an atlas that is pre-WWI and
a copy of Audobon Bird Prints from 1910
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ScreamingMeemie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
8. A set of 1856 People's Cyclopedias.
:hi:
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mike_c Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
9. I have some confederate bills around somewhere....
Edited on Tue Jun-28-05 10:44 AM by mike_c
Otherwise, a buncha early twentieth-century-ish furniture. Oh, some books published in the late nineteenth century. But I think the Confederate money is probably the oldest.

on edit: sheesh-- benburch's reply reminded me that I've got several fossils, too.
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Hugin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
10. Hmm... Hard to say.
Probably some dirty laundry.

LOL!
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Lilyhoney Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:43 AM
Response to Original message
11. Some books from the 1800's
We have a few dozen really old books like Fern Leaves and the like.
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Flavin Donating Member (107 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:43 AM
Response to Original message
12. A pair of early 1800's slave shackles,
used by my Inner-City Social Studies/History teaching spouse as a teaching aid.
Also the original paperwork from the 1840s where her Itallian great-something or another grandfather arrived in the US.
And lastly a Teacher's Textbook from the 1820's.

Flavin
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trackfan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:45 AM
Response to Original message
13. A book of excerpts from Livy, from the mid-1800s
may be the oldest. We also have some very old photographs, and

some Civil War and Gettysburg address memorabilia.
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El Fuego Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:48 AM
Response to Original message
14. 2,000 year old Roman coin
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Hugin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:50 AM
Response to Reply #14
15. Is that your pension fund?
Sorta like in Ohio?
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El Fuego Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:51 AM
Response to Reply #15
18. LOL!
Ancient Roman currency = bad investment.
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El Fuego Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:50 AM
Response to Reply #14
16. My trilobite fossil
Could be 600 million years old.
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Hugin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:57 AM
Response to Reply #16
25. That's pretty cool.
Did you find it yourself?
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demnan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:50 AM
Response to Original message
17. I have a silver dollar
from 1873.
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barb162 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:52 AM
Response to Original message
19. some books , 1800s
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sui generis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:54 AM
Response to Original message
20. groovy stuff
collection of Roman coins 2300-ish years old
Spanish oil lamp 1200 years (moorish design)
Proto-cello 440 years old (Castagneri)
Maps of Portugal & Germany from late 1400's
Aztec funerary jewelry - about 800 years old
oil paintings of the 5x, 4x, 3x, 2x great greats plus some people I have no idea who they are.
most of the accessories they're wearing in the paintings

Lots & lots & lots of stuff under a thousand and more than two hundred. Even my piano turns 100 this year (Leipzig Blüthner).

eh, what's that you say sonny?
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Texasgal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:39 AM
Response to Reply #20
41. I have a 100 year old piano too!
Does yours play? :)
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sui generis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:02 PM
Response to Reply #41
47. definitely
it's a chamber grand - only one of seven ever made by the Bluthner company. It's a full size grand piano but made for small ensemble and salon performance, with a very "sweet" sound and bell clear upper range. It uses a special "Vienna" key action that lets one play very very fast; great for Bach, Chopin, moody introspective pieces - compared to a Steinway which has more power and brightness but makes you work a lot harder on some pieces. It's also a great solo, accompaniment, trio and quintette piano but doesn't have the power and brassiness to balance a large orchestral ensemble as a concerto instrument.
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Texasgal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #47
50. It sounds like you play?
Do you teach lessons?

I inherited the piano from my dearly departed Grandmother who was a professional pianist. She played weddings, funerals and lots of political events at the the state capitol back in the day.

The piano is beautiful and I would love to learn to play....
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sui generis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #50
56. definitely play -
but don't have time to teach - sorry. Actually my main instrument is cello & studied both at Juilliard for 2 years but burned out on music as a profession.

It's a great hobby though - keeps me sane, and I still get roped into impromptu recitals all the time.
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Texasgal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 01:08 PM
Response to Reply #56
57. Damn...
It would be REALLY cool had I had a fellow DU'er come and teach me... as opposed to some ol' batty wingnut!

Oh well.... :P
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ewagner Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:55 AM
Response to Original message
22. A very ornate
picture frame....estimated to be from the 1890's by an art dealer.
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LastKnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:56 AM
Response to Original message
24. my great great great grandfather's violin
Edited on Tue Jun-28-05 10:59 AM by LastKnight
cant remember for the life of me how many greats to put in there. its probably not right.

at least 231 years old, few violin players in my bloodline, but im the only one in the last 2 generations, so... its mine. it was brought over from germany with the family but thats as far back as we can trace it, but it was an heirloom before that we think.
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Debbi801 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:09 AM
Response to Reply #24
30. Wow, that is amazing...
You may want to look into getting it insured, if you don't already. I think violins are one of the most beautiful (to look at) instruments. The richness of the wood is incredible.
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Dogmudgeon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 10:57 AM
Response to Original message
26. A NAIL from the TRUE CROSS
I'm currently using it to secure a framed poster of Farrah Fawcett-Majors over a large and unsightly hole in one of the walls of my boudoir.

--p!
The Peoples' Boddhisatva.
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Burma Jones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:05 AM
Response to Original message
29. My Wife's Engagement Ring
Handed down since the early 19th century......

After that, some Civil War Ammo.....
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Blue-Jay Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:10 AM
Response to Original message
31. John Merrick's skeleton
jam'mon.
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Debbi801 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:11 AM
Response to Original message
32. A gold baby bracelet made in 1919. It was my grandmother's...
It has her initials engraved into it and her teeth-marks from when she was teething. I have some other almost as old pieces of jewelry as well.
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Double T Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:12 AM
Response to Original message
33. circa 1710 William and Mary Chest of Drawers
Edited on Tue Jun-28-05 11:13 AM by Double T
made in New England
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candy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 01:24 PM
Response to Reply #33
58. Wow! Now that impresses me.
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Deep13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:13 AM
Response to Original message
34. Lincoln biography, 1866
with engraving prints. Cover is pretty nackered. Also, I have a bayonette that I suspect is Civil War era.
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Kathy in Cambridge Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:16 AM
Response to Original message
35. My great-great aunt's engagement ring from 1900
I wear it sometimes.
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northzax Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:18 AM
Response to Original message
36. man made or natural?
(man made)16th century Spanish chest used to haul silver from the colonies...

Natural: a chunk of Maryland Gneiss. 3.6 billion years old. give or take a few thousand millenia.
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BrotherBuzz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:32 AM
Response to Original message
37. An 1858 model 1855 musket rifle
Navy issue (36 inch barrel) that my great-great grandpa sorta never returned to the navy. He served for (then) Captain Farragut at Mare Island, California and located his family there. He also served under Farragut during the Civil War so we're not sure where he bagged the gun, but I have it and I ain't giving it back.
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Deep13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:36 AM
Response to Reply #37
39. wow
Are they both rifles or is one smoothbored? Do they have flintlocks or percussion caps? Are they Springfields, Enfields or some other maker?
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BrotherBuzz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:45 AM
Response to Reply #39
43. Singular as in one M 1855 musket-rifle made in 1858
Edited on Tue Jun-28-05 11:52 AM by BrotherBuzz
and it has tapered rifling (each of the three rifles start out at about 1/8" and taper to about 1/16" at muzzle). Option of Maynard tape or percussion cap. No bayonet stud. Springfield. Cool wall hanger!
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Deep13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:56 AM
Response to Reply #43
45. Black power is a 'low explosive.'
You probably know that the variable twist is to compensate for that. As the poweder burns, the mineball picks up speed and requires a reduced twist rate.
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BrotherBuzz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:15 PM
Response to Reply #45
49. Not quite...
the twist (about 72") is constant. The actual groves are tapered.
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Deep13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:24 PM
Response to Reply #49
55. Ah-ha! I misread the post.
I read 1/8 and 1/16 as 1:8 and 1:16 indicating one rotation per 8" and one in 16". Oops.
x(
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Deep13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:35 AM
Response to Original message
38. If anyone has a meteorite, ...
that is as old as the solar sytem, about 5 billion years.
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Deep13 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:37 AM
Response to Original message
40. There is this left-over meatloaf in the freezer.
That's pretty old.
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sir_captain Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 11:39 AM
Response to Original message
42. 3000 yearish chinese sculpture
left to me by my grandfather. It's certainly very beautiful.
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RPM Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:00 PM
Response to Original message
46. Grandma - and she aint doing so hot
after that, it may be the GM fridge in the basement.
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WeRQ4U Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:15 PM
Response to Original message
48. The Arc of the Covenant.
It's in my attick with my original copy of the magna carta.
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LeftyMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:22 PM
Response to Original message
51. My great grandmother's thimble
engraved with her (and my) first initial and my grandmother's mending kit. The thimble is about a hundred years old, the mending kit appears to be from the thirties. My grandmother gave them to me a few years before she died.
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Bridget Burke Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:22 PM
Response to Original message
52. Not counting a few rocks....
A piece from column (with fluting) taken from Roman ruins in North Africa. A relative was stationed there in the 1940's.

Even though the column was already broken, I do not support that kind of thing. But I'm not sure where to return it.
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aeolian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:22 PM
Response to Original message
53. Probably the house itself. Built in 1895.
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Maestro Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 12:24 PM
Response to Original message
54. I have an ancient Inca hair pin.
Actually, it is at work. I'll post a pic of it later. Barring that, I have a 19th century pipe that my great granddaddy smoked. Here is a bad pic of it.



and this out of focus pic.

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skygazer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Jun-28-05 01:28 PM
Response to Original message
59. From the Civil War
Two swords, a dress sword and a field officer's sword (both in rough condition) and my great-great grandfather's uniform belt buckle which looks like this -



This is Grampa -
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