# the oldest thing in your house **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 20, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946 "2002-07-20T06:25:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/41 "2002-07-23T09:34:40Z")
The oldest thoings i ownare a spanish coin from 1868, with an Isabel on it, an indian head penny. Also, i have a ceramic doll that belonged to my great grandmother. Her skirt has metallic copper detailing , and she also has rhinestone earrings. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/42 "2002-07-23T12:29:06Z")
In addition to some shark teeth of unknown date (including one pulled from my foot when I stepped on it at the beach), I have a palm-sized Bible printed in 1843. Quite fascinating - the leather cover folds into the back cover, turning it into a small box. Need a magnifying glass to read the thing, though, such tiny print. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/43 "2002-07-23T12:58:06Z")
I have an illuminated page from a 13th-century psalter. It’s vellum (calf skin), with tiny illustrations and marginal flourishes in red, blue, and gold ink. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/44 "2002-07-23T14:43:20Z")
A page from the Personal Property tax records for King George County, VA, dated 1785, that lists my great, great grandfather. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/45 "2002-07-23T22:05:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Miss Mapp \* > \*\*I have an illuminated page from a 13th-century psalter. It’s vellum (calf skin), with tiny illustrations and marginal flourishes in red, blue, and gold ink. \*\* Now, THAT’S cool. Does it look anything like [This?](http://wally.rit.edu/cary/manuscripts/psalter17.html) ---
**Author:** ![furr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@furr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furr)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/46 "2002-07-23T22:52:19Z")
i have a bed side cabinet which is around 100 years old. early 1900’s anyway. not that impressive. slightly more impressive i have a lovely leather bound 1890 copy of robert louis stevenson’s ‘kidnapped’ ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/47 "2002-07-23T23:13:50Z")
I own a Judean coin that dates from Hasmonean rule, somewhere in the 2nd-1st century BCE. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/48 "2002-07-24T11:46:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > \*\*Now, THAT’S cool. Does it look anything like [This?](http://wally.rit.edu/cary/manuscripts/psalter17.html) \*\* Yes, very much like that! Except that, on the page I have, the space above the large initial letter on the top, left-hand side is filled with an elaborate working of vine-and-leaf-shaped curlicues instead of more text. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/49 "2002-07-27T14:05:53Z")
Ah yes, well I guess technically my grandmother would be the oldest contunuously owned thing in my house (88). Anyway I bump this because I found something very interesting. Two job recommendations my grandmother got way back in 1935 from the Mark Twain Hotel in Elmira, NY. They are quite glowing. She must have used them to get her job at the Lord Baltimore Hotel in Baltimore. Anyhoo I just thought that was cool. ---
**Author:** ![athene1765](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@athene1765](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athene1765)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2002, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946/50 "2002-07-27T14:22:31Z")
Humm…I have a 19th-century oak bedroom set, a Roman hairpin (Christmas present from my sweetheart, blessings upon him), and several fossils lying about. I also have a 5 1/4 inch floppy drive from the first computer I ever owned, from back in '87. I have it in my current 1.6 ghz computer. It still works marvelously. It’s this horrible dark beige putty color; everything else is a pleasant, neutral grey. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/119946.md?page=2)