the oldest thing in your house

I have a rolling pin that belonged to my Grandmother. She purchased it in the late 1800’s.

I have a collection of Lake Superior agates that were formed around a billion years ago.

I have a roman ring (not sure the date anymore)
I have about 30 books (in old dutch) about Theology.
Coldie Clogs was nice enough to help me figure out the titles.
all are from 1658 thru 1730.

am sure I have other stuff around here as well…

A billet from a 4.5 Billion year-old Iron-Nickel meteorite!

Merely 1 Billion year-old rocks are a nickel a dozen…

A friend gave us a Canaanite terracotta pot as a wedding present, which is dated c.2100 BC. I can say with some confidence that it’s the oldest thing we have around. It’s cool to think about how it survived and who might have made it.

Hmm… I have a fairly modern apartment, and heirlooms are safely tucked away in safety deposit boxes… Not including the few fossils I’ve got, I’d have to say the Civil War photos, and a couple tintypes.

Some old coins, the oldest is from 1855.
A book called Half Forgotten American Tales from the 1880’s maybe.

A bowl of Petrified Wood pieces from Arizona. How old is Petrified Wood? 60,000,000 years?

Skipping ahead to the age of walking erect, we have a breakfront from Germany that is a bit over 100 years old. I have glacial boulders in the woods behind my house from the last Ice Age, apparently.

A Zeiss/Ikon camera from the turn of the century. A few European coins from the late 1800’s. Family photos from Germany from the 1870’s.

Oh, and the other half of the Rosetta Stone- but it takes up too much room and I might have to put it out in the woods behind the house. The darned dusty ole thing. :smiley:

A chunk of bone from a mammoth femur (excavated it myself, thank you very much), about 10,000 years old.

Call me an antiquarian. The house itself is 140 years old.

Other than the fossils the oldest manmade items I have are some oil lamps that pre-date the Roman empire and some coins from Rome. So call it what, 2,500 years?

Jonathan??

You’re an Antiquarian.

Nah, let’s do you one better. You’re an Antiquarian Horologist
:stuck_out_tongue:

I have fossils and older things at my parents house, but in this apartment, things are mostly new.

I have an old dresser which I cannot even guess at the age. It’s been around for a few decades at least, but prior to that…I don’t know. I think it might have been made to look old, but even then, it was a while ago.

I have a copy of the first Winnie-the-Pooh book from 1950 (which is old to me - I was born in 81)

I have my great-aunt’s sewing machine, electric. Its a Singer, and the instruction manual, although badly faded, has the print-date of 1941. I really an curious about its value, although its not in fantastic condition (the gilt is faded, etc).

I wear a ring that belonged to my great-grandmother, so its probably 80-100 years old or so. The emerald is new, since the original diamond was lost about 10 years ago.

That’s about all I can think of. The rest of my old-looking stuff is really new but made to look old. I love old-looking furniture, although I can’t really pay for genuine stuff sometimes :slight_smile:

I have a pair of lace gloves that my great-grandmother crocheted.

My mother’s best friend, though, has some furniture from 1680. It’s mind-blowing.

The truly scary thing is that’s a ‘visited link’ for me.

I think the oldest thing in my house is some of the dirt in my room. :smiley:

Let’s see, what I can think of offhand:

• Two Chinese vases, brass and silver; I have no idea how old they are.

• A “Ladies Magazine” from 1775

• Some family jewelry (rings and a choker) probably mid-19th century

Hm. Well, the house I live in is about 150 years old.

I have my grandmother’s wedding ring (1930’s), and a bunch of fossils, geodes, and rock samples (who knows how old they are?).

My friend recently moved into a new house, and found a lovely present in the attic. (This house is about 10 years old.) While packing various odds and ends, he found a folder with a print on it. There is an appraisal certificate, with an address of someone who, according to the realtor, never lived in the house. The appraisal was done in the mid 70’s ('75, I think). The estimated value of the print at the time was $15,000. My buddy was extremely excited to find it, until I gave him the guilt trip and made him try to track down the owner. So far, no one has claimed the print, and the previous owners of the house have never heard of the name on the appraisal. Freaky, huh? :smiley:

Naturally occurring: a fossil of some type that’s a few thousand years old.

Man-made: a book dating from the mid-1700s.

As for stuff dating from the 1800s, my apartment (and to a greater extent, my mom’s house) is a veritable treasure trove. I mostly inherited the books from my grandfather, while she has the furniture and family odds-and-ends. My favorite thing from this time period is a fan used by my great-grandmother at a dance–the men who danced with her during the evening signed their names, one on each rib of the fan.

My grandpa had a collection of old maps, one of which I inherited… it’s circa 1735, if I recall correctly. (It’s a map of Northern Africa, with a lengthy travelogue written in French)

My primary family treasure, however, is the actual steamship ticket for the “Admiral Blucher” which carried my great-grandparents and 4 or 5 of their children over from Europe in 1909, I believe.

I have a mercury dime.