I was given a teddy bear for my first Christmas. It will be 47 this year (I still have it.)
How old is the oldest object that you own that you bought/received new?
I’ve got a Fender Squire Bullet (a guitar) that I got for my birthday when I was 19. I’m now 43, so that’s … uh … well you do the math.
Either a squirrel or bunny handkerchief from my great grandma. I got them both at about 3, but a damn mouse chewed one up.
Storybook from when I was a child, 23 years old.
Off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything I currently own that I’ve had longer than my table tennis paddle, received when I was about 10-11 years old (currently 34). I’ve replaced the rubber several times, but any attempt to replace the paddle itself just doesn’t work out. The handle is warped to my hand, to the point that I can tell for certain which side is facing out with my eyes closed by the feel of the handle.
It was a Christmas present from my folks. I’m thinking I might have to mention how much joy it still brings me all these years later the next time I see them.
My parents were anal about throwing shit out. In this process, I have lost a beautiful silver bracelet I wore as a child, a steel child-sized cup with my name engraved onto it, and lots of other really nice things.
I do have the following documents:
My dad’s death certificate - I was about a year old
My adoption papers - I was 7 or 8
My first passport, when I came over to the States
But my fondest thing is definitely the big ol’ teddy bear that my parents gave me when I was ten. He’s all worn out now, but how I love him!
I realized recently one of my oldest possesions is my sleeping bag that I got new when I was in Boy Scouts, it must be about 32-33 years old.
Other than that I think I have a few books and various trinkets that are all about 36-37 years old. None of them in themselves are hugely sentimental but it is kind of nice to have the group of things together.
I have one particular craft project I must have done in kindergarten or maybe first grade that I am somewhat attached to, it must be close to 40 years old now.
Hey, me too! Except no-name bass, 18, and 46. I do have some photos that predate that, some of which go back long before I was born. Though they are probably copies, I have photos of my mom’s wedding, her mom’s wedding, her mom’s wedding, and her mom’s wedding. That last one is my great great grandparents.
If we’re talking absolute oldest that’s not an amorphous rock, I have some fossils dating back 350,000,000 years.
Apparently in the 80s, the thing to do was give newborns sterling silver place settings. My set is twenty-six.
I have the baseball glove I bought new when I was in 7th grade. That would make it, umm, 45 years old now.
It’s almost broken in.
I forgot something. Not the oldest thing I own, but one of the oldest, and in many ways the coolest. I cried when I received it.
When I was around 12, I was visiting my grandmother and her husband. He had some magazines that fascinated me. (No, not those kinds of magazines. That would be my other grandfather.) While I’d seen some women’s magazines that had recipes along with beauty tips, relationship advice, and sewing tips, these magazines were about nothing but food. Gourmet food. In fact, the name of the magazine was Gourmet. I thought that was so cool, and it fascinated me that my grandmother’s husband, a fairly conservative and traditional guy by any standards, was such a whiz in the kitchen. I still considered cooking to be women’s work. I instantly wanted to become a master chef.
I asked Bud if I could have a couple of the magazines. He said no, he wanted to keep them in his collection, but it would be OK if I borrowed them for a couple of weeks. I just had to return them in good condition. As it turns out, he ordered special hardcover folders for them so that he could keep them bound by year. He had 3 years worth, 1973, 74, and 75.
Decades later I found that he had left them to me in his will. I really treasure them.
I am so sad that I sold my 1964 Fender Mustang that I got when I was 7. I sold it in high school and bought an SG.
The oldest thing I have is my ES-335 I bought in 1975, so that’s what, 33 years old? My mom trashed all my childhood mementos because she thought they were all contaminated from chemicals used for termite extermination.
Not sure exactly how old it is, but my Grandmother knitted a scarf for me, and she died in 1972. She was ill enough before that to have knitted it much after about 1970.
This is George. I was 2 when Mom and Dad gave him to me in 1957. He’ll be 51 years old on Christmas this year. This is the locomotive of the train my folks gave me for Christmas 1960, when I was 5 years old. My parents rocked! And they gave me this truck in the summer of '61.
Oh damn, I think have my high school mitt too – that out-ages my axe.
There’s a silver cup and a silver spoon from when I was an infant (53.75 years ago), but the most beloved is Tigey, a stuffed tiger dating back to when I was about 2 or 3, so he’s fully a half-century old. He’s lost about half his stuffing and probably more than half of his fur, but he still has the rattle in his right front paw.
My bear is bald due to the fact that I used to like to pluck his fur and blow on it and watch it float in the air.
This one is easy…
An 1890 silver dollar that my great-grandfather gave me in 1962.
never mind
An 1890 Silver dollar was *new *in 1962?
