Yes, about 20. Including one that took us a while to figure out what must be on it. The clue came from looking at the others. “Three harps…”
This one was “Coon Duet.”
And it appears fully functional. We havn’t warmed it up in a few decades, though.
I have a bunch of rocks and fossils, but I have no idea how old any of them are. Otherwise, it’s probably the Victorian upright grand piano. It used to belong to my husband’s grandfather. He was 60 when my MiL was born and so had long since passed away before my husband got here. Consequently, my husband is rather attached to the piano (he occasionally laments the fact that he never had a grandfather growing up, and is of a historical and musical bent.) We dated it to the mid 1860s.
It’s solid mahogany, built like a tank and weighs an effing ton. My MiL gave it to us, which I thought was nice until I realized it’s actually a 750lb unusable family mathom. It badly needs rebuilt, which will happen…someday.
Man made: I’ve recently come into possession of a U.S. half cent from 1800.
If we stick strictly to man-made items, from my desk I can see:
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A Bavarian cavalry saber dated to 1864
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Several steins dated to the mid-1800s
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a case containing my grandfathers straight razor, manufactured in the late 1800s
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the case containing several Mausers, all manufactured prior to 1900
There are much older items around, but they are usually safely tucked away. Family bibles, letters, etc.
I have a dresser that’s been in the family since around 1860. I think it was made by my great-great-great uncle.
Oldest object: I have two fossils, and several pretty rocks.
Oldest man made object: I have an old gold Spanish cross necklace. Not sure what year it’s from but I think it’s at least a century old. Also, an Indian arrow head.
Possession I’ve kept the longest: I have a stuffed animal horse from before elementary school. I might have a spoon with a Disney character on it from when I was a baby. I have a set of wooden trains from when I was about 2.
Limiting things to man-made items, we have about half of my husband’s great-grandfather’s collection of Jewish scholarly books. (The other half are still at my in-laws’, waiting until we have where to put them.) Some of them date to the eighteenth century. We also have several photographs of him, including one of him with the class of 1923 of the rabbinical school he led, an item I love because of all the sociological things you can read into the picture, like the fact that none of the new young rabbis have beards.
We also have several pieces of heirloom silver from my husband’s family (there’s a benefit to marrying the only child of an only child!), although I believe those are all twentieth century. I do like the fact that I light Sabbath candles in my husband’s grandmother’s monogrammed silver candlesticks. I feel like it gives me a connection to her, even though she passed away before I ever entered the picture.
I love to look at stuff like that…are there any items of fact in them that we now know are outright whoppers, or unacceptable due to changing standards?
This reminds me that I own a 1923 yearbook from Los Angeles High School. Or, to be pedantic, the “Semi-Annual”, because in those days there were two graduating classes each year, in winter and summer.
My wife’s family came over slightly before Columbus, so we have a set of green chairs from about 1820 which have been in the family for well over 100 years. We also have a drop leaf table (now in the laundry room) from 1830, which gets passed down to the oldest child setting up a household. I have some Jules Verne books from the 1870s, some Mr. Dooley books from 1898 and 1899, and sf magazines from the '30s - and tons from the '40s. And my bedside table has been with me since I was about 3, which makes it an antique.
Last July I found a book stored in our garage that was published in the 1830’s. It is the works of Sir Walter Scott.
I have the earrings that my maternal great-grandmother was wearing in a photograph made of her at about the time of the Civil War. I have copies (?) of the letters that my paternal grandfather wrote trying to get his veteran’s benefits from being in the Civil War.
I have carried a silver dollar with me for the last fifteen years. Have you ever heard the lyrics to **Midnight Rider**?
I have a psalm book from about 1913. I also have three or four “Workbasket” magazines from the early 1950’s.
My grandparents had a Bullfinche’s Mythology published about 1896, a third edition or so. Much of my learning to read involved that text, and after my grandmother died, I called my mother & insisted that my Grandma had told her I could have it (she had, actually). My mother called my aunt, who commanded her son (my cousin) to send me the Bullfinche. As a consolation prize, I received a copy of a 2nd printing of an obscure R. Kipling book
In 1999, I underwent surgery for cancer & did a lot of thinking. After I left the hospital I forwarded both books, the Bullfinche & the Kippling to my cousin.
The 1913 psalm book came from my mother-in-law. I plan to give it to whichever of my daughters wants it whenever they ask.
Love, Phil
You just made the (baby) Jesus cry.
A second edition of English Bards and Scotch Reviewers: 1810.
Yeah, I enjoyed my role in Stoppard’s Arcadia a little much. Sue me!
Does earmarked count?
If it doesn’t, I have a c.1920 vase, black glass with inlays.
If it does, my great-greatgrandfather’s Universal History and several other books printed in the late XIX century. Also, a phonograph (for 78rpm stone records) which isn’t as old as the books but old enough that others of the same series are in museums. It looks like a statue of an egyptian scribe: you lift the scribe, and the player itself is the base while the scribe becomes the speaker. We have to be careful with visitors who’ve never seen it before, because they’ll touch it thinking it’s a single, very heavy piece and the scribe itself is relatively light.
Some of my mother’s furniture is also XIX century, but not particularly good or solid (heavy as all get-go, though) and not earmarked for anybody.
My grandparents have, framed, her father’s braid, cut off when he was 5yo. That puts it in the 1890s, which isn’t as old as the books but it’s pretty old too.
And we have photographs from the late XIX century. There’s two of my great-great-grandmother which are identical except for the veil (white in one, black in the other) and the gentleman on her arm in the second one. They’re her Confirmation and Wedding pictures, respectively, and taken one year apart. Same dress. This wasn’t a poor family at all, but the notion of changing your whole closet every six months (like some of my current acquaintances do) would have sent them into fits. It simply wasn’t something you did, dresses lasted until they fell apart.
I’ve got a couple of 17th century books. And my goddamn piece of shit computer, of course, is getting on in age :mad:
We have several daguerrotypes from the 1850s. Other than that, a number of matchsafes from the late 1800s.
A dozen or more 18th and 19th century books.
An old key, I haven’t a clue when it dates from, but I’d guess it’s at least 200 years old.
An unused ticket for the madien voyage of the Titantic. My maternal grandparents were married that day, but they got into an argument at their reception and missed the boat.
My sister has the other one. The last one living gets the two of them.
You’ve got to be kidding.
“I hate you! You made me miss the boat!”
Mine’s a dictionary, too – Ogilvy’s, 1896.