# What is the oldest thing in your house? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 23, 2013, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502 "2013-09-23T10:48:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/21 "2013-09-23T13:49:30Z")
> [@KRC](#): > > 112 year old book about the Galveston hurricane. Other than that, just the house. My grandmother has some old family stuff in her house that actually survived the storm! Anyway, the oldest thing of _mine_ in our house is almost certainly that little bag of ancient uncleaned coins of unknown denomination that my Dad got me for xmas one year on a whim. Don’t really know what or when they’re from, but they’re likely pretty old. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/22 "2013-09-23T13:53:06Z")
A flint arrowhead. Haven’t had it dated, but maybe 4,000 years old? Oh, forgot - a fossil of a small arthropod. Couple of million years easily. Both found at the beach. Ah, just realised that the fossil doesn’t count. The arrowhead does though. Otherwise I have a 1932 edition of Shakespeare’s complete works and some 19C furniture. Neither is worth anything financially. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/23 "2013-09-23T13:58:47Z")
The oldest thing I have is an 1880’s printing of the book, _The Ingoldsby Legends_. Haven’t gotten around to reading it yet, but I will. Before that, it was a book from 1910 called _Knight Errant_. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/24 "2013-09-23T13:59:18Z")
I have a couple of bowl fragments from a local location, probably date to 1000 -1200 AD. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/25 "2013-09-23T14:03:33Z")
a mixer and yes it still works some coins some books my chest of drawers- - which my son is using my vanity table - - which is in the laundry room my desk - was my grandfathers my grandmothers ring - which I am wearing the silverware - the real stuff that never gets used and has to be polished. an arrowhead ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/26 "2013-09-23T14:58:23Z")
My grandmother’s breadboard from Sweden. It dates back to the late 1800’s. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/27 "2013-09-23T15:12:03Z")
I just took it to work to keep in my office, but I have an old Roman coin which dates back to 350CE or so. It’s not worth much but it’s certainly old! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/28 "2013-09-23T15:22:13Z")
> [@mandala](#): > > Please, no dinosaur skeletons. Nobody owns them. (They are all fakes anyway.) Whut? I have a few 78 records from 1904. My wife has some family photographs from around the same time. I have a copy of _Love’s Labours Lost_ from about 1900. I have a trilobite fossil, but you precluded those in the OP, then counted it later in the thread. Incidentally, multicellular life is only about 600-700 million years old on earth\*. Trilobites appeared about 550 million years ago. \*Gabrielle Walker has described how brief multicellular life is this way - it you stretch your arms out to represent the 4.5 billion years of earth’s history, multi-celled organisms appear just around your right wrist. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/29 "2013-09-23T15:27:14Z")
I have a family bible from 1863, some 19th century silver pieces, and a wood letter box from the mid-1800s. I had a lot of 19th century silver coins before I sold off my collection. The house itself was built in 1904. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/30 "2013-09-23T15:28:21Z")
I just remembered that I was given an antique silver serving spoon from the 1700s for my wedding. It sits in its box and about once a year I take it out to look at it. Perhaps if we had anything else that remotely resembled it, we’d use it. I’m still not sure what to do with it, honestly. It very likely won’t match whatever dinner set we eventually get, but for some reason I’m hesitant to sell it. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/31 "2013-09-23T15:33:25Z")
My house itself was built in 1849. Hand-forged nails and hand-hewn boards. StG ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/32 "2013-09-23T15:33:32Z")
:smack: I completely skipped the line saying it had to be manufactured. The 1818 Bible is my oldest then, I think. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/33 "2013-09-23T15:37:54Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > I just remembered that I was given an antique silver serving spoon from the 1700s for my wedding. It sits in its box and about once a year I take it out to look at it. Perhaps if we had anything else that remotely resembled it, we’d use it. I’m still not sure what to do with it, honestly. It very likely won’t match whatever dinner set we eventually get, but for some reason I’m hesitant to sell it. It’s not supposed to match. It’s a conversation piece, just use it! ---
**Author:** ![R.P.McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@R.P.McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/R.P.McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/34 "2013-09-23T15:45:19Z")
An 1802 one cent piece. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/35 "2013-09-23T15:46:56Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I have a trilobite fossil, but you precluded those in the OP, then counted it later in the thread. Incidentally, multicellular life is only about 600-700 million years old on earth\*. Trilobites appeared about 550 million years ago. > > \*Gabrielle Walker has described how brief multicellular life is this way - it you stretch your arms out to represent the 4.5 billion years of earth’s history, multi-celled organisms appear just around your right wrist. Nah, I didnt “count” it, just commented that trilobite fossils could be _really_ old. But you are right about the age of trilobites, they first appeared 521 million years ago, per wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/59ef9b/32.png) [@FlyingRat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/36 "2013-09-23T15:51:02Z")
The oldest thing we have on our shelves (including fossils) is a Song dynasty bowl. It’s nothing fancy, just a plain glazed earthenware bowl that was presumably made for a bureaucrat to eat his lunch out of. I also have a twisted silver finger ring with a glass stone that dates from around the Siege of Vienna (1529). Likewise, it’s nothing particularly fancy or valuable (except for its age), and was presumably the sort of thing that a soldier would give his best girl as a trinket. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/37 "2013-09-23T15:52:02Z")
I’ve got a coin found by a sheepherder at an abandoned classical Greek ruin while we were there visiting. It’s worn but there’s a face on one side and a ship with 3 large "X"s on the other. Also have a pretty extensive arrowhead and stone tool collection. Many of those will be thousands of years old. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/38 "2013-09-23T15:57:48Z")
> [@DataX](#): > > I have a stone tomahawk head that was found on my grandmother’s property. I’m assuming it is of Native American origin - and not sure how “new” it could be (I’d be curious as to when a good cutoff date would be). We have one, as well. My wife found it on her relatives’ farm in downstate Illinois. She also has a German book of hymns which is ~200 years old. And, finally, the house itself is 85 years old. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/39 "2013-09-23T15:59:37Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I’ve got a coin found by a sheepherder at an abandoned classical Greek ruin while we were there visiting. It’s worn but there’s a face on one side and a ship with 3 large "X"s on the other. A triple-X rated ship? That ship must have seen plenty of ups and downs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502/40 "2013-09-23T16:13:14Z")
I have a computer that still runs Windows 98. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-oldest-thing-in-your-house/669502.md?page=3)