We have a bunch of these my mom bought my kids - basically they arrive almost unrecognizable as coins, and after hours and hours of assiduous work they become recognizable. My kids did some of the hours, so I can see variations on “Constantinius”, but none is completely cleaned.
A 1776 Encyclopedia Britannica, leather-bound and in mint condition. It’s more like a dictionary, and is 3 volumes. Several months after acquiring it for $5 (long story), I wondered if I had something that I ought to insure and put in a bank vault, and asked about it at a used bookstore. It turned out to be a 100th anniversary replica that’s probably worth about $200.
I was on a Western philosophy kick years ago (my preference has always been Eastern), and I scooped up a bucket-load of books at a used bookstore. One was in really crappy shape, water-stained, pages falling out, and looking at it I discovered why: my copy of “A Critique of Pure Reason” was from 1853. Even in that condition, at first I couldn’t believe a book that old was only a few bucks. But thinking about it, yeah - it wasn’t special (limited edition, special binding, signed by someone famous), just older than usual.
A beautiful 1799 U.S. silver dollar.
I also have a “colonial” iron. I’ve never used it, but I think you have to heat it up in your wood-burning stove.
The oldest I have that I know of are a couple of physics textbooks from 1904. I might have a few bits of ironware from the 1800s, though, and I’m pretty sure my mother does. She also has a portrait of one of our ancestors that’s from some time that century, and might have a few old arrowheads about, too.
Oh, and Mom’s house is over a hundred years old, too. She threw a birthday party for it last year.
Hm, natural history wise, I have a sharks tooth fossil my Dad scrounged up somewhere.
Manmade goodies - in no particular order:
*Roman coin, gold, aureus of Augustus roughly ca 10 BC - antique value ruined, my Grandmother cleaned it up with a wire brush and steel wool:smack:
*Anasazi shallow bowl - roughly 1200 AD
*11th Dynasty [Middle Period] scarab ‘acquired’ for me by my BF at the time from a dig he was on as part of the authorized ‘loot’ since it was one of a bunch from a workshop. CA 1800 BC
*Chinese Song Dynasty 12th century round roof tile with 5 bats in different colors
*bunch of assorted stuff from 1600s 1700s and 1800s - Do keep in mind that my mother was an antique dealer and I spent my youth going to auctions on weekends and to keep me amused she would give me anywhere from $20 to $100 to spend on whatever I wanted, so I have a magpie’s collection of odds and ends that appealed to me.
I have some church record of my grandmother from 1897. I can’t really tell what it is, because I don’t speak Hungarian.
You could easily look up the value of this but unless it’s an extreme rarity for some reason, it’s probably not worth all that much monetarily. Some are selling for less than $100.
What’s it say?
A silver spoon with the hallmark of Hester Bateman, an English silversmith who worked in the late 1700’s. Not extraordinarily valuable despite its age.
A Roman-era coin, one of those huge copper things, probably with no antique value because it’s been mounted in some kind of holder.
We have some older items, like fossils and a piece of meteorite, but those are about as far from man-made as you can get.
I have a Yearbook of Agriculture from ~1865, and my great-great-? Grandfather’s Southern Cross of Honor from ~1900.
I have lots of old things in my house. A chair made my great grandfather in the 1800’s is probably the most useful thing.
The most fascinating is a book that my Grandparents had. Perhaps a Wedding present.
An original copy of “The Household Physician” published in 1905.
There are some interesting “cures” in the book.
My wife’s family has been here forever, and we have a sampler actually from one of her ancestors that is dated 1797. We have ugly green chairs we use everyday from 1820, and a table which is passed down through the generations which we have in the laundry room from the 1830s. I have a desk with hidden compartments which is just like one I’ve seen on Antiques Roadshow which was from the 1830s.
I have some Jules Verne books which were published in the US without copyright from the 1870s, some Mr. Dooley books from the turn of the 20th century, and a few of the original Tom Swift books from 1910 or so.
I have a page from the Geneva Bible printed on the late 1500’s. I bought it for the beautiful script and woodcuts.
1881 Morgan Silver Dollar that my grandfather gave to my mother shortly before he died (when she was 15).
A strip of South American native fabric ca 1000 ad. Could be valuable but most likely isn’t.
Second oldest goes to a 1930’s version of Carroll’s two Alice books.
I have my grandmother’s rocking chair, vintage 1900 or so.
I also have an arrowhead that I found in the desert. I have no idea at all how old it is.
Well to be honest…we never have anyone over for which we need a serving spoon. Maybe we will once we have an actual house with room for more than two. I’ve kind of had enough of “who cares if it doesn’t match, this is an individual conversation piece!” or “well we’re just low-class apartment dwellers, we can’t afford to have a concrete sense of style” in home decor. If everything’s a cool conversation piece or something you picked up at a tag sale, it all just looks like mismatched clutter. I don’t even like the design on it much. Well, I’ll put off deciding what to do with it another year 
Man! I am trying to think of what I could have that would even be close to this sort of thing, and the best I can come up with is my SO’s grandfather’s tie pin. Me and my mom share this: we both throw (in her case, threw) things out without a heart. Gold? We sell it and buy something more modern. In the case of the tie pin, my SO will never wear it, but wants to save it to give to his nephew…who probably won’t wear it either. That makes NO sense to me, but it’s not mine so I don’t interfere.
Cool stuff in this thread!
I don’t have much that’s very old. I have a catcher’s mitt and a slide rule inherited from my grandfather–they probably date to the 1930s. I have a School Illiad that I believe comes from the 1890s, but I would have to check.