# What item have you carried on your person for the longest time?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [March 10, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848 "2006-03-10T16:53:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/61 "2006-03-14T00:36:29Z")
Wow, this thread has more legs than I really expected. Interesting anwers, too.
Perhaps I should have disqualified wedding rings. š
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### Author:  [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/62 "2006-03-14T03:08:21Z")
1. Social Security card (since age 15)
2. Hunter safety card (since 1991)
3. Rabbitās foot (age 8-13)
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### Author:  [@Mrs\_Johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Johnson)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/63 "2006-03-14T03:41:41Z")
I have the outer shell of a skate bearing on my keychainā¦ itās been there since I was 14 or 15.
Thereās nothing else that goes with me everywhere.
My dad has had a lego-man in his jacket pocket for probably the past 10 years.
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### Author:  [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/64 "2006-03-14T04:55:42Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> Interesting anwers, too.
Seconded. š Though Iām really quite surprised that you and I have been the only ones to mention organ donor cards!
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### Author:  [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)
#### Post date: [March 14, 2006, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/65 "2006-03-14T23:50:40Z")
A little bottle of supresssed rage and anger.
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### Author:  [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/66 "2006-03-15T03:24:49Z")
> [@Misnomer](#):
>
> Seconded. š Though Iām really quite surprised that you and I have been the only ones to mention organ donor cards!
Thatās because in some states, your organ donor wishes are noted on your driverās license, as they are in Colorado. No need for a separate card.
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### Author:  [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/67 "2006-03-15T04:49:11Z")
> [@Large Marge](#):
>
> Thatās because in some states, your organ donor wishes are noted on your driverās license, as they are in Colorado. No need for a separate card.
You know what, Virginia is one of those states! Iāve known that since I moved here, but Iāve just always kept that old organ donor card in my wallet/purse and never thought about the fact that itās superfluous! I wonāt throw it away now, but maybe Iāll stop carrying it around ā¦ I kind of like the idea of my FCC license being the oldest thing, anyway. š
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/68 "2006-03-15T09:08:04Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#):
>
> My social security card, from 1975. People who see it are amazed that I still have the original.
I have my original social security card from 1954.
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### Author:  [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/69 "2006-03-15T09:54:32Z")
Not exactly a specific item, because I lost an ungodly number of them over the years, but I essentially always had a knife with since childhood (maybe since Iām 8 or so. If youāre wondering why a 8 yo would have a knife in his pocket, I was raised in the countryside, and they were quite necessary to collect mushrooms. Iām talking about this mythical era when a 8 yo could be wandering away from home all day long with nobody worried about him being abducted by pedophiles).
I tend to always check if itās in my pocket before leaving home. It just doesnāt feel right if I donāt have one. I use it mainly for food and as a screwdriver.
Itās a [Laguiole](http://www.cadeau-a-domicile.com/laguiole/main.php?pageID=0) (the shape of the knives appearing on this page matches, but not the brand nor the materials : alloy rather than stainless steel and wood rather than horn. )
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/70 "2006-03-15T12:48:36Z")
> [@clairobscur](#):
>
> Itās a [Laguiole](http://www.cadeau-a-domicile.com/laguiole/main.php?pageID=0) (the shape of the knives appearing on this page matches, but not the brand nor the materials : alloy rather than stainless steel and wood rather than horn. )
Ze link, she is confusing, I saw no knive monsieur.
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### Author:  [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/71 "2006-03-15T13:20:26Z")
> [@Large Marge](#):
>
> Thatās because in some states, your organ donor wishes are noted on your driverās license, as they are in Colorado. No need for a separate card.
Iāve had my organ donor card since before they started putting that option on licenses. Actually, since before I _had_ a driverās license. Iām keeping it. So there! š
Also, the card has an āanatomical studyā checkbox, which I donāt think Colorado has as an option.
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### Author:  [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/72 "2006-03-15T18:31:25Z")
> [@Frank](#):
>
> Iāve had my organ donor card since before they started putting that option on licenses. Actually, since before I _had_ a driverās license. Iām keeping it. So there! š
>
> Also, the card has an āanatomical studyā checkbox, which I donāt think Colorado has as an option.
āAnatomical studyā? Does that mean you can choose to donate organs just so that students can probe them? Thatās kinda cool.
[momentary hijack] I was at the DMV last week, and they only asked me if I wanted to be an organ donor. I wonder if they have just lumped āanatomical studyā in with āsave someone elseās lifeā under the organ donor umbrella? [/momentary hijack]
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [March 15, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/73 "2006-03-15T19:02:47Z")
The oldest thing in my wallet is my birth certificate (āissued at Toronto, June 23, 1980ā). I got it in grade 12.
> [@lieu](#):
>
> Iāve got a āluckyā Canadian $1 in my wallet from travels there in 1988.
They donāt even mane those anymore. Weāve gone through two changes of money since then, and the $1 bill has long since been replaced by a coin. A couple of years ago, **Booker57** came to one of our summer TronnaDope picnics on the Toronto Islands, and he brought a fistful of $1 bills heād been saving. We were looking at them and oohing and ahhing, like we hadnāt seen them in the wild for yearsā¦ which, of course, we hadnāt.
> [@Large marge](#):
>
> Thatās because in some states, your organ donor wishes are noted on your driverās license, as they are in Colorado. No need for a separate card.
In Ontario, that information is on your health card (the ID for the provincial health insurance plan). Mine says DONOR 9Z DONNEUR. I donāt know whether that means I get carved up for parts to help the needy or given to science or what.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)
#### Post date: [March 16, 2006, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-item-have-you-carried-on-your-person-for-the-longest-time/347848/74 "2006-03-16T08:43:59Z")
> [@Dr. Rieux](#):
>
> A ticket stub from the Freedom Train, dated January 23, 1976 (my sixteenth birthday).
Upon further inspection, my Social Security card, which I got in June of 1974.
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