I don’t have anything majorly interesting but I recently bought a Chernobyl liquidator medal. These are actually a dime a dozen and easy to find for sale. They were awarded by the Soviets to people who helped clean up after the nuclear disaster. I ordered it from a seller in Ukraine about a week before Russia invaded, but after the tanks rolled in I assumed I would never receive it. However it still arrived, nearly four months later. Slava Ukrainian Postal Service!
A partially burnt envelope recovered from a 1934 attempt at rocket mail by pioneer Karl Roberti.
A book by Clarence Darrow from his personal library. The inside cover has the nameplate sticker “C.S. Darrow.”
A piece of the Berlin Wall I bought during a business trip to Germany in the early 90s. It’s one of my most cherished possessions.
Three prescriptions for ‘medicinal’ whiskey issued during prohibition.
A special edition, illustrated set of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass from 1946 that my mom had from when she was a child. Also, a VHS of the animated movie Light Years signed by Penn and Teller who did voices in it.
A roll of adhesive tape from my grandmother’s house. The bit that you use to tear off the tape says, “Victory non-metal clip” so I assume it’s WWII vintage. I love the amount of history that’s bound up in that one short phrase.
A smartphone. (I’m not too jaded to not appreciate the staggering amount of technology crammed into it.)
Two pieces of tungsten, about the size of half a toaster. Tungsten is very dense and visually you don’t expect it, but these pieces are surprisingly heavy. They are from work, for a radiation oncology treatment machine.
Probably a Roman coin from the rule of Julian the Apostate (the last Pagan emperor of Rome), I it got from Serbia (the small town my brother-in-law is from used to be one of the most important towns in the Roman/Byzantine world, Sirmium).
Too many to choose from!
How about a picture frame made from the tip of a P-51 prop? A neighbor when I was growing up flew them during WW2, and one day he clipped the top of the flag pole on base. The tip ripped off. He made it into a picture frame. You can still see the divot from the impact.
Meet Naña. I got her in New Orleans from a voodoo shop, where a priestess blessed her for a few extra bucks. She is a Candomblé spirit from Brazil, where she is worshipped by those needing help with cultivation of the land. When I grew cannabis, my plants thrived thanks be to Naña.
I’ve got an Intel Intellec 8 computer from circa 1974. It actually predates the Altair 8800, but the Altair is generally considered to be the “first PC” because the Intellec wasn’t marketed to the general public.
A vintage cricket bat, signed by Adrian Edmondson, one of The Young Ones. Mine is not the actual one from the show but here’s an example of his work.
A small New Testament Bible that my great-great-grandfather carried with him during the Civil War. It’s inscribed to him from his sister Christmas 1862. He didn’t fight. He was a band leader and traveled all around the South entertaining the troops.
An incendiary bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe that landed on my Mom’s roof during The Blitz of WWII. My father was in the U.S. Army Air Corps and had the bomb defused and gave it to his British fiance (Mom) as a memento.
My mother and grandmother were bombed out of 3 houses during the war (landing her in the hospital with a fractured skull, and killing her dog), but luckily, this bomb didn’t detonate.
The Illustrated Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy book, signed in person by Douglas Adams. Interesting too about the images: the renderings of Marvin and all other characters were different from anything from the TV show and the movie.
A cannonball.
We have a lot of arty stuff, but the things that people always ask about are the African locks and the salt hammer, probably because they have no idea what they are. Second to that would be the sculpture made from fossilized whalebone and mastodon ivory. It’s fairly large and depicts a Native hunter on an ice floe stalking a couple of fur seals. We bought it on impulse and haven’t been able to get rid of it since.
In 1997 the RedWings were playing the Blues in the NHL playoffs. The Redwings came into the place I was working and I waited on the entire team, sans goalies; Goalies don’t eat with the team.
Steve Yzerman was handling the check. He and I were talking and I told him my two boys played hockey. He asked for a piece of paper and a pen, sent it around the table and the whole team signed for me and my kids. Some joker even signed #9 Mr. Hockey.
The Wings beat the Blues and went on to win the Stanley cup.