What is the oldest thing you own? How did it come into your possession? (Note: arrowheads and such don’t count, unless you can accurately date them.)
The oldest thing I own is an old Roman coin, dating to the reign of the Emperor Nero. (A.D. 54 to A.D. 68) I picked it up on a trip to Spain. Top that!
(Not that I doubt that someone out there will…)
It’s probably my M1896 Swedish bayonet. Or my computer, which is a Power Macintosh and thus belongs in a museum. Also, my genetic material is thousands of generations old. There are probably some books in my shelf that are several decades old. So you’ve got me beat by a mile. Assuming we’re discounting the genetic material thing.
What part of “I don’t know” don’t you understand?
tintypes . . photo images printed on metal from the mid 1800’s of my great-greats
Oldest thing I own - hmm, does my husband count? (Actually, the Mr. is years younger than I am, I have underwear older than he is.) I own some antique turn of the century white lace n’ ruffles ladies blouses and undergarments; some elderly jewelry via my grandma (amethyst set in silver, an old old watch that doesn’t run any more, some hairpins that would make excellent weapons of self defense, old perfume bottles that still have a scent). We have our share of coins, domestic and foreign, but none of antique value.
A cuneiform tablet from Ur, some of Cleopatra’s kohl(eye makeup), the knife Caesar was stabbed with, some of the original Bohemian Pitchblende from Curie’s experiments, the first light bulb, etc…
Well, not really… Everything here is new. The few things I have from my grandparents are from within the last 50 years.
Ayesha has never seen a lemur’s penis.
The chandelier in my dining room is from the 1820s. It was built for candles, then adapted for gas, then adapted for electrics.
It came with the house.
Hmm well personally i dont own anything really old, but my mother owns a bible printed in 1849. The paper is still in good condition too (supple, not cracking).
I myself am an incorrigible conlang slut. I love oral lex.
My grandfather left me his typewriter when he died. (well, sort of left it to me, it was in a box in the closet and no one else wanted it.) It had been a gift from his parents when he graduated from High School. He wrote all of his college papers on it, including his doctoral thesis. I’m quite proud of it actually(practically mint condition and all). I use it occasionally to write papers myself.
I have a rock of indeterminate age, but it could very well be really, really old.
It’s not how you pick your nose, it’s where you put the boogers
So, I am betting you won’t allow my petrified turtle crap. It’s about thirty million years old. (I have only had it for about five years, though.) I have lots and lots of pretty rocks, and can tell you how old they are. One is probably more than half a billion years old, and even rocks don’t get much older than that.
I have a book from 1808, and a knife from about the same time period. When my parents die, I get to fight with my sisters for possession of a cast iron pot from 1756. (If I loose, I might get the bun warmer, which is from 1770.) My sister got all the old jewelry, some of it from around 1700, just because her name is the same as that Great, etc Grandmother.
** Tris **
Imagine my signature begins five spaces to the right of center.
I have lots of cool old bottles, I used to actually go out digging for them. Most I am guessing are form the late 1800’s to early 1900’s.
I’ll buy that for a dollar.
My grandmother’s bottle of Shalimar, from the 1920s. It’s the old-fashioned kind that you have to tip upside down to get the perfume on the stopper from the inside, then rub the stopper on your skin. I also have a mirror that my grandfather (these are my mom’s parents) salvaged from an ice cream parlor that was being torn down in the 1930s.
I guess I’m just better off living with my inner tensions.
—Snoopy
Spoke, is it okay to name something that isn’t more than a few decades, or even years old? It would be interesting to see what “old” means relative to certain things, like Boris B’s computer being new in literal years, but ancient in light of how far the computer industry has advanced since it was SOTA.
I guess I’m just better off living with my inner tensions.
—Snoopy
Old Computers… I have a couple of Kenbecks laying around. One actually still works. There’s an old TRS-80 Model 1 in the garage, but I snatched the processor from it for another project…probably doesn’t count since it doesn’t work. An original IBM - PC 5 slots & 64KB RAM (cassette storage…woo-hoo!).
Other cool stuff… ancient Chinese coins, Trans-Oceanic S/W radio, assayer’s scale, various fossils and a bolide fragment that I use as a paper weight.
–Kalél
Common ¢ for all ages…
“Well, there was that thing with the Cheese-Wiz…but I’m feeling much better now!” – John Astin, Night Court
“If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.”
Hmm… The oldest thing we own is, I believe, an 1802 Astronomy book. Still nice looking… Our house is old, built in 1936. We’ve got some arrow heads from Saudi Arabia that must be a helluvalot older than that Astronomy book. Fine artifacts, those. Got a Indian hand plow. Pretty cool.
Whoops… You said we need certain dates for these to count. I voice protest, but accept that my last two items are out. Fine. I’ll pout.
Infamus
I used to have a 16th-century wakizashi, but a friend of mine coveted it and I needed the money at the time.
I think the oldest thing I own now is a Winchester Model 92 (.32-20 calibre) made in 1897.
me…not quite an antique yet but working on it. 
I really try to be good but it just isn’t in my nature!
my computer…sigh
Probably the wooden candleholders from hubby’s late uncle – he died about 20 years ago, in his 90’s, and was rumored to never have bought anything himself, so the holders were probably handed down to him.
I have an 1880 edition of John Webster’s works ($10 at the local used book shop) and also a few coins from the 1870’s and 1880’s.
“And thanks agin fur the plague, Porpentine.”
– mr. john