# You can bring one item from history to the present. What are you getting?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 2, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244 "2022-11-02T19:50:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/41 "2022-11-04T17:09:54Z")
The cache of letters from her husband that Martha Washington burned before she died.
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### Author:  [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/42 "2022-11-15T01:26:40Z")
Ditto Eliza Hamilton, when she removed herself from the narrative.
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### Author:  [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/43 "2022-11-15T01:38:27Z")
An intact copy of the Q Gospel, if it indeed existed.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/44 "2022-11-15T01:50:23Z")
Good one.
But how about _Portrait of a Young Man_ by Raphael. Nazis stole it, never recovered.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/45 "2022-11-15T02:01:09Z")
> [@John\_Barleycorn](#):
>
> Antikythera mechanism
That was my vote, too.
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### Author:  [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/46 "2022-11-15T04:38:22Z")
My first thoughts were to raid the Library of Alexandria and the Antikythera mechanism. Though I’d want to examine the mechanism first to see how many parts are missing to decide if it’s really needed.
Mechanism recreation by one of my favorite Youtubers for anyone interested.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0to4RXv4_jDU2&wmode=transparent&rel=0&autohide=1&showinfo=1&enablejsapi=1
The problem with bringing it forward is that we would simultaneously destroy any value because it would no longer be an ancient artifact. Just an interesting brass mechanism created using ancient techniques.
Carbon dating wouldn’t work either because of the time-skip.
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### Author:  [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/47 "2022-11-15T15:57:31Z")
Nice, I’d forgotten about that story but it fits the topic perfectly.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/48 "2022-11-15T20:30:05Z")
> [@Projammer](#):
>
> The problem with bringing it forward is that we would simultaneously destroy any value because it would no longer be an ancient artifact. Just an interesting brass mechanism created using ancient techniques.
I think there are things we could learn from it if we had it intact. It is an unusually modern-seeming mechanism for its vintage. If it had been presented completely out of context, I believe most people would have placed it as a post industrial revolution artifact.
If we had it in good condition, there’s a lot that could be learned and inferred from tool marks, consistency of shapes of objects and so forth.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [November 15, 2022, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/49 "2022-11-15T22:17:19Z")
Along the lines of the Library at Alexandria, where we know lots of stuff was destroyed but don’t know exactly what, I’d like to rescue some of the stuff burned in Savonarola’s bonfire of the vanities. In particular any books or manuscripts, to see what they thought was so scandalous.
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### Author:  [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/50 "2022-11-16T04:32:42Z")
I remember the story, but not the name or author. It wasn’t Lewis Padgett, was it?
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### Author:  [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)
#### Post date: [November 16, 2022, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/you-can-bring-one-item-from-history-to-the-present-what-are-you-getting/974244/51 "2022-11-16T06:16:17Z")
Off the top of my head: Isaac Asimov, ‘Button, button’.
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