I have a copy of one of my father’s high school books - a small volume containing “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “The Vision of Sir Launfall” (spelling on this last may be a bit off), printed around 1870.
Probably the oldest thing that we regularly use for a practial purpose is my wife’s car. A 1969 VW Squareback. All white, lots of chrome, and always been garaged so it looks almost brand new. Gets a lot of attention in the local parking lots.
I also have a 1929 printing of “Analytic Geometry” Which I still find very useful when such a tome is needed.
Wow…I took those for granted growing up, saw them everywhere. Never cared for orange, though, and didn’t pay a lot of attention then.
I have a couple of 1880’s pennies, and a pewter charm bracelet that my mom found in the woods 55 years ago. I move a lot, and don’t tend to hang onto things, but I’ll never not have that bracelet if I can help it. It will pass on to my niece eventually.
My great-grandpa Murphy’s carpentry tools, hand planes, brace and bit, #1 Stanley wooden spirit level with the cast iron end caps, various files and rasps. All are kept in the wooden tool box he made complete with hand cut dove tale corners. I don’t know the exact ages but I still use the tools and keep them in the box. It also has cross cut and rip hand saws used by my grandfather. I still use these as well.
Funny - the oldest manmade things I can think of right now are a couple of tokens from the same expo.
Right in front of me on my desk is a piece of dinosaur poop that is 85 million years old.
And I don’t know if it qualifies, but the “thing” I have had the longest is a lock of hair from when I was a baby 48 years ago. Think I have a couple of my baby clothes hidden away someplace.
There are a lot of fossils and rocks around here. I have an eleven year old boy with a Grandpa that is fond of indulging him in that sort of thing.
Manmade: Somewhere there are some coins that predate the birth of Christ. I’m not sure that I know where they are (which makes me feel guilty) but since they are worth less than $7…I’m not losing sleep.
We’ve had the longest - stuffed animals that we got when we were born. We both have them in the house.
Counting only man made items, I’ve a couple arrowheads which are probably pretty darn old although I’ve never bothered trying to precisely identify them. My oldest stuff made by white folk is all from the early 1900s.
Longest owned personal item is my rocking horse from when I was around two years old. When my son was born, I rescued him from my mom’s basement (the horse, not my son) and touched him up slightly but he was otherwise good to go. Now my son is 10 and the rocking horse sits in my office, waiting on grandchildren
I have a number of small family heirlooms, including a sterling silver tea and coffee (minus the platter) set from about 1900. I also own a United States gold coin from the same time; it’s one of the few “junk” types among U.S. gold coinage, being worth little more than the gold it’s minted from.
I thought the question here was going to be about the oldest thing which we ourselves have acquired deliberately, or was given to us when the object was new. For me that would have to be my 1960 World Book, from which the ‘L’ volume is missing. That was lent to a family friend when I was very young, and we never got it back. I wonder if it’s with the platter?
Personally owned the longest: a teddy bear named Purple Bear, given to me in August 1986.
Oldest: Either a candy dish that was originally owned by a great-aunt (from the early 1900s?), or a quaint little book about British history, published in 1890.
manmade: a piece of windowglass from the Roman baths at Cimenelum (now Cimiez, Nice, France)
and Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches: with Elucidations by Thomas Carlyle in five volumes. Vol. III - 1871
geologic: chunks of lava retrieved in person from the top of Mts. Etna and Vesuvius.
I have my grandma’s flour sifter and rolling pin, dunno how old they are, and my first teddy bear. I’m 53 so he’s pretty old - and yes he does have just one button eye left like they’re s’posed to.
Oh yeah, our house was built in 1912 .
