What are the Oldest Objects you Own?

[Oldsarge]

A basalt oil lamp in the shape of a seal's head my father-in-law picked up in the Aleutions during WWII.

 

[DNO]

Speaking of stones...I forgot the stone adze that I found while doing a bit of field walking years ago. Local museum (ROM) dated it from 500 to 5000 years old. (kind of tough to date stone First Nations tools)

I have some low value Roman coins around here somewhere...lost in a drawer. Nothing as spectacular as the ones that have been posted so far!

 

[ButteMT61]

Aside from fossils and other geological items, coins and my home are the oldest things...and I love them all

 

[HodgePodge]

Speaking of stones...I forgot the stone adze that I found while doing a bit of field walking years ago. Local museum (ROM) dated it from 500 to 5000 years old. (kind of tough to date stone First Nations tools)

My aunt had some first nations pieces looked at and some of the tools were hard to date, but I can't remember if that is because they were always made in the same manner and shape (if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?), or if because regular use always smoothed away signs of production process. However, most of the arrowheads could be dated to a fairly narrow century or millenia because of distinct changes in overall shape, nuances in knapping, and skill level of the craftsmanship from one period to the next. The archaeologist that looked at them felt some of the pieces indicated a "dark age" or at least the loss of a craftsman in a particular area due to a lesser quality in a one of the sets of arrowheads. She said she had a bit of an antiques roadshow, "wait, those are how old?!" moment when he told her the eras of these bits and pieces the family has had sitting in a box in the basement for 60-odd years and thinking they might be 400-500 years old.

 

[Tyler Lange]

I have my Great Great-Grandpa's old desk in my room; Family lore says it's from when he was a Senator in Illinois down in Springfield and the desk is actually from the old capital building during the Civil War. Alas, no amount of research has been able to verify that that's where it came from. I mean, it definitely has the age to it, just no way to prove where its from!

Also, it weighs about 300 pounds so I can't really do anything with the damn thing!

 

[Oldsarge]

Ah, made 'em stout back in the day, they did!

 

[Olivander]

The oldest man-made thing I have is probably a Chinese coin from c.1750. The oldest mechanical object is a Seth-Thomas OG clock which was bought new by my g-g-g-grandfather in 1848 (yes, it still runs).

Since my primary collecting focus is typewriters, my oldest typewriter is a c.1886 Caligraph No.2.

 

[DNO]

My aunt had some first nations pieces looked at and some of the tools were hard to date, but I can't remember if that is because they were always made in the same manner and shape (if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?), or if because regular use always smoothed away signs of production process. However, most of the arrowheads could be dated to a fairly narrow century or millenia because of distinct changes in overall shape, nuances in knapping, and skill level of the craftsmanship from one period to the next. The archaeologist that looked at them felt some of the pieces indicated a "dark age" or at least the loss of a craftsman in a particular area due to a lesser quality in a one of the sets of arrowheads. She said she had a bit of an antiques roadshow, "wait, those are how old?!" moment when he told her the eras of these bits and pieces the family has had sitting in a box in the basement for 60-odd years and thinking they might be 400-500 years old.

I found a number of stone tools in the same area...a hilltop near Lindsay Ontario...many years ago. It's always fascinated me that these artifacts laid there, perhaps buried and recently brought to the surface, for at least hundreds of years before little old me stumbled on them. I was still in my early teens and already bitten by the history bug...but something like this just set the hook, so to speak.

 

[jkingrph]

I have a few pieces of mozaic tiles, from Philidelphia, in Turkey, one of the 7 Churches of Asia Minor.

A friend brought them back with him when he returned to the states a few months ahead of us in 1974, and them when we returned he sent them to me. I think it was illegal there a the time and I had no desire to have problems with the Turks. The are currently made into a paperweight.

Somewhere I have a few old US coins, one with an 1860 date. Then I have a Swiss Vetterli rifle dated 1873.

 

[Silver Dollar]

The oldest thing I have that is man made is a US penny dated 1798.

 

[Shangas]

The oldest man-made thing I have is probably a Chinese coin from c.1750. The oldest mechanical object is a Seth-Thomas OG clock which was bought new by my g-g-g-grandfather in 1848 (yes, it still runs).

Since my primary collecting focus is typewriters, my oldest typewriter is a c.1886 Caligraph No.2.

That's a beautiful machine!

How about a photograph or two of the clock?

 

[scottyrocks]

The oldest man-made thing I have is probably a Chinese coin from c.1750. The oldest mechanical object is a Seth-Thomas OG clock which was bought new by my g-g-g-grandfather in 1848 (yes, it still runs).

Since my primary collecting focus is typewriters, my oldest typewriter is a c.1886 Caligraph No.2.

Oh, that is just too cool!

 

[rue]

^ I agree! It's gorgeous

 

[LocktownDog]

I've got a vertebra from an ichthyosaur found on BLM land in central Nevada. Does that count?

 

[scottyrocks]

I've got a jar full of that primeval ooze where it all started! <hehehehe>

No, but very interesting on that dino-bone, although it's not man made.

 

[LocktownDog]

Depends on your theology. We're all a nano-experiment by our unseen robotic overlords.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Like Lizzie, I have some fossils...mainly trilobites and shark's teeth...that are a bazillion years old. I also have some projectile points that I found on my property. Most of them are the Morrow Mountain type, which I understand to be 5000 to 7000 years old. And I have some Native American pottery shards that I found in the river bank where my land runs along the Trent River. I think the shards are much younger than the projectile points. I think they are only a thousand or so years old. I guess people have been living on my property for quite a long time now...

Jumping ahead, I have a Springfield smoothbore musket from 1849…made just after the Mexican War…and a pile of dug-up relics from the American Civil War...and a Yankee soldier’s New Testament…and a letter home from a Confederate soldier, too.

I have a bunch of North Carolina pottery and North Carolina duck decoys…mostly made during the period between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of WWII. I used to collect both pottery and decoys until I was priced out of the market.

I have a bunch of WWII stuff. Helmets, a carbine, a couple of .303 Enfields, some web gear and who knows what else. And going forward to the fifties, I have a pile of flight jackets and a few Stetsons from that era.

Finally….I have 1955 vintage me.

AF

 

[Olivander]

How about a photograph or two of the clock?

For some reason, I don't have any pictures of it. I'll have to do that.

 

[jamespowers]

I'm actually planning on selling them, since I have nowhere to put them. Interested James?

Uh no. Not with a three and five year old around. They would be kindling in a few days.

 

[Olivander]

How about a photograph or two of the clock?

Here you go. The white things are bits of cotton I stuck in the gong to make the chimes not so loud, especially at night.