The Oldest Things You Own

[hobbsyoyo]

So, do any of you own anything really old? Anything antique, timeworn or just plain ancient?

I own this old Geiger counter, I think it's from the 60's and it came from the Oak Ridge laboratory in Tennessee. It's pretty much useless as a working Geiger counter and totally obsolete but it has these cool looking lightbulbs and it's fun to turn it on to show guests, set it to 'test' and then act freaked out when they suddenly register at 1billion rems.

Spoiler :

I also own some fossils I dug up but I can't find them at the moment. They are ~250 million years old

Spoiler :

Archimedes Screw
The fossil of this that I have is a bit smaller than this but comes to a point at the end, it was the tip of the screw, so to speak.

Crinoids
All I have of the Crinoids are the stems, which are much more plentiful than the tip that is in the above picture

Then there's a pair of flip-flops that I bought between 1999 and 2001. They are only remarkable because they're so old; usually flip flops last a year tops. I didn't wear them very much for most of the time I've had them. Now that I have a puppy and have to put him out every hour or so, they have gotten a lot more use and probably won't last the year out.

Does anyone own anything really old that normally doesn't last very long such as flip flops? Any cool antique stuff?

When my fossils turn up I'll post a pic.

 

[Cutlass]

Some tools that date to the 19th or start of the 20th century is about it.

 

[nc-1701]

I have an 1878 Silver dollar, a "Trade Dollar" as opposed to a "Morgan Dollar" too, I have a few other random old coins, but the're mostly wheat pennies and such from the early 20th century.

 

[Borachio]

Yeah. I've a number of really quite old tools that my father owned. And, knowing him, he'd have acquired them second hand in 40's (probably). Wooden planes and the like. I wouldn't like to say how old they are. Not very, I suppose.

Apart from that my house was built in 1926.

I did have a leather belt from when I was eleven, I think, until it gave up the ghost a year ago. I'd worn it nearly every day.

 

[Kennigit]

rem is equivalent or effective dose a geiger counter is rad or just counts. Well you can assume I guess

I got scifi books from 1960s.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah. I've a number of really quite old tools that my father owned. And, knowing him, he'd have acquired them second hand in 40's (probably). Wooden planes and the like. I wouldn't like to say how old they are. Not very, I suppose.

Apart from that my house was built in 1926.

I did have a leather belt from when I was eleven, I think, until it gave up the ghost a year ago. I'd worn it nearly every day.

That belt is pretty impressive.

 

[Phrossack]

I've some fossils or imprints of seashells from Missouri, so they're a few hundred million years old. And I have a battered old book of photos and illustrations of the Great War from 1916.

 

[Antilogic]

My parents have an old wooden box camera, not sure about the exact date but it looks like a 1920s-1930s model. I found this stock photo that looks fairly similar:

Spoiler :

As for more ordinary things, I have some stuffed animals and other toys from the 80s and very early 90s, and a handful of books that I got from a professor who attended a divinity school, some of them are from the 1940s and 1950s.

 

[Borachio]

That belt is pretty impressive.

Yeah. It lasted really well. My brother got an identical one at the same time. And a few years ago he tried mine on (his having long gone missing) - it didn't quite reach round him. In fact it was short by a good six inches. It fitted me fine, though.

It's strange. My brother has always been hard on his clothing. Within a few months everything's completely worn out. While mine always seemed to last at least decades. Apart from work boots, which always seemed to last me a year.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I've some fossils or imprints of seashells from Missouri, so they're a few hundred million years old. And I have a battered old book of photos and illustrations of the Great War from 1916.

It's pretty cool this area was well underwater back then and now it's the middle of the continent.

My parents have an old wooden box camera, not sure about the exact date but it looks like a 1920s-1930s model. I found this stock photo that looks fairly similar:

Spoiler :

As for more ordinary things, I have some stuffed animals and other toys from the 80s and very early 90s, and a handful of books that I got from a professor who attended a divinity school, some of them are from the 1940s and 1950s.

Odd, my sister has a camera just like that as well.

 

[Saxony]

A book about the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 printed in 1907 in Norway. Also a small piece of a mammoth tusk that is probably 30 000 years old.

 

[Tsoate]

At time I feel my laptop must be.

 

[Kyriakos]

I don't have anything really old...

Wish i had some book which was old though.

 

[Thedrin]

I've a pair of Adidas track suit trousers from August or September 1998. Buttons run the full length of each leg. Unbuttoned, the trouser legs cease to be tubes. These used to be fashionable.

 

[Glassfan]

Yeah, I collect old history books when we go antiquing. Also, I didn't mention it during Senor Hobbs' anniversary thread, but I once bought my wife a pair of trilobite earrings.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah, I collect old history books when we go antiquing. Also, I didn't mention it during Senor Hobbs' anniversary thread, but I once bought my wife a pair of trilobite earrings.

Did she like them?

I bought mine a trilobite necklace as a back-up gift and she likes it a lot.


Eh, I guess all those rocks I bought her are old but I have no idea how old.

Oh and I have a pair of Cedarcrest Junior High gym sweatpants that are from 1999. I need to get rid of them.

 

[The_J]

I guess my computer counts as old with 9 years ^^.

There are some old books at my parents, one of them a chemistry book from before WWII, I think. Would not be tremendously interesting, if it had not a recipe for tear gas in it (never tested it though).
My parents also have some WWII leftovers (including Swastika) and some Reichsmark, else I'm not sure if there's anything which counts as really old.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Isn't it illegal to keep Nazi stuff in Germany, The_J? Not that I care nor do I think your parents are Nazis or anything, I just thought it was super-illegal. Like knock down your door in the middle of the night and handcuff you and then throw you in jail illegal. Or something.

 

[Borachio]

Collecting Nazi memorabilia? I know some people do it in the UK. It's a highly suspect practice, but legal.

I was in a pub once when some young girl came in dressed in a Nazi uniform - for a fancy dress do, I expect. The place went deathly quiet and she very quickly left. Wrong pub.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah but Germany has laws against everything Nazi AFAIK. Even the movie Valkyrie about the would be Hitler-assassin ran into legal issues when they released it there.

Edit: Was she on a dare you think?