What is the oldest thing in your home? Is it a family heirloom, passed down through generations? Or something from your childhood that you just can't seem to give up?
Our oldest possession, we think, is this shadow box picture frame, which dates back to the 1870's. We have only had it for a few years, but though there is no family tale behind this small picture frame, it is handled and looked upon with love.
Having something old around puts things in perspective, a reminder of time gone by. It also shows us the importance of creating new things of quality and value, that will endure the years with grace.
when we cleaned out my grandparent's house after they passed away, I found these old Danish Bibles of that had my great-grandmother's name and 1901 in them. they are in Danish with gold edges and black leather and they sit on my bedroom Fireplace.
The oldest thing we have is an upright piano from 1832, it's beautiful.
The first that occured to me is... the apartment itself is the oldest thing... 18-something. But the oldest possession is probably tied between our coffee table, made by hand by my husband's grandfather. It's one of my favorite possessions as well. Or maybe the card catalog from the local VT library which my husband's other grandfather salvaged and eventually made it's way to us. I don't know where we're going to put it after we renovate or what to use it for though. Right now it holds small objects like lightbulbs and is sitting on bookshelves. But the bookshelves are going. Any creative use ideas?
I have to agree with Katie, the apartment itself is the oldest thing I own. 1898.
Like others, my apartment is the oldest thing I own, dating to 1925. In close second is something we found in our house, a 1934 certificate commemorating a girl's induction into a group at her local church called the Congrégation de la Sainte Vierge (a kind of religious keener's club).
It's a strange relic from a time when the church played a huge role in Montreal society; the parish that issued the certificate is now defunct.
The oldest thing in my home is ME (just kidding)
I cherish a small bible from 1857 with a four-leaf clover pressed in it. It's not a family piece, but I like to think someone carried it during the Civil War.
I have my great-great-great grandfather's Prussian army medals from the 1860s and '70s. I mounted them in a shadow box surrounding an 1890s photograph of him wearing them.
My kitchen table is an old farmhouse table my parents found at an antique story to go in the new house for their new baby (me). My dad refinished it and passed it down to me when he downsized his home at the same time I was moving out. I don't know that it's the oldest item in my home (I collect antique books), but its the one whose age is most meaningful.
the oldest thing we have is this gorgeous framed woodcut print from the 1500's. It is a scene of a seize of a castle in Algeria. You see all these drawn armies with tiny pikes and cannons as well as ships around this around the castle. It was the first christmas gift i ever gave my husband (hes part algerian but grew up in france)
We have a rocking chair and small side table that belonged to my grandmother (who is now 96). The pieces are handmade and from the late 1700s and were purchased in an antiques store in New England somewhere. They are made of a beautiful warm-colored wood with simple lines and seem to go perfectly with our mix of furniture.
probably a secretary's desk from 1800-something. it's not a family heirloom, but something my mom picked up at an antique store back in the '70s and has since passed along to moi. i love the warm tones of the wood, and it holds my laptop and files so nicely!
a set of sterling flatware, circa 1925, that belonged to my grandmother. i love the fact that it is monogrammed with her initials, which was a popular thing to do back then.
I guess I really get off on old stuff, a hepplewhite chair circa 1800 also an english game table with folding top circa 1800, a few engravings from the 1740's, a great big trunk with 1837 handpainted on the front, a map of poland from 1562, and oldest thing of all- a roman coin 184 AD. Funny thing is that alot of people think that "old stuff" is prohibitively expensive, not necessarily so, funny thing is the roman coin is only worth about $75...
We have a chippendale highboy that was my husbands great great grandfather's. It was custom made for with his initals (same as my husbands) inlaid into one of the drawer fronts. He fought in the civil war, so we think it probably dates to around 1860-1900.
One Valentine's Day, my wife gave me a bronze Roman ring that was dug up in Macedonia. They're apparently fairly common, so not terribly expensive, but it is around 2,000 years old.
Mine is in my apartment when I'm there: I always wanted something with history, and got it in my wedding ring, from 1899. The couple that was married on December 24, 1899 was doubly related to my family through two marriages within two families (at the great-and great-great level from me).
The couple's daughter, who emmigrated from Latvia in the early 1940's, passed one in the pair to my mom and the other one to my aunt. My mom gave me hers to give to my husband, and when my aunt heard about it, she wanted to give me the other so they could be a pair again.
Other than that, it's our apartment itself, built in 1912.
We bought some rocks from a store in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan that had a hand-lettered sign: "World's Oldest Antiques". I don't know the actual age of the rocks.
LOL... The oldest things I have are my old Singer sewing machines, 1920-1940, all still working.
I have a postcard from the 1890's that I bought in a junk shop. I think that's the oldest thing I own, and then probably my apartment.
A heavily carved monk's bench. I have no idea how old it is, but it's the weirdest-looking one I have ever seen.
I have a few antiques that I inherited when my grandmother died.
Two of them are items from *her* childhood in the 1920s. One is a cedar chest that her father built for her, still in great condition, still aromatic, and with a carved plaque inside proclaiming that it belongs to "Jeannie". The second is a Victorian pump organ (like a piano, but air-powered by foot pumps, instead of striking strings) that I believe she learned to play keyboards on. Late in her life she had it totally refurbished and it's both gorgeous and fully functional!
The third item was an heirloom even to her: a desk her grandfather made. The computer on which I type sits upon it. It shows its age, but for an item from ca. 1900 that's pretty reasonable. It's got these cool carved handles on the desk drawer that look like pears and leaves. On the front edge of the talk, about where your right hand happens to fall, there's a little discolored, divet worn away where (I imagine) someone cleaned? blotted? wiped? a fountain pen, time and time again...
Love 'em all!
I'm a student and still pretty nomadic, so the things I have that are old are small, but still precious:
- a 1904 book of the letters and speeches of Abraham Lincoln, beautifully bound
- an original edition of Robert Service's Ballads of a Cheechacko, passed down from my father, who bought it at a junk shop when he was a camp counselor in Thunder Bay back in the 60's
- and an 1892 print of the U.S. capitol, bought at a flea market in DC (where I live) for about $12.
All meaningful, all beautiful.
My grandfather's violin. I'm the only one in the family who plays, so it sort of went to me by default. It's from 1783 and even though it's not really an expensive instrument (comparatively speaking), I love it.
The oldest things I can think of:
1) A geode. Millions of years old?
2) Old Portugese beads that I bought in Ghana. They were common during the 19th-century, I think.
3) A world history textbook that stops before the "Great War." I love the old maps in it, plus the poems the ("Roses are red" type) that my great-grandmother wrote in it.
4) A few miniature paintings by my great-great-grandmother. When she was selling her artwork at fairs, she would sit there and paint miniatures to pass the time and make a little extra money. She had a lot of talent, and I especially love the little landscape painting--perhaps a model for a larger painting--because the scenery reminds me of the landscape near my hometown.
I have a book of quotations dated 1905. It was at my house when I was growing up, but I have no idea how it ended up there.
The oldest thing I own is an 18th century teapot that I inherited from my grandmother. I know nothing about china and all I can tell you about it is that it is blue and white, and the handle was broken in two places and appears to have been mended with thick patches of lead!
I don't really have anything old right now (college apartment) but my parents' house is full of old things. We have a pump organ that my great great grandma bought second hand in the 1870's, a huge chest from sometime in the 1800's (I can't remember when exactly), and tons and tons of things (books, dolls, etc) from the turn of the century and after, all family pieces. my mom also recently bought a ton of old book pages from 1400-1700 that she had framed. the oldest thing I have here is a rhinestone jewelry set that my grandma was given by an old boyfriend in the 30's.
Honestly, the oldest things in my house are probably some vintage clothes I have. I have a dress from the 30s and a suit from the 40s (can't wear the jacket; it's toooo Andrews Sisters). I would have thought the next oldest thing was the Danish Cado set my parents gave me that we had while I was growing up, but I just learned they bought it right after I was born. So I guess the next oldest thing would be my husband, though he won't really like that much.
Oh wait, he's saved. Just glanced around and saw some relief maps we have from 1892.
I have a small Hokusai painting which is probably from the late 18th or early 19th century.
Well, the building I live in was built in 1869, though it was re-habbed into apartments in 1986. I also have a dresser from circa 1910, some antique wooden boxes that were my grandmother's, and some jewelry items from the early 1900's that were passed down to me.
Forgot.......I also have 3 geodes on my bookshelf.......
Someone beat me out for the absolute oldest thing listed, but in my case it a pre-Columbian pot from about 500 AD. Because it's not one of the "big name" tribes everyone knows about (Incan, Aztec, Mayan), it was about $200. As the poster with the Roman coin almost said, a lot of the old, funky stuff is cheaper than the spanking new stuff.
A sheet of shale containing trilobite fossils. Roughly 300 million years old.
I've also got a hunk of gneiss from Canada that's probably around 2.5 billion years old, but could be as old as 3.5 billion years.
Well, I have a handful of fossils and fossil impressions that I've found over the years, but the oldest man-made object in our house is probably our dining table, which was made somewhere in New England around 1790. It was a wedding gift from my mom's siblings, a nice touch since their father, who was a prep school teacher, was an auctioneer and antiques dealer on the side/during summers. The table is tiny but gorgeous.
My husband claims to have a dinosaur's tooth, but it looks like cement to me.
We've got a map of our house dated 1892, the house we figure is about 1888.
We've got a furnace that must be 80-100 years old.
The oldest thing in my apartment is a mid-1800s upright piano. It was given to me by a customer I waited on during my days of waiting tables at Macaroni Grill (Italian franchised restaurant: the Chili's of Italian food).
The piano was given to me by a total stranger just after I had prayed that God would give a piano to me. I'm a Nashville-based aspiring singer-songwriter. I consider the gift not only one of the most beautiful things in my apartment, but also a beautiful testament of God's love for me. Every time I play it I'm reminded of how it was given to me.
The piano has great legs and inlays. It was refinished shortly before it was given to me.
Oldest thing in my home...is my home. It was built in 1839.