The oldest thing you own

Ancestral genes that are flowing through my blood all the way down to my kids, but your is cool also!!!
 
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Right off hand, I'm gonna say this dining room chair. It is one of six that I, my mom, and siblings own collectively. They have been in the family since new, around 1830. They were purchased new for the family home in Wade, Cumberland County, NC. (the house is still standing and occupied by the family that bought from ours around 1900, pictured below)

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I'll do a pic later - but I THINK the oldest thing I own is my dining table and chairs - it belonged to my great-grandparents, circa 1930s (found the company, sent them pictures and model numbers etc)

Now, that said, I might have some old Soviet items that are older, not 100% on that, its likely not.
 
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No wife jokes. :rolleyes:

No contest at my house.
Megalodon teeth that some dive buddies from Maryland gave to me.



My favorite...well ONE of my favorite... parts of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum is the Megaladon jaws - I could just about walk straight through them without bending and nothing would touch.
INSANE.
 
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The house it self cir. 1846


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It has gone thru extensive additions/remodels since then

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That right there is sweet.

Thank you. I really wanted to collect them but just couldn't afford to.

The history of these coins could be very interesting. They were used by pirates and as currency in the early stages of the US before we had our own minting.

That's what I find so cool about them. It may have just been in a mamasitas underwear drawer for 200 years.

But it could have been on the high seas.
 
For our 20th Anniversary I took my wife to Charlottesville for a Monticello trip and to hit all the VA cideries we could. My wife likes a good dry, hard cider. Insert joke there. While in the gift shop up there I told my wife we aren't buying the kids some piece of crap chinese toy. So I bought them each a silver 1/2 piece of eight from I think about 1760 or so. Nothing expensive. Think they were about $30 or so. They are in the family safe right now. I've been buying them some silver for Christmas for several years at that point.

Our other cool old thing is a trophy my wife's great grandfather won for a bicycle race. Back in the late 1800's and early 1900 before cars were cool bicycles had a heyday. Especially in OH, PA and Western NY there were bike races with cash, jewels and other prizes. Maybe the MMA of the day. My wife's great grandfather not only won some races, but tried to start a professional bike racer union and league. He was also involved in some controversial races where one town would protest his winning. We have a ton of old newspaper accounts and information on the entire OH bike racing scene. Here's the trophy. It is made from silver and sits in my man cave. I inherited it from my MIL when she passed since I use to be an avid cyclist. And nobody else really gave a crap.

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I have an 1886 as well. It's uncirculated. Bought it when I was coin collecting as a kid back in the '70's. That's the oldest thing I own.

Wait. I just remembered this. This is part of a brick foundation I snuck off of Bald Head Island several years ago. It's from an old fort from either the Revolutionary or Civil War. Not sure which yet. I'll research it eventually. Great thread @Friday


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Possibly my great grandmothers sofa and chair. Classy looking. Also 1917 winchester pump 22
 
Pretty sure my first house is the oldest thing I own at present. Built in 1918. My oldest M-N is from 1925-a close second!

Just got a construction loan, will be remod'ing and moving back in later this year.
 
I have one other piece that I believe is very early 19th century, but I can't confirm it. When my dad's side of the family moved out of the house pictured above in Wade to Red Springs in Robeson County around 1906, this hunt board ended up in the house at some point. When we got it in the late '60's (1960's, wiseacres) the finish was black as baked on molasses, just like the chair I posted above. My parents ignored conventional wisdom when restoring or refinishing antiques and just stripped those muthers down.

We'd have never known those chairs were curly maple and bird's eye maple, or ever seen the tulip inlay in these table legs.


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1873 Model Winchester in .38-40
Will not post any pics, because I do not have any... it has been locked away in a very secure place in an undisclosed location.
Used in the Mine Wars, confiscated by Baldwin-Felts and US Army

A lot of history on that rifle. Will be the next research project.
 
1873 Model Winchester in .38-40
Will not post any pics, because I do not have any... it has been locked away in a very secure place in an undisclosed location.
Used in the Mine Wars, confiscated by Baldwin-Felts and US Army

A lot of history on that rifle. Will be the next research project.

Now that is effing awesome.
 
I have a large Bible from 1840.

There is a Bible in our family that dates back to the 1700's and shows a history of family names. My dad has some guns that my Great Grandfather owned as a boy and I know one rifle dates to the early 1880s. We've shot it a time or two but ammo is nearly impossible to find. 32 rimfire.
Then there is a small single shot pistol that dates back to the 1850s I think and I believe was owned by my great, great grandfather. It's a 22 rimfire, a vest pocket gun but we've never shot it.
 
My best shark tooth is neither as big or as old as those.
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I have a large cent I found when I was metal detecting alongside the Dismal Swamp Canal. It is so worn that you can't read the date but they were last minted in 1857. I also have a number of civil war era minie balls, also found while metal detecting in Suffolk, VA, and an arrowhead I found, believe it or not, when I was metal detecting behind Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia Beach. The signal was from a silver dime and I uncovered the arrowhead while digging the dime. It is probably the oldest thing I have but I have no idea of its age.
 
I have an old Allis Chalmers parts book from the '30s. Its pretty cool, I look at it every so ofter to see how cheap parts were back in the day

What models does it cover? My Grandfather was a die hard Allis Chalmers farmer. When he passed away he still had a model G which my cousin has now.
 
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Our house in Bayside, Maine was built in the late 1840's. The Camp is named "Breaking Wind" as it sits several feet out on the seawall further than the other places. It has stood on the seawall of Penobscot Bay for many years. The movie "Man Without a Face'' was filmed in Bayside & on the rocky beach in front of the house. The house that was the home of Mel Gibson was just up the road about a 1/4 mile. The movie people payed the locals to stay inside while they were filming. There's a scene in the movie showing the house & someone is peeking through the shades of 1 window. It was The Olde Dragons Aunt Jeanne the owner that bought the place in the late 1940's .That's doing something because all there is to do is sit on the porch & watch the tide. My youngest was there with her grandparents that summer & the movie folks through a big party in the park for the locals as a thank you. Mel Gibson was on hand & frequented all the areas attractions (few).

I've accumulated quite a bit of old stuff over the years. I have a set of eyeglasses from the 1770's that I wore all time when I was doing the Rendezvous circuit.
 
My best shark tooth is neither as big or as old as those.
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I have a large cent I found when I was metal detecting alongside the Dismal Swamp Canal. It is so worn that you can't read the date but they were last minted in 1857. I also have a number of civil war era minie balls, also found while metal detecting in Suffolk, VA, and an arrowhead I found, believe it or not, when I was metal detecting behind Arrowhead Elementary School in Virginia Beach. The signal was from a silver dime and I uncovered the arrowhead while digging the dime. It is probably the oldest thing I have but I have no idea of its age.

You might consider taking the arrowhead to a local University and asking them to check it out. Document it (and relevant laws governing historical artifacts) before you do, but I don't think they'd try to confiscate it or anything. They might be able to provide some insight on its age and relevance to the surrounding area.
 
Man, Where to start.

I have some coins from early 1800's. I have my great grandmothers Victorian photo album. It has a painted ceramic cover and has baby pictures of her in it. Puts it early to mid 1800's. I have a French guild shotgun that's early 1900's. The oldest things I have are some of my projectile points. I have some Archaic era points, Savanah River, Kirk Stemmed, Morrow Mountain. As well as some pottery pieces. Used to have a 3 space nutting stone but it got lost in a move. Have some actual arrow heads that are not quite as old too. I've got one that I'm not sure about. It has a clovis look to it but it's not flaked. It looks like it's been worked, but it would have had to been ground down.
 
I have a lot of dirt around the property.

I hear that it can be upwards of 4.5 billion years old...
So when we say "you're older than dirt", you know with some precision what we're talking about.
 
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