The oldest thing you own

Not the oldest thing I own but one that I still use when a job requires it is my Grandfathers Estwing hammers. There is a 16 ounce finish hammer and a 22 ounce framing hammer, both with stacked leather handles. He always kept the leather varnished and they are in really good condition. They have to be from the early 40's and speak to me when I have one in my hand.....
 
I have a few mineral samples that are obviously really old, some crystals that were formed during the eruption of Vesuvius and some iron balls that were formed by the eruption of a long gone volcano in central TX. I collected them, but no family story.

I have some hand tools that were my great grandfathers, say mid 1800's.

A couple rail car lanterns that my great uncle bud, who worked for the railroad, salvaged.

My family suffers from a certain amount of pragmatism. They were poor, and as they became succesful through the generations they tended to discard the old stuff; there was no interest in where we came from or what we had been (some of which was not strictly legal) it was all about the present and the future.
 
I have some old photos that belonged to my Grandma. I guess they're 1800's

I have some older furniture, nothing special, and some doodads here and there.
 
I was going to say "me."

I'd love to have a megalodon tooth. Those are awesome finds! There is a quarry in eastern NC where they are abundant.

Oldest thing...I have a Bible and some books from the mid-1800s.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SPM
My ancestors were typically poor, working folks, so we don't have a lot of things that have been handed down. The oldest thing I own that I can think of is my grandfather's Remington 12A 22 rifle. It was manufactured and bought for him by his father the month he was born...February 1921.

fieldgrade said:
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.


View attachment 12788
Click to expand...

I've seen this piece in person. Pictures do not do it justice. It is absolutely gorgeous.


Chuckman said:
I was going to say "me."

I'd love to have a megalodon tooth. Those are awesome finds! There is a quarry in eastern NC where they are abundant.

Oldest thing...I have a Bible and some books from the mid-1800s.
Click to expand...

I had a small involvement in helping open a rock quarry in Leland. Some of our guys were finding teeth almost as big as your hand.

We find small teeth regularly at the phosphate mine in Aurora. Some even surface in the plant sidewalks after being part of the large aggregate in the concrete mix.
 
Last edited:
You guys with the arrowheads...look into what they might be if you ever get a chance.
Dad collected a bunch of arrowheads when he was a boy in the fields of Ohio. Put them in a portable display case.
My Dad knows everybody, so he had them dated and researched. Turns out they're not cowboy and indian pieces, but prehistoric caveman arrowheads.
My Brother has them now, but Dad did give me one...

 
Friday said:
You guys with the arrowheads...look into what they might be if you ever get a chance.
Dad collected a bunch of arrowheads when he was a boy in the fields of Ohio. Put them in a portable display case.
My Dad knows everybody, so he had them dated and researched. Turns out they're not cowboy and indian pieces, but prehistoric caveman arrowheads.
My Brother has them now, but Dad did give me one...

Click to expand...

That's an axe. My FIL has found several of those in West Kentucky.
 
My grandfather collected arrowheads. He farmed a bit over 1,000 acres in IL and he could spot an arrowhead from the seat of the tractor. Had hundreds of them, a few axes and even a couple milling stones (used them to hold a tarp down). All disappeared quietly into the other side of the family when he passed.
 
All this talk of Grandpa's (read into that what you will!) got me thinkin'...

This was my dad's dad's. I got it from a distant relative, Don, who'd had it since he was a boy. (A retired mining engineer in CO.) He reached out to family members he could find, eventually finding my Aunt, who mentioned it to my Mom, who called me. I contacted him and gratefully accepted it. This was in 1989, when I was living in Winston-Salem.

He shipped it quickly, and included a letter telling me what he remembered about the banjo and my granddad. Turns out he was something of a rascal! Apparently, grandpa went out on the town one night, "borrowed" (*ahem*) someone's car to get home, crashed it, slept God knows where, then ran off & joined the Army to avoid the consequences! It turned out to be a career move, so to speak; he did his 30 & retired.

It's not the oldest thing I own, but one of the most cherished. It's in dire need of restoration. :oops: The serial #'s put it probably btw 1920-1922:

Fairbanks Banjo by The Vega Company
Fairbanks-Vega Banjo.jpg
-------------^^^^^^------------
The toes are pretty old, too.
 
Last edited:
That's a great story, Windini.

I'm no expert, so I can't say for sure, but that may be either a banjorine or a banjolin because of the shorter neck.
 
trcubed said:
That's a great story, Windini.

I'm no expert, so I can't say for sure, but that may be either a banjorine or a banjolin because of the shorter neck.
Click to expand...

Banjolin would be my guess, since it's got 4 paired strings a la mandolin. And yeah, it's a great piece of family history! I gotta dig that letter up a reread it!
 
My middle name. Barzilla. Bar-zil-lee is how to pronounce it. It was the name of a man named Barzilla Mills, founder of a small comunity of Mill Springs over in Polk Co. NC. He was a brother in law to Charles Green.

When Charles came back from the war of Northern Aggression Charles found his wife had died. He remarried to his first wifes best friend. They had a son and he named him after his first wifes brother. Pissed his second wife off bad.

The name also is mentioned in the time.of King David. I know the story. Look it up.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
 
I've got a Civil War Remington black powder pistol that has been in the family since new and a cookoo clock that was made in the 1850 in Germany and was brought home by my Great great great grandfather at the end of WW I. My Great grandmother gave it to me when I was born in 1960.
 
Hammer21b said:
... and was brought home by my Great great great grandfather at the end of WW I. My Great grandmother gave it to me when I was born in 1960.
Click to expand...
We're four years apart in age and my grandad served in 1918. I'm trying to get this math to work.

I know, we said no math on this forum on Saturday nights, buttt.....
 
Oldest thing I own? My wife? Let me look around. Probably some coins or paper money. Have a black eagle paper horse blanket note from 1899. Have some pennies from early 1860s.
 
BASIL said:
View attachment 12860

The Bible is 1881. The 22 short is about mid to late 1800's.
The meg teeth are a little older.;)
And I did find dive for the teeth myself.
I like old stuff.:)
Click to expand...
S&W?

I have a S&W Model 2 Series 1 that has veen dated to the 1860s (can't remember). It's posted in the revolver thread. Also have a "My Friend" knuckleduster that is presumably as old. The family story is that they came across the prairie in a covered wagon. In that time period, as far as pur research has found, the prairie would have been between Mercer Co, PA and Rush Co, IN. Also have a family Bible that may be as old or older with some birth/death/marriage records. Other than that, some of my grandfather's tools that predate my dad (born 1949). Even some old Snap-On stuff. My cousin has the best stuff, including a sea chest full of pictures and records from my great-grandparents, maybe older. She won't relinquish it tp us to go through it and record it. I do also have a couple of plantation shutters from my great-grandmother's old Victorian house in Rushville, IN before it was torn down. Wish I could have gotten some of the millwork, mantles, and huge pocket doors too.
 
Fossil of a Lycopod tree/plant. If I'm off on the timeline please let me know. 358-420 million years old. I sleep to the sound of a box fan. I put this fossil behind it to keep the fan from moving on my wood floor. ;o)image.jpeg image.jpeg
 
RetiredUSNChief said:
I have a lot of dirt around the property.

I hear that it can be upwards of 4.5 billion years old...
Click to expand...

Damn ya ta hell !... I was formin a real bangup dirt post and ya beat me too it...Now I gotta go dig in the closets n crap...after doin that kinda crap all day...and try to find my New Republic, American 1/2 Penny, from the late 1700s. Ya old buzzard ! ;)
 
Last edited:
Another pic loaded up.
This picture is actually hanging up in the town Resturant. Found a couple other pictures in books about the county too.
Also, Found it's description in the application for federal historical township registration too. Love having the history of it since it was first built.


image_8.jpg
 
Last edited:
spittinfire said:
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.
Click to expand...
I cant remember off the top of my head. Ill get a picture of it later
 
Grits said:
My middle name. Barzilla. Bar-zil-lee is how to pronounce it. It was the name of a man named Barzilla Mills, founder of a small comunity of Mill Springs over in Polk Co. NC. He was a brother in law to Charles Green.

When Charles came back from the war of Northern Aggression Charles found his wife had died. He remarried to his first wifes best friend. They had a son and he named him after his first wifes brother. Pissed his second wife off bad.

The name also is mentioned in the time.of King David. I know the story. Look it up.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


I got punched by "Barzilla" one night in Columbia. Hmmm. Do you have a nice collection of plaid shirts?
 
I'm wearin' out the "like" button on this thread!

Some cool stuff being shown/discussed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom