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What's the oldest thing in your house?


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i have a miniature stove - probably from the early 1900's - that sits on my coffee table; i got it helping my mom clean out my great aunt's home after she died last summer. it's from belleville, illinois, where my great uncle worked on the railroad. :)

 

I would love to see that!

 

Upon further thought, a few old things in my house: the Duncan-Pfiff couch in my living room was made in 1917. It was the first "real" furniture I bought, from a friend of mine who bought it at auction and kept it for a few years. I also have a 1932 edition of the Fanny Farmer cookbook.

 

I hit an estate sale in my neighborhood today. I know none of the stuff I bought qualifies as the oldest in my house, but it was cool nonetheless: a 1950s tablecloth, a china poppy-print platter (I collect them) and a honey pot shaped like a beehive, in blue.

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I'm older than the house (but the house is older than my wife).

 

We've got a brass bed that I'm pretty sure was my mom's when she was a kid, and a couple of really old fashioned wooden schooldesk things that are early/mid 1900's.

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I forgot about my fossils -- supposedly from the Rockies when they were undersea, whatever era that was.

 

My house is from 1912-ish, as is most of it's wiring. :unsure

 

I've inherited a beautiful cherry dresser from the 1920s, diamond wedding band from the 20s, and a walnut

gate-leg dining room table from California circa the 30s I believe.

 

My most cherished possessions may be my Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Owl (Kanga and Roo got lost along the way)

from about 1960. I wore all the fur off Pooh, he was my security blanket.

 

It's been suggested that my Ark of the Covenant is a fake, but the linen closet it's stashed in glows in the dark at night.

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I've been told that I have a pair of ghosts residing in my house. They're supposedly an elderly couple, but since they haven't presented themselves to me, I have no idea how old they are.

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I have nothing old in this house.

 

Downtown is decidedly unsentimental and won't abide anything old...(which makes me sleep with one eye open)

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I have found things in every wall we have removed. Many photos from the 1890's of the family who lived here, magazines, leters, kids toys, a purse with receipts from local merchants for coal & groceries and lumber from May of 1890. An architecture book and engineering book also from the 1890's.

 

some of oldest things that have dated stamped in them are the door & window hardware, like these:

 

IMG4644.jpg

 

and these

 

IMG4639.jpg

 

which have a mfging date of 1878 on the back.

 

we have yet to gut the 1860 half of the house. hoping to find more good stuff.

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Wow, lots of folks here with old houses. My former house dated to roughly 1928 (though the exact date was never actually recorded with the town, so give or take a year or two). Loved that house, although I really didn't have the time or the money to keep up with the maintenance the way it needed. My new house was built in 1998. Definitely less character. At least I don't freeze through the winter anymore, though. These are the tradeoffs. :lol

 

I'm not even sure what the oldest thing in the house is now. Undoubtedly, some spare parts from the old house made the trip in my boxes of tools. Aside from that, I'm not sure.

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I have my name sakes discharge papers from the Navy after WWI.

 

My house was built in 1921.

 

A first edition of "Revolt in the Desert" (Lawrence of Arabia)

 

A couple dozen miscellaneous tintypes from before th turn of the century

 

1820's Spanish coins

 

Stocks certificates issued on April 14, 1865

 

a Burnside Breech loading rifle carried by a relative in the civil war.

 

and...

 

possibly oldest of all...

 

rocks.

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Somewhere in this house, probably in the attic, I have my grandfather's old medals from the Irish war of Independence. In a box somewhere with my own navy medals. So his ones were from the late teens to the early 20's.

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I have a book of photos of my ancestors, including someone (don't know exactly who it is) with a piano and a guitar... LIKE ME!

Also we have a HUGE old dictionary that was my maternal grandfathers. The only thing we have by him... so of course, it's used as a stand for my parents TV.

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I recently acquired an old Underwood yypewriter from the '30s too, which isn't really that old but it's still awesomeness (and weighs a ton, if we ever have a burglar, I'll just grab it and throw it on his foot). I like to tap at the keys just to here it go.

 

'Bout a month ago I picked up an early L.C. Smith typewriter ( pre-dates Smith Corona). A little beat up...$20 bucks at an estate sale. Fast forward a few days later, I stumble across a early twenties Underwood. Perfect shape. Guy calls me yesterday says I can have it for $25.

*Ding*

Had to have it. Now I have them both on my desk....no room for my laptop.

 

 

 

 

Lots of old junk from the twenties though the forties at my home. Many varieties of radios and a few early phonographs. Lots of telephones ( Wall cranks and Candle sticks).

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When I moved from my prior house to this one in 2002, my mom who lives in Kentucky said to me "Please Tell me you're at least moving into a newer house," I replied "The new one's 16 years newer, it was built in 1886 versus 1870." She didn't find this amusing at all.

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