My mother's wedding band. She married Dad 74 years ago.

Our oldest 'known' item is probably the pie safe built by DH's great-grandfather, probably sometime in the early 1900's. It doesn't have tin panels but the shape is the same. Most of the items I treasure from my side of the family are no older than 1930's ... they didn't bring much over from the old country.

My Great Grandmother's wedding ring. 1870.

I have some glassware from the late 1890s and some other glassware from 1914 that was a wedding present for my great grandmother.

I have a hat pin and a jewelry box from my grandmother.

I have a lot of antiques from my side and DH’s side of the family and others purchased by us, but Lucille’s post reminded me that we have a coprolite, which is a fossilised dinosaur poo.

I have a pair of brass candelabras with prisms hanging from them. When my FIL died there they were. I never liked them but I couldn't bear to see them just discarded so I took them. I've grown to love them. I saw a picture of my MIL when she was a young girl standing next to a sideboard and the candelabras are in the background so I would say they're pretty old.

I was going to say 'me', but Elmer J Fudd beat me to it, The oldest are rocks in our rock collection. Those agates are as old as the hills except granite is likely older.

I do have a few pieces associated with humans:

o An 8 day, weight driven, shelf clock made by Jarred Arnold ca 1830.

o A muster roll of a company of Illinois Mounted Volunteers in the Black Hawk war of 1832.

o A wrist watch my Dad wore during WW1 in Europe. It has 24hr markings.

o French coins my Dad had in his pocket when he returned to the States after WW1. A couple of these date before 1900.

o My sister has a stereo-opticon with many slides ca 1910.

o A photo-portrait of my g-g-grandmother ca 1870.

o A Daguerreotype of another G-G-Grandmother ca 1845.

o 5.25 in Floppy discs and a book about how to build a 80386 computer.

o Long play large diameter vinyl records.

o 45 rpm records from the 1960s.

This recounting has made me feel like a fossil - Gotta stop!

You win compared to me all the same, jemdandy. I'm still in my 60s but we have no collections of antiques, old stuff nor family objects. It's not our thing to acquire or keep such things as many like to do.

A pair of Staffordshire spaniels from 1832

me. we built 20 years ago.

DH will be 93 next week! I’m not sure about the old oak dough box....

Probably this little bench. It was built by DH’s uncle, and he is passed many years ago.

Hand hewn beams we salvaged from the old house which we estimate was built about 1790.

My husband has some ancient Chinese statues and a water carrier, literally thousands of year old. They were on display, on a high shelf, until we saw our cat jump up there. Now they are put away until we figure out a cat-proof way to display them.

When we married, I gave my husband a "rock." It's a 90 pound piece of float copper that a farmer dug up in Wisconsin, near the Niagara Escarpment. My dad bought it and kept it outside, near the house. When my parents moved to Florida, they brought it with them. My brother helped us drive it up to New York. So first it moved around by glacier, then by motor vehicles.

A Dutch Delft pancake plate that hangs in my Livingroom. It belonged to my fathers grandmother. His sister gifted it to me when she past away. It's probably about 110+ years old.

Ah yes, jemdandy, you reminded me we do have a piece of petrified wood...no idea how old that is.

I have some petrified wood bookends that were sliced from a section of a petrified log and a stone axe. The stone axe was found in North Carolina by my brother when he was a child. I lost most of my antique furniture in the flood. What is left is stored in the new barn.

This post makes me wonder where any objects from grandparents, g-grandparents, etc, got to. My sister and I have a few things from our parents' home, but that is it. She and I have had a hard time getting rid of any of these things, as it's just the two of us left.

I loved reading about and seeing the pictures of your treasures, I think the oldest items I have are antique embroidery items, floss holder, embroidery from the late 1800s. Its all packed away. I have my Great Grandmother's gold wedding band from the 1800s. Her ring size was so small. Post cards from the late 1800s and early 1900s. I had a book written about the War of 1812 written not long after the war. I gave it to my niece when she was learning about the war in grade school. It was my Grandfather's book and I don't know where he got it because he didn't arrive in Canada until 1911. I am sure there are much older items around here such as rocks and crystals I have collected over the years. My Dad was thrilled when I gave him a piece of shale that was taken from deep down in the ground after I watched it come up during an oil drilling process I watched on an oil rig in Alberta. I am sentimental and some things are too precious to get rid of. This from a girl who still has most of her dolls, some toys and every greeting card she has received since the day she was born.

I have several old items; oil lamps ( including a gorgeous green one my DH bought at a yard sale for $1 !), my mother-in-laws china cabinet, a glass cream pitcher from the 1880's, old books, etc., but the oldest thing I have is probably a 1860 Indian Head penny. I just recently found the penny in my husband's things. It was in an old container with a V nickel, about 35-40 wheat pennies and several foreign coins. It had to have belonged to my late FIL, because I had never seen it before.

I think the oldest thing I have is a small Bible that was given to my Aunt when at age 10, she entered a young peoples class at the family's church. That would have been in 1908. It measures just 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches, so the print is tiny.

1720 walnut six board chest

My oldest thing (besides fossils) is a heavy oak secretary that the local auction house dated as 17th century, from the construction. The top is not original to the base, and the experts thought that the carving was probably added later as well. The brasses on the drawers are not original either.

King Stephen was the grandson of William the Conqueror; his reign was disputed by his cousin Matilda and marred by a long civil war on that account . Why someone in the 17th century or later would memorialize him on this furniture piece is a mystery - the seller, whose family had owned it, didn't know. Perhaps they were distantly descended from him and had forgotten the connection.
I bought it from a neighbor who had brought it with them from England, when they moved here for a job. They were returning and decided to not take it with them.

I'm getting there :o)

Obviously the dirt under our feet is older than any thing we own but dirt or rocks isnt important to us in the same way as the made by us things we own.

Raee, interesting history. To add to your information. Henry l the youngest son of of William the Conqueror lost his only son(drowning from a ship wreck) and designated his daughter Matilda as his heir. He had people like, nephew Stephen swear fealty to Matilda as the heir. Stephen after Williams death immediately made a play for the crown and the two went back and forth for a depressingly long time. When Stephens only son died in battle he agreed to support Matilda's son Henry as the heir of them both. He was Henry ll, husband of Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Richard Lion the Lion heart and John Lackland (youngest son of henry ll) the eventual heir of them all and the one who had children to inherit. Stephen was the son of a daughter of William l. This all happened in the late 1000's (remember william l is 1066)

I forgot to say Great Aunt Nellie's silver baby spoon. Maybe 1870 or so?

My attitude. Even I'm fed up with it.

I don't collect antiques, but years ago my cousin gave me a family heirloom that she disliked. It's a large ceramic pitcher with our great-grandfather's name (misspelled, I should add) on one side, and roses on the other. I don't know what the occasion was, but I know it he received it as a gift and that it had something to do with horse racing - he was a trainer. It probably dates back to the later 1880's. I was very nervous, flying back from the East Coast with that in my carryon bag.

I have a Law Book about usury practices (interest rates) published in 1832. It belonged to my g-g-grandfather, one of the early settlers in Edwards County, IL. I have no idea why he had it. He did run for state representative once, lost, and became a Minister of the Gospel in the Primitive Baptist Faith. Preachers in that old time faith avoided the title, Reverend, and were called Elder or Minister of the Gospel (MOG). Their reasoning was that the term, reverend, occurs only once in the Bible and it referred to Jesus Christ, therefore, it would be unbecoming to assume this title.

I have a few of my Dad's school books from the period of 1902-1910. His 8th grade math book has a procedure for extracting the cube root of a number. It also advises that its okay to use 3 1/7 for pi in most calculations (3.14286 versus 3.141572).

I have my grandparent's wedding gift of a mantel clock from 1900, I have an old coal powered (ha) iron that is from either late 1800 or early 1900, and my grandfather's old lantern that he used as a boy to milk cows (that's the story) so, 1880 or 1890.

I was going to say my husband....lol...but I'll go with the original doors in my 100 year old home.

A small trilobite fossil (birthday present years ago to have me feel young) - (~500 million ya)

A nautilus fossil in basalt from Colombia (~? Jurassic))

A few minor minerals — fluorite, Herkimer “diamonds” (NY, quartz) (Herkimer “diamonds” about 500 million ya)

A few inexpensive pieces of jewelry (must find some relative to give this to)

One really cool thing — an old, hand made ? pine Boston style rocker with an enormous carved seat from a single section of wood. Probably mid 1800s.

I have an assortment of unusual old glassware, some of my grandmother’s (~1860s) cotton or linen aprons, whatever. Her very old pine rolling pin. I want to re-home what I can, but, as many of you probably understand) younger folks are not usually keen on being given this sort of thing. Maybe diamonds and emeralds, but I have nothing like that. I do have a few “smalls” such as an old Shaker wooden “jar,” but even then, I might only find a single taker. I became the temporary storage for much of this when various households moved.

I could almost open my own Etsy store, but I fail big if I have to wrap and mail anything. Bah. Nothing is “valuable.”

If it is still here, I have been unable to find it, one of my greats brought back from the civil war a newspaper printed on wall paper. I know where that is but doubt if it is authentic. I found one of the coins, a 5 cent piece, he brought back when cleaning out my parents house. I put it in a bag and carefully placed it in a container. My husband took everything out and dumped it all together. He did mention later that some of the coins fell on the ground while he was dumping them into what he was putting them in. He also allowed anyone that wanted change for bus fare to take what they wanted from those containers. I have not did more than look for slightly larger coins in the group because I did not want to be disappointed when I did not find it.

^^^ ouch. I have a grand uncle who fought for the Union in the Civil War. A lot of his journals were apparently discarded decades ago (perhaps through a house fire). I do have a photo of him and a copy of a letter asking his commander if he might have some time (date = ____) to travel four of five states away to see his dying mother.

In the photograph, he (a Lt. Col.) was dressed in tattered clothing, the trousers falling about 6 inches below the tops of his feet. He is very thin, and although upright and dignified in posture, looks exhausted and underweight.

We are unlikely to ever comprehend the many enormous sacrifices.

One item that was passed on to me was one of the books from Oliver Otis Howard, a Civil War hero from Leeds, Maine (possibly a relative — Some family was from there and since the 1600s, we had family scattered all over New England). He lost an arm in that war. Howard University was named for him (I hope to research how that came to be). He was an accomplished writer and wrote several books. The book I have is titled “My Life and Experiences Among Our Hostile Indians.” The book contains (gruesome) colored plates of (Indian-Native American made) necklaces from human digits.*

The book is old. I should probably look into giving it to an historical society or to HU.

I’d forgotten all about it until I saw maifleur’s post.

*Anyone care to see a photo? Life was different in those days.

petalique, this will get you started on Howard's history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Otis_Howard?wprov=sfla1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_University?wprov=sfla1

If you can post a photo of the book and its title page, I can give you some idea of the value.

Lucille — If you’d like to have a shot at finding out ? Brachiopod fossils are and the age (and the formation in which they’re embedded), here is what I suggest.

Take some good/decent photos in good light (focused and no motion, phone photo okay). A bright, somewhat overcast (high clouds) day is ideal. Close up, as you photographed above, but better light, no motion. Give the camera a microsecond to set focus and resolve. Have a neutral tone background so that you don’t through the light meter off.

Figure out or remember where you found them. Town, state, approximate location. Maybe note any landmarks in the area — intersections, approximate house address, rock formations.

Even with just this, on your own, you can probably find out their age and the rock formation in which they’re embedded. I may be able to help.

If there is a college or university with an earth science or geology department, you’re in luck. Profs and people around that department will be able to tell you about them.

If there is an outing club, you might also get some help. This stuff can be really interesting if you have any flicker of curiosity about natural history.

And, isn’t it cool that we can hike in someplace like the Catskills and find fossils or marine life from so long ago? I’ve got some fossils like this from the Catskills — the rocks from which they came were once under salt water.

Can you tell me the town, state where you found these?

Here is a link that you might find interesting:

(Photos at link)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachiopod#/media/File:Cincinnetina_meeki_(Miller,_1875)_slab_2.jpg

Thanks, Bookwoman. I’ll try to get to that. About ten - fifteen years ago, I looked around on eBay and it appeared there were (different times) a couple w asking prices of ~ $500.

I see that Amazon lists a (new) hardcover for about $30.

Having a large house and space, I ended up with several old books. Wish that book of Ogden Nash verse was among them.

If called by a panther ...

A lot of old book value depends on condition as well as edition, what kind of binding it's in, etc. Ebay sellers don't, for the most part, tend to know a lot about books. You can sometimes find really good bargains, and sometimes they're wildly overpriced.

It's amusing to look back now - at the time (3 decades ago now!) I hated the old case goods that I got as hand me downs.

Both my side of my family and my spouses kept various pieces of old case goods and handed them down through the generations. I have old rockers, old dressers, a super old hall tree with a storage bench (my favorite piece now), 2 glass fronted hutches, assorted tables and desks, and all kinds of odds and ends all over my house. They were all free. Most of them are still study as heck and will outlive me.

I know old "brown" furniture isn't popular now, but as I've aged I no longer care. This stuff is built like a tank, and the quality alone makes me appreciate it far more than newer stuff.

patrice, I suspect that with all of us staying home so much more, a warmer aesthetic is what many people will want, as opposed to sterile gray and glass. Brown furniture may become 'in' once again!

This puzzle came to California on a covered wagon with my great-great-uncle (maybe one more great). The long wire loop goes around the pins and through the rings. The goal is to get it completely off (it's half off now). It takes about 1/2 hour to get completely free even if you know what you are doing (and another 1/2 hour to put back on).

The house itself - 1858.

The slate floor tile in the foyer without a doubt. Probably second oldest are some Native American artifacts that my dad found when he was a child. Or possibly the tree that this was made out of:

If that wooden box has or appears to have had a metal lining boxes like that used to be used to store things like flour when buying 25 pound bags was normal. One of my grandmothers had one similar to the picture. Not all with metal linings were for food storage were for anything that mice would get into.

No metal lining and no evidence that it ever had one but I'm familiar with the flour/ sugar bins you're talking about, Maifleur. My box is quite rustic/ primitive. The hinge placement is all wonky. Whoever made it didn't put any effort into spacing them evenly so don't think it was ever intended to be used anywhere except an outbuilding. Also, it is quite large--it could easily hold 100+ #'s of flour. So I'm OK with the chicken feed theory. We used it for a dirty clothes hamper at one time when we lived in a house with a large laundry room. Since then, mostly used for off season blanket storage.

My father.

Also, I have a lace pillow made by my great-great grandmother.

A crock for making sauerkraut that belonged to great-great grandfather.