What Is The Oldest Thing You Own?

A Freeper | 2/15/2016 | jy8z

[jy8z]

I saw this question posed by a fellow FReeper in answer to another Freeper today. I thought it would make for an interesting topic. I do not remember who it was so I can't attribute it to them.

[ETL]

My grandmother gave me a Trilobite fossil from the Cambrian Age. It's supposedly 585,000,000 years old. She also gave me a fossil Platystrophia, a dual shelled creature from about a hundred million years earlier than that.

According to paleontologists, the oldest hard bodied life forms only date back to the beginning of the Cambrian, roughly 550 or so million years ago. Or did you mean the "Platystrophia" was about 100 million years more recent than the trilobite?

_________________________

"Platystrophia is an extinct genus of brachiopod that lived from the Ordovician to the Silurian in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. It has a prominent sulcus and fold. It usually lived in marine lime mud and sands."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platystrophia

_________________________

Devonian 419.2-358.9 million years ago
Silurian 443.4-419.2 million years ago
Ordovician 485.4-443.4 million years ago
Cambrian 541.0-485.4 million years ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geological_period

[rickomatic]

Winchester 1873 built in June 1876.

[MLL]

Megaldon tooth?

[Salamander]

Most useful old thing, yet.

:)

[Fiji Hill]

I have a rock...which has been a rock, since before Adam and Eve too.....

I have a rock that's a lot newer--it was made in 1971. I got it from a lava flow at Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii.

[Swordmaker]

Japanese naval-mountings katana of unknown age, pre WWII at least, likely much older.

I have a signed Short Sword, a Tanto, which was also commented on the tang, "On a good day in late summer." It was made by a Japanese swordsmith named Teruhiru, who was last making swords sometime before 1060 AD. This swordsmith founded a school or style of sword making and was one of the finest sword makers of his time. It still is so sharp one could shave with it safely and still shows much of the colors of the case hardening on the blade. It needs polishing which, I was told by an expert on Japanese Samurai blades would bring all the rainbow colors out on this blade and multiply the value by five or six times what it was currently worth. The expert then offered me $50,000 for it as is. I declined.

That's when the expert then offered to have it polished for me by one of Japan's Living National Treasures for about $250 per inch. . . per side. That would cost me about $5000. He told me they polish these blades using talcum powder as an abrasive and it takes about a day or two per inch. I thought it might not be to a bad investment to make the blade worth $250,000 or so.

But then he also mentioned there was a big CATCH in his offer. Once the blade arrived in Japan for polishing, it could NEVER, EVER leave again. . . nor could it be sold. I could arrange to lend or GIVE it to a Japanese Cultural Society of my choice, for display, with a tasteful placard saying "On loan (or donation) from the collection of (Swordmaker) -- USA" and I could visit my property from time to time and enjoy a delightful tea ceremony with the director of the society as thanks for my gracious loan or gift. I again declined.

I've heard there is someone skilled in polishing these blades now living in the USA. . . I wonder what he charges?

[CodeToad]

Me.

[R_Kangel]

.... Um .... yeah ... something about a roman helmet it is displayed with haha. BTW I did see the /s LOL It is a curious artifact of unknown origin tho ....

[kvanbrunt2]

my house research says it was built around 1850

[Inyo-Mono]

I own a Whitney Dragoon cap and ball pistol circa 1856. Passed down in my family since the war between the states. My Dad’s relative rode with McNeill’s raiders and was in the raid that captured General Crook. Reportedly my Dad’s relative liberated General Crook’s sidearm the Whitney pistol and it has been in our family ever since. Sadly I have not been able to trace the serial number to any records to absolutely tie the gun to Crook.

Nice revolver! What a piece of history! I have my 3 times great-grandmothers handmade blanket from the 1830s.

[ETL]

Though the meteorite itself is much older. Ni/Fe can only be fused in environments ~2.5 billion degrees Kelvin, thus it must have come from an earlier star that went supernova.

Yes, except for the "~2.5 billion degrees Kelvin".

That then would mean it pre-dates the approximately 5 billion year-old solar system.

The Kelvin temperature scale begins at "absolute zero", or minus 273 Celsius. Water of course freezes at 0 deg Celsius.

[eyedigress]

That is from the Numismatic GC. It was from a horde of coins that was buried. I'll see if I can find the paper. Caesar is struck on the front and a tall eagle on the back with TYP YI some symbols I don't know. This is an internet jpg but mine has different markings left and right of the eagle.

[G Larry]

Very Cool!

You know I was joking about the B.C. markings......

[yarddog]

My late Father-In-Law had around a dozen Japanese swords. He was the armorer for his outfit and found himself assigned to the Kokura arsenal when the war ended.

He picked out the best Nambu he could find and kept it along with the swords. He gave me the Nambu around 1975. I was hoping to get the swords too but his worthless Son almost certainly sold them.

He did say they were not Samurai Swords and I am sure he was right except I think a couple of them were. He showed me how the handles came off by tapping out wooden plugs which then released the slabs.

I saw one on TV and it looked exactly like that. Even the plain military ones would have been worth something I figure.

[ETL]

"Though the meteorite itself is much older. Ni/Fe can only be fused in environments ~2.5 billion degrees Kelvin, thus it must have come from an earlier star that went supernova."

Oops! You're probably right on that 2.5 billion. I thought at first it was way too high a temperature.

[eyedigress]

I was buying gold about 12 years ago and Austin Rare Coins contacted me on this. I’m glad I bought it.

It is VERY cool. I have no idea the value.

[clamper1797]

Mrs Clamper ? ... ducks

[MHGinTN]

I have a pie safe from the late 1700s which was used to store and cool pies ...

[kitchen]

A dinosaur thigh bone, about 30" long. Recovered from a late cretaceous coal deposit. Minimum 65 million years old.

[Zman516]

1898 .30-40 Krag.