What's The Oldest Thing In Your House?

[morty]

I suppose it could actually be your house if you live in a cottage or Grade II Listed pile.

But ..  what's the oldest thing you own or have in your house?

I have an old stamp album that I treasure. It was my dad's. When I was into stamp collecting as a kid mum gave it to me. Nothing valuable in there .. I hope. It would ruin it if there was. It was dad's so I treasure it. There's rather lot of stamps from when he sent letters home during the war. He was a radio operator.

But .. older than that is a sea chest that belongs to Mr M. 
It was handed down to him by his grandfather. A 'chippy chest' they call it. His ancestors were Master Mariners from Kent. Not worth a lot ,the handles are not rope but made of twisted anchor cable. It makes a nice linen box or ottoman.

What have you got? It's a fact at our age we've probably thrown out more stuff than we ever collected .. but might have kept something back.

[dextrous63]

Have got a 17th century book round here somewhere.

[morty]

Ooer ... what about?

I thought for  a minute it might have been The Guttenberg Press Manual for Dummies 1440.

[Scrumpy]

Other than me.. !!

We didn't have many things to hand down .. My Mums family got bombed out in the last war.. We originated from Bethnal Green.. They lost every..
I do have an old knife that my Mum used for 'everything '.. 
It isn't as sharp as it was but knowing her hand has held that knife makes it special.. 

[Michael Rolls]

A chisel  and a Washita sharpening stone which belonged to my dad before I was born, so around 100 years old

[klondike]

My sausage fingers mean the post I made using my phone on the bus didn't make it here.

Anyhow there are items here that were my grandparents. Doubtless old rather than antique and few properly identified. What I did find was a pair of rather crude looking candlesticks are Newlyn (not hard the name is stamped on the bottom) and they are sometimes offered at a few hundred. The odd thing is all the ones I saw when I was looking had a dolphin design and these have a tulip design. Does that make them worth more or of less? I have no idea and doubt I'll find out as I have no intention of selling. They can join my children's legacy which consists mainly of broken electrical items I intended to mend but never did together with obsolete digital movie cameras etc. lovingly packed in old scart leads which I swear must have been breeding.

[Michael Rolls]

electrical leads - designed to confuse the simple minded such as myself

[Alex]

I think my Dad's pocket watch might be older than me 

[Sheila]

I have a metal (aluminium) bowl that, as a child, I remember my mother using to boil washing.

I have recently used it in the garden and also burn confidential paper as our shredder has died.

[Raven]

One of those calanders that you turn the rollers every day to change it. It sat on my grandads desk, also an old toasting fork that my dad used to use when we were kids.

[GrannyMac]

A couple of bits of furniture my parents bought in 1933.  One is a glass fronted bookcase,  I have the receipt for it £4.19.6d.  Real value for money!  I have a locket from my great aunt which was probably turn of the century.