I own a mid 30's Harmony Acoustic guitar that was passed down to me from my G-ma, to my dad, now me. Its been in better shape but it still plays good.

Grandfather Clock from 1812, keeps perfect time!

_________________
10-4 good buddy, over and out!

Ha! Fun thread.

Probably the oldest man-made objects I own are flint arrow heads picked up on Salisbury Plain (where Stonehenge is). Those are not accurately dateable, but will be around 3000-3500 years old.

We also have a tiny Roman lachrymatory: a small glass phial that was probably used to contain cosmetics in ancient times. The word means "relating to tears" and these little glass bottles are so-called perhaps because they often look a bit like teardrops in shape, or maybe because they are frequently found in Roman graves and there is a notion they were put there to symbolically contain the tears of mourners. Like the flint arrow heads this is also impossible to date exactly, but somewhere around the two thousand year mark.

I have some Lycian pottery sherds I found on the seabed at a historical site on the South Turkish coast. Those will be from around BC 400.

Far as instruments are concerned, my dad is a good amateur fiddle player and has a violin made in the 1790s. Probably less valuable than you might think - but not bad!

My oldest guitar previously belonged to my grandmother. It was identified for me by a user on this very Forum: turns out it's a 1920s Selmer made in a workshop in Charing Cross in London. My grandmother was a primary school teacher and used it with the kids. However, old does not mean good: it is a very cheap instrument and not special in any way. Still, I'm glad I found out about it before doing remedial work on it I'd been contemplating...



Cheers - C

_________________

Ah, houses: that's a good call.

When I was a kid we twice lived in houses that were over 400 years old. The house my wife and I now share in sunny Peckham was built in 1836. Almost new, by our standards...

Cheers - C

_________________

Haha Ceri I remember moving from England to Canada and finding the definition of old is very different. My canadian ex was telling me about this building that was incredibly old, to find out it was about 150 years old. I then had to explain how my cathedral at home was founded in the year 680 :p .

As far as old stuff in our house we have some old Shakespeare books that were written I think around the 1700's, it's like owning a little slice of history.

Hi Snowjoe: hee-hee - yes indeed!

We spend half our time in a little village in Devon (where I am right now): the local pub claims to have been founded in 1028 (or nearly half-past ten, as my wife puts it). Interestingly, that's a century and half earlier than the church it stands next to, which only dates to 1199 - I'm amused by what that suggests about the priorities of the people at that time... (Though of course the church in fact stands on the site of a much older one).

Meanwhile, I'm struggling to work out which your cathedral is that was founded in 680. Canterbury, perhaps? But no, you're somewhere around Leicester aren't you? Is it that one?

Cheers - C

_________________

It's Worcester cathedral, the original church was founded then however the structure thats there now began its build in 1084, although that's still a fairly old building. Now I live near Gloucester cathedral which has similar dates. Everytime I see them I can't get my head around how people managed to build these buildings back then without the machinery that we have now. It's staggering!

I always like telling people that I lived a mile away from King Johns tomb and he's not just the bad guy in Robin Hood

Ah right, thank you.

No - a bad guy in so many other ways too! I didn't know King John was buried in Worcester. I just Googled his tomb - quite nice.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/89041281@N00/141123497/

That should fulfil any tourist's idea of Merrie Olde England...

Cheers - C

_________________

I do. I even like the blip at the end where they show a few people telling you what their items were and weren't worth.

_________________
You dig?

My late father worked in deepest darkest Africa back in the70's, whilst there he got some Greek collector out of a jam. The Greek collector gave him this chevron bead as a gift, I believe it's leopards teeth either side. I've no idea how old this is, but on the card that came with it, it said it could date back 1000 years. This was most probably robbed from a grave, it was big business back then. Indiana Jones stuff I've always meant to have this looked at by an expert, perhaps the time is right now.

i have a few things that are pretty old that seem to retain value.
aside from my electric guitars, and some glass, i have a cross my mother found when she was a little girl. it was back when the monks ran the streets where i grew up. its little brass with wood inset. its pretty old. its my fav of my antique valuables. i think maybe its because it was found by my mother whom died when i was 4 yrs old.
i think thats the tie there.

_________________
63supro
"The good thing is in a club situation, most of the patrons are trashed and really can't tell the difference."

I found and retained a small petrified rock while on a hike......it has to be the oldest item I own by far......250,000 years old give or take????

_________________
I Can't Explain

Currently, pictures and a quarter from 1977

_________________

oldest object i own would have to be a pair of underwear from around,,,oh 197-,,,oh wait,,are you talking ONLY guitar stuff ??

super cool Snowy!

Nevin, the oldest thing I could think of right now is yours truly.

_________________
you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.