Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.
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For me, the house I’m in was built in 1912 but it’s still holding strong. My parents have me beat though, they got the original governor of south carolina’s front doors which were from somewhere in the late 1700s
I have a cheap plastic hair brush my mum bought me over 40 years ago when I was about 6 or 7, she said it cost a dollar and surprised I still use it daily.
There is nothing wrong with it, so it lives on.
I bought a $5 leather belt 20+ years ago.
Man, I wish you could still get a leather belt for $5. Good luck finding one for $50.
You can still find them for $5 in thrift shops, just need to be able to tell the difference between the good stuff and the crappy stuff.
Does anyone have any tips on how to tell them apart?
I think the easiest thing to do is just look and see if it has a stamp on it. Very often it’ll just tell you. Look for “full grain leather” and be wary of “made with leather”. Another thing you can do is to really acquaint yourself with what a full grain leather belt looks and feels like and then you’ll have a feel for the weight, stiffness and finishing. You can also look for ones that look a bit worn, with slightly deformed holes, a little warping, scuffed edges or tooling etc. If it looks worn, it’s already withstood the test of time, and real leather can be re-dyed and reshaped. Obviously don’t buy something that looks like it’s falling apart though, cracking and rips aren’t worth the hassle if it’s not something sentimental. You won’t necessarily find a good leather belt every time you go to a thrift store, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye out for and you never know.
You can also always buy a bigger belt, because full grain leather can be cut and the edge finished with hobbyist crafting tools.
I use my great grandfather’s bottle opener. It’s magnetic and sticks to my fridge, and it’s over 100 years old. Works great!
I have a Brazilian bottle opener that was a marketing gift from a store. The phone number has 4 digits.
Is it any different than regular bottle openers?
Just a very old bottle opener that has never rusted or been damaged in any way. It’s probably 53 years old.
I’ve got a couple of cast iron skillets from the early sixties that I use pretty much every day.
I use my grandma’s and great grandma’s cast iron weekly.
My “TV” is a (modern) 36" LCD computer monitor hooked to a 2011 Dell Latitude E6400.
My washing machine is a workhorse from 1997. Can’t say I use it daily but multiple times per week.
Some of the wiring in my house is still original from '55, if that counts.
Might wanna have that wiring in your house checked out, that 50s wiring can be a little on the sketchy side.
Source: am electrician
AFAIK, it’s only two outlets on the far end of the house. The only things I have plugged into them are some lamps (with LED bulbs) and phone chargers. The rest of the house was re-wired in ~2013 or so. Not sure why previous owner didn’t do those last few outlets, but at least the rest of the house is up to code.
Ah gotcha. It’s possible that they were a pain to get to without destroying the plaster/drywall and the previous owner was tapped for money, it happens. But yeah, make sure no heavy loads, especially space heaters, and you’re probably fine.
House is 123 years old, I have a couple of cast-iron pans that are civil war era, still get regular use.
I live in a refurbished barn on a farm. Age unknown but the imperial bricks and timbers used hint at Victorian. Love it. I have to accept Rats in the exterior walls, attic and the first floor cassette, and the house being cold even in summer due to the stone floor, and the related heating bill. Regardless, it’s a better place to be than any modern house and I’m happy here. It provides inspiration. That might be the radon slowly killing my brain cells though.
My violin was made in 1614, but to be honest I use my practice violin daily and use that as my concert violin, and tune and play it weekly.
My ass. No way. How do you know it’s authentic, let alone date it to that time period? Secondly show us!
Lloyd’s of London authenticated the tag inside, and the age. If I remember to, I will post a picture when I pull it out this next week.
Expensive piece of kit! I assume you’re a professional musician?
Sadly, no. I was told by my cousins, who are professional violinists, that I had the ability, but they didn’t inform me of that until I was already 25 and a chef.
I inherited the thing because I found it in my grandma’s closet when I was 6 and helping her clean her room. I asked her who owned it, and she said it was my dead grandpa’s violin. So I asked again, then who’s is it? She thought about it and said “I dunno, I guess whichever of you grandkids learns to play it first.”
I inherited the thing because I found it in my grandma’s closet when I was 6 and helping her clean her room. I asked her who owned it, and she said it was my dead grandpa’s violin. So I asked again, then who’s is it? She thought about it and said “I dunno, I guess whichever of you grandkids learns to play it first.”
Have you had it insured? I see they go for roughly 20.000 to 150.000 USD, so I assume it’s an ‘of course I have’ moment, but you seem to be quite nonchalant with it so far :D
Got it insured by Lloyd’s of London when they authenticated it’s age and tag. That’s the source of my nonchalance.
Edit: I will say their insurance policies are astounding in what they cover, but they are pricey.
How paranoid are you about dropping it or falling while holding it? That’s literally what I think every time I hear about instruments like this.
That would be among the few things left over from the age of knights and the black death (or the end of that period, anyway), and even modern instruments can be unbelievably valuable.
Not particularly. The wood sat in the harbor nearest to Brefchia to age for two years before Magini ever even touched it. It’s pretty sturdy all things considered. The violin held up better than the original bow and wooden case. We fumigated all of them because they had become infected with bow mites. The original case and bow are in the attic, mostly she currently lives in a crushed velvet lined climate controlled case. Not playing her would do more damage than breaking her out and keeping her in tune.
Lol, it looks like that particular dude died in a plague outbreak.
Are all the previous owners known? I can only imagine the stories such an object might tell us if it could speak (as well as sing).
Not exactly. There’s a break in the chain of ownership, when it came to the new world in the late 1700s. We’re not entirely certain how my great great great grandfather came into possession of it, but we believe that he either won it in a game of poker, or he possibly stole it during the commotion of the last quarter century of the 1700s.
Thanks for the info on Magini. I just knew he made my violin, or more likely one of his apprentices. And that he and another dude in Florence
arewere simultaneously credited for inventing the thing independently of each other.Edit: there’s a fuckton more info on the guy than I could find back in 1993 when I looked into him
Glad to help!
or he possibly stole it during the commotion of the last quarter century of the 1700s.
commie
I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, lol.
That right there is one of the stories I’d love to know the details of.
My house is from the 1950s and my truck from 2007. I also have a shemagh scarf I bought when I was about 13 - so around 20 years ago. I’ve got a Leatherman that’s about the same age, too. Then there are two military surplus jackets from Austria - one from 1996 and the other from the 1980s - though I haven’t owned them that long.
Your mom
I have a cherry wood cabinet from the 1890s that I use to store food. Every day I take a box of cereal from it and put it back.
Used to use a double edge razor from the 1960s, I still have it. Gillette Slim.
I just use a modern DE instead, 2015 I think. Feather AS-D2.
Both of them will probably outlast me. Especially the Feather, even though it’s newer and therefore theoretically made with less care, it was made in Japan, and it’s entirely stainless steel, not pot metal. Very strong. You’d need to run it over with a truck to break it.
If cared for, nothing is stopping the Gillette from going another 60 years either.
Oldest thing I use frequently may be a 100~ year old ring.
Bedside table.
Maybe 50 years old.
My dining room table was originally owned by my great grandmother and was passed down through the family and transported almost 2000km to it’s current location in it house.
