This Old Thing? (Weekend Assignment #292)

This week’s Weekend Assignment question is a simple one, but may require a bit of thought. Even if you don’t normally participate in these things, please take a moment to answer it in the comments below.

Weekend Assignment #292: What is the oldest thing in your house or apartment?

Extra Credit: Is there anything from your childhood that you’ve managed to hang on to all these years?

I have to be honest: When I read the question for this week’s Assignment, I laughed. When Tall Paul came over to find out why, I read it to him – and then I gave him a look. Then he gave me a look. Yes, the first thing that came to mind as “the oldest thing” in my house was my husband. After all, he did just turn 47, and he will always be 17 months and 3 days older than I am. Still, that wasn’t entirely fair. When her age is converted into human equivalents (7 years of ours for one of hers), our dog Gypsy is much older than he is – she’s probably pushing 90, by my best guess.

She looks pretty good for an old lady, doesn’t she?

As for the oldest non-living thing in the house, I think it’s a diamond ring that belonged to my namesake grandmother, and which was passed down from my mother to me. It dates from the late 1920’s – I’m not sure of the exact year, but since my mother was born in March of 1930, and both of her parents were good Catholics, I’d estimate around 1928. The ring is platinum, with a diamond solitaire in a raised setting; I’ve never had it looked at by a jeweler, so I don’t know any of its “four C’s” (carat, cut, color, and clarity) or have any idea of its monetary value. It certainly has strong heirloom value, though.

Facsimile ring (via stock.exchg)- not the actual ring described above

Facsimile lobby card (via Amazon.com) – looks just like the one described below

We think the next oldest thing is an antique extension table that my husband bought in Long Beach, long before I met him. We’re storing it in the garage and not using it right now, but it’s been a dining table, a game table, and a desk – sometimes simultaneously. He’s not sure how old it is, but Tall Paul thinks it may be from the 1930’s. He also brought in the third oldest thing: one of the items in his movie-memorabilia collection is an original lobby card from the 1948 Bob Hope/Jane Russell movie The Paleface, one of his all-time favorite comedies. (So, while he’s not the oldest thing in the house, my husband is responsible for some of the oldest things.)

Since my family pretty much started from scratch when we moved from Connecticut to Florida in 1976, when I was almost 13, not many items from my childhood have stayed with me. I think there may be some books from my high-school and college years in a box out in the garage, but I haven’t looked in it lately, so I’m not sure.

Have you got any interesting old possessions around your house? Are you in need of some blog fodder? Join in on this week’s Weekend Assignment and tell us about it! Here are the guidelines if you’d like to participate:

  1. Please post your entry no later than Friday, November 13th at 6 PM. (You can also post your response in the comments thread, but a blog entry is better. )
  2. Please mention the Weekend Assignment in your blog post, and include a link back to this entry.
  3. Please go back to Outpost Mâvarin after you’ve posted, and leave a link to your entry in the comments on the original post.
  4. Visiting other participants’ entries is strongly encouraged!

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3 comments

  1. The ring looks neat. We don't really have anything in our family like that.

    I know of one old thing in our house, but I'm saving it for my own post. 🙂

  2. Well, I'm more impressed with the platinum aspect of the ring than the diamond part. I've seen diamonds, but I think the only "platinum" I've ever seen was a kind of credit card. Someday I need to see that Hope movie – I've seen several of the Road pictures but very few of his other films.

    Thanks, as always!

  3. Mike – That's not the actual ring. The real one is similar, but we don't have anything exactly like the one in the picture either :-).

    Karen – My wedding ring set is also diamond and platinum, but smaller than either my grandmother's ring or the one in the picture.

    Bob Hope is one of my husband's personal heroes, and he's introduced me to several of his movies, including this one and the follow-up, Son of Paleface. They're almost all very silly, but very funny too.