Old things I own
Saw this prompt about the oldest thing you own, from Thomas Rigby via Forking Mad and also Mirrored World. Which looked like so much fun! I've mixed up some categories as I have a lot of old things. The scope is broad because I love this stuff.
Old stuff that is still in regular use: my threadbare dressing gown is thirty years old. I was given a different one in the interim but I do not like it as much. My binoculars were a twelfth birthday present from my grandparents. I've got towels from around that time. Good thing I like my towels stiff as a board.
I've still got the pans I was given to go to university with. I got a Le Creuset for my twenty-first (twenty-one years ago 😱) - I imagine I will have that my entire life. I also still have some duvet and pillow covers I got at university. I don't know how long people normally keep bedding but twenty years is pretty good.
Furniture is a bit cheating because I love mid-century furniture and I've got a lot of it. Not only do I have furniture that was my grandparents' in the Fifties, I've bought other things. I have two (not working) 1920s clocks, several sideboards (my weakness), various knick-knacks. I even made a little zine about my grandparents' furniture. I've also got a lot of older glassware from the Forties and Fifties and various kitchenware like mixing bowls, roasting tins, and a 'fish kettle' that never gets any use.
The view from where I'm sitting: a 1950s G Plan chair (reupholstered in the 80s), a 1960s Nathan sideboard, a 1920s clock, 1846 print, some candlesticks
On the 'art' side... Some books, some 1920s editions that I bought years ago. I've got lots of books I had as a kid, in continuous ownership. The print pictured above I'm looking at right now as I write this is a view of my city from more or less the vantage point of my house, that's from 1846. I've got some maps, the oldest is from 1834. I've collected a bunch of postcards from 1903-1910. My grandfather was very into fly fishing and I have some of his handmade flies framed.
I'm very lucky I've got a lot of family history stuff. My dad was a family history nerd and collected stuff as well as doing the family tree. Both my grandfathers fought in WWII so there are medals, paperwork, letters, and so on. One of my grandfathers was of a long line of barbers (continued by my uncle and cousin) and I have some of his scissors and razors that were his father's.
At my mum's house my niblings play with the same toys and read the same books my siblings and I did. Playmobil, dinosaurs, Duplo, soft toys, Lego. If there's a broken or lost bit they ask about it's "Well! When your uncle was younger than you are..."
I inherited a houseplant from my grandmother. I don't know how old it is exactly but I remember it from my childhood. It's a maranta and needed some serious rehab. My mum and I now have cuttings also, the next generation, and they are all doing well.