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Interesting stuff you’ve got around the house

noelekal
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A 50 watt carbon filament Edison GEM from the 1904 - 1911 time period, especially photographed just this evening for this thread.

IMG_7451.jpg IMG_7452.jpg

My dad traded an acquaintance out of it in about 1960 . The light bulb had been perpetually burning at the head of the woman's basement stairs for many years. It's now been in our family for near half it's existence. I remember as a kid my dad would occasionally turn it on as a curiosity.

Burning merrily. Not bad for being well over 100 years old.
IMG_7447.jpg
 
STANDY
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Walrus Walrus
I really like this. It’s legit. Got it on one of my trips to China from a government official. I had to get a special piece of paper that let me take antiquities out of China. It’s not of great value but can anyone beat having something 40 million years old in their house?
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Only 40 million 🙄

Hows 3.6 billion for you.....

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https://australiascience.tv/oldest-rocks-in-the-pilbara-pre-date-plate-tectonics/
 
TexOmega
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noelekal noelekal
A 50 watt carbon filament Edison GEM from the 1904 - 1911 time period, especially photographed just this evening for this thread.

IMG_7451.jpg IMG_7452.jpg

My dad traded an acquaintance out of it in about 1960 . The light bulb had been perpetually burning at the head of the woman's basement stairs for many years. It's now been in our family for near half it's existence. I remember as a kid my dad would occasionally turn it on as a curiosity.

Burning merrily. Not bad for being well over 100 years old.
IMG_7447.jpg




They CAN be built to last, IF they wished to do so.


Also the reason why I only use vintage tubes(1950's to 1963, roughly) in my tubed audio gear.
 
DaveK
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noelekal noelekal
A 50 watt carbon filament Edison GEM from the 1904 - 1911 time period, especially photographed just this evening for this thread.

IMG_7451.jpg IMG_7452.jpg

My dad traded an acquaintance out of it in about 1960 . The light bulb had been perpetually burning at the head of the woman's basement stairs for many years. It's now been in our family for near half it's existence. I remember as a kid my dad would occasionally turn it on as a curiosity.

Burning merrily. Not bad for being well over 100 years old.
IMG_7447.jpg

That is so very cool 😎
 
Mad Dog
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...Don't know what this came from...maybe an F6F Hellcat or something like that. @Mad Dog: any idea what this might have come from?

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Unfortunately, I have no idea. 🙁
 
Rman
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On the Edison theme I have this stock ticker he devised in my bookshelf, I was fascinated by it as a kid and probably lead to my interest in watch movements.
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noelekal
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An original first model of Gillette safety razor having a serial number dating it to 1904. A couple of correct period blades still in their wrappers accompanies it.

Old Spice mug dates to the 1940s as does the Ever Ready shaving brush.
 
amphib44
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FreelanceWriter FreelanceWriter
My dad escaped Nazi Germany in 1938 and spent the war in London. He came over to the US in 1946 aboard the HMS Chaser, a converted escort carrier. They were scuttling aircraft overboard at sea, so my dad took some gauges out of them before they went over the side. I used to play around with this as a kid, turning it to get to 00000 and using the rubberized edge of a record turntable when my fingers got tired. I still have it on his desk with some of his other stuff (like his JLC P812). Don't know what this came from...maybe an F6F Hellcat or something like that. @Mad Dog: any idea what this might have come from?
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I could be wrong, but it looks to me like an ammunition counter.
 
Canuck
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On the subject of razors, the Rolls razor goes back to 1927, although this one was acquired by my late father about 75 years ago. Inside one removable cover is the hone, and inside the other removable cover was the strop. The hinged handle allows the operator to sharpen the blade using the hone and the strop by moving the blade back and forth in the case. As this is done, the blade flops over repeatedly as the handle is moved back and forth. I only ever tried shaving with it, once. Maybe it worked for some, but not for me.

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noelekal
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The Rolls is a chore to be sure Canuck. A friend sent me one from England. I tried it, but perhaps I never got it sharp enough.
 
TexOmega
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VT-2 transmitter Tube circa 1918, developed by Western Electric in 1917 for the Signal Corps.

I even have the wool wrapping
 
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noelekal
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1952

The Western Electric 500 telephone, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police revolver, and the phone box in the stairwell of the house we then lived in all date to 1952. I'd had a new cord with plug installed in the phone so it would work with modern equipment.

Photograph taken in 2008 when we still lived in the house. Still have the revolver and the phone. We now live in a house dating to 1897.

We still used that phone until last year in September when we killed it off upon discontinuing service on the land line. I miss its strident, yet cheery ring and its sound clarity.

Early in 2019 we suffered a direct lightning strike. Toasted all manner of household appliances and devices, the cordless phones included. The Western Electric phone merely shook its receiver at the sky and harrumphed: "Is that all ya' got?" We relied on it for a week or so until the cordless set could be replaced.
 
rcs914
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Ok here we go - a small number of things to scratch the surface:

A Wedgwood Basalt sculpture of Autumn - approximately 1870 for the year:

PXL_20200914_173441891.jpg


An unadorned pottery bowl from one of the Pueblo tribes. Purchased by my dad in New Mexico in the 1960's. No way to prove provenance on on it. Guessing somewhere between 700-1500 years old (sorry for the lack of focus - I only just saw that):

PXL_20200914_173514909.jpg


A German beer stein of a rather unusual design - I've never seen another like it. Unsure of age, but if I had to make a guess I'm going to go for late 1800's.

PXL_20200914_173639838.jpg PXL_20200914_173644646.jpg


A small selection of my collection of Tiki mugs. I was for a long time heavily into Polynesian Pop. I don't purchase any more now, but I still have these displayed.

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A Lichtenberg "captured lightning" in an acrylic cylinder. My dad made this in the 1970's:

PXL_20200914_173606154.jpg


And last, and maybe least, something I rediscovered only just today - a 1999 Babylon 5 calendar. Best part is that next year it will be correct again for the dates and I can hang it up!

PXL_20200915_163302445.jpg


Maybe more stuff coming - god knows there's plenty more.
 
rcs914
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Oh here's another good one!

A copy of the Anatomy of Melancholy, by "Democritus Junior" (really Robert Burton). Printed in London in 1676. Was pretty much the first English language "best seller". This was printed years after Burton's death, and was the last printing up until the middle 1800s. This one is someone unusual in that it has never been rebound, although it badly needs attention in that department. It was also used by one "William Hunter" among others to randomly sign their name inside the front and back cover - the earliest of these signatures is dated 1692.

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amcclell
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My wife and I lived in the middle of the mountains of Papua New Guinea from 1989 - 1982. We have lots of artifacts and a few still adorn our living room.

Below is an assortment of bilums, which are hand woven string bags beside a traditional bow and assortment of arrows. A strip of bamboo is used for the bowstring.
20200915_135650.jpg
 
amcclell
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Here is a sand painting, which was a form of indigenous art in Enga province where we lived. Below is a set of earrings and pendant that were made from gold nuggets from Mount Kare where there was a gold rush at the time.
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Muddlerminnow
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rcs914 rcs914
Oh here's another good one!

A copy of the Anatomy of Melancholy, by "Democritus Junior" ]

This is a bloody masterpiece.....and ironically (or not) so relevant today.....
 
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