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  1. #1941
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Back in the dirty Jerz
    I've got a neat story about an antique in my family, which will be mine someday.

    My great-grandfather was a police captain in the Boston PD back in the early and mid 1900s. The most notable thing he was involved in was being the head of the special services squad that responded to the famous Brinks Robbery back in 1950.

    Anyway, he had a lot of contacts with the shadier elements of Boston crime. One day a well-to-do mafioso came up to him and gave him this big sob story about a prostitute that was trying to shake him down. I think she was extorting the mobster and was planning to rat him out to his wife if he didn't pay her off. So apparently my great-grandfather dragged her in, charged her with whatever, and encouraged her to be nice to the mobster.

    A little bit later after it all blew over, the mobster approached my great-granddad and offered him some "gratitude" for his help. My great-grandfather, being an upstanding police officer, refused.

    A few days later an unmarked package showed up on his doorstep. No name identifying who it was from. Inside was a very nice diamond and topaz ring. Somehow my great-grandfather "forgot" to turn this in, and the ring has become a nice heirloom for my family. He passed it on to his son before his death. My grandfather passed it on to my dad a few years ago before he died. Someday it will be mine and then my son's.

  2. #1942
    Quote Originally Posted by EarlJam View Post
    I, EarlJam, being somewhat of a U.S. History buff, am interested to know what cool antiques, you own. Especially interested in things passed down through your family over the years (i.e., you know the history of the piece).

    Not really talking about furniture. More like, cool stuff. Also, doesn't have to be an "official" antique either. For instance, I have a VCR that I saved up for and helped purchase in 1980. It still works like a charm (how do charms work anyway?).

    One of the things I treasure is a pair of cigarette lighters from WWI - From my grandfather. He brought them back from Europe in 1917. Made of brass shells from morters with the cities they went through engraved in the side. Also, a French coin is affixed to them. Very cool piece.

    Others?


    -EJ
    I've got a block plane from the early 1900's that I use about once a week. As far as I can tell, original blade. The front "handle" is missing, but it works great and puts me closer to the craftsmen that used those tools.

  3. #1943
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by steven52682 View Post
    my grandfather gave me a toy replica of the car from chitty chitty bang bang. you can pull the lever on the side and the wings pop out. I think he got it in 1968 when the movie came out.
    I have a couple of similar items:

    The first is a toy Aston-Martin DB6, the one from "Goldfinger." One button makes machine guns and battering rams pop out of the grill. The other opens the car's roof and activates the ejector seat. Very cool.

    I also have a toy version of the Green Hornet's limo, complete with light-up TV set inside and working headlights. At the time that my uncle gave me these, I had only the vaguest of notions regarding James Bond and no idea who the Green Hornet was.

  4. #1944
    I have my grandfather's WWI dog tag on my key chain.

    Although they aren't family antiques - I have an opium smoker's tongue scraper, the brass oil lamp that our cook gave my mother, and an interview I did during middle school with Admiral Sohn, the founder of the modern Korean navy.
    Last edited by DukieInKansas; 05-12-2008 at 03:19 PM. Reason: punctuation

  5. #1945
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Sweet Home Alabama
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    Talk about inappropriate!! Did anyone else notice Parv giving Nat's butt a squeeze as they walked to the final 4 Tribal Council! Parv will flirt with anyone if it gives her an advantage.
    Oh, yeah, and also add to the "unbelievably inappropriate" category James's comment about Parvati fluffing him. I didn't realize how, like, not cool that was until I found out what he actually meant. Honestly, how hard would it have been for Amanda to make the argument that Parvati has basically prostituted herself and doesn't deserve to win merely for being easy to make out with?

  6. #1946
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Orange County, NC
    I have the actual land grant written to my greatx8ish grandfather from the Lord's Proprietors, circa 1762. It was given to me by my grandfather. It describes a tract of land given to George Crandall (my granddad) of about 2000 acres within Pitt County, NC. One cool thing is that the boundaries of the property are things such as rocks, trees, brooks, etc... I'm too scared to hang it at my house (or anywhere else for that matter) so its in my folks' attic in a vacuum sealed frame.

  7. #1947
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by DukieInKansas View Post
    I have my grandfather's WWI dog tag on my key chain.
    That's cool!

    Can I have it?

    -EJ

  8. #1948
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA (Buckhead)
    Quote Originally Posted by pamtar View Post
    I have the actual land grant written to my greatx8ish grandfather from the Lord's Proprietors, circa 1762. It was given to me by my grandfather. It describes a tract of land given to George Crandall (my granddad) of about 2000 acres within Pitt County, NC. One cool thing is that the boundaries of the property are things such as rocks, trees, brooks, etc... I'm too scared to hang it at my house (or anywhere else for that matter) so its in my folks' attic in a vacuum sealed frame.
    That IS neat.

    Interesting how they determined the boundries. Remindes me of how you set boundries as a kid in backyard sports (the tree is first base, that rock is second, the end zone is the front tire of the L.T.D., etc.).


    Really cool.

  9. #1949
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Annandale, VA
    I have a steamer trunk that belonged to my Grandmother (Dad's side) when she lived in Argentina in the 1890's. It held most of her worldly possesions when she moved to Germany and again when she left there to come to the US. I put some cedar liners inside and now it holds our winter wool blankets and some quilts my wife's Grandmother made.
    The Gordog

  10. #1950
    Quote Originally Posted by EarlJam View Post
    That's cool!

    Can I have it?

    -EJ
    As much as everyone loves EarlJam, no you can't have it. I'm trying to figure out how I can nab my Dad's end of WWII dogtag to add to it.

  11. #1951
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    My grandfather has a collection of photos from his time in the South Pacific during WWII that are really cool and will eventually be mine. They are rather rare because the vast majority of soldiers in that era didn't have personal cameras. They originally included some images of the Enola Gay that he took on the way home to see his dying mother (he was chosen from among five brothers to go home and visit her, Private Ryan-style), but the Enola Gay pics were confiscated when he went through customs in CA. Still some cool stuff in there, though.

  12. #1952
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh

    Lte

    Quote Originally Posted by Fish80 View Post
    Oh no! The longest thread slipped to page 2. We can't let this happen. Seriously, I'm not just padding my post count. The longest thread must stay on page 1.
    I was happy with it on page 2, that way the "ymm, beer" thread was still on page 1 . Plus, I just maximized my smilie per post usage.(wink, wink-if I do that does it count as a 5th smilie?)

  13. #1953
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by blublood View Post
    Oh, yeah, and also add to the "unbelievably inappropriate" category James's comment about Parvati fluffing him. I didn't realize how, like, not cool that was until I found out what he actually meant. Honestly, how hard would it have been for Amanda to make the argument that Parvati has basically prostituted herself and doesn't deserve to win merely for being easy to make out with?
    I am not sure unsophisticated gravedigger James knows what a "fluffer" is. I took his comment to mean that she had played him, not that she was quite litterally a "fluffer."

    -Jason "ahh, always a good day when you can work porn terminology into an everyday conversation" Evans

  14. #1954
    These are the oldest things I own. Do you know what they are?



    ~rthomas

  15. #1955
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    My mom and I have a whole mess of stuff connected to when my grandfather was in Congress. The only thing I hope to have from Mom is the silver cigarette case received at an inaugural ball that has an engraving by JFK and Jackie. The thing I love the most and have now are the actual photos from an article on my grandfather in Life magazine, about four of which were of him and me (as well as one with my grandmother) when I am about 4 years old. One with me did end up in the magazine. One hangs in my office and the rest in the stairwell of my home.

  16. #1956
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Arlington, VA
    rthomas, is one a spoon-making kit? Zero clue about the other.

  17. #1957
    yes, these belonged to my grandfather and I inherited them when my grandmother died.

    One is a spoon mold (and a shot mold - the block wooden thing on top right side of the box). I took them to Antiques-Road-Show-like thing. They told me that the main utensil of early settlers was a knife - it could be used for almost everything but a stew or soup - Spoons were rare and a highly prized item. The spoon mold actually has two pewter spoons made from the mold.

    The other picture has two powder gourds - made from squash gourds (one dated 1749). Because they are made from plants they typically didn't last long so apparently they are extremely rare. The antique dealers at the Antiques-Road-Show-like thing literally flipped when they saw this - especialy one dated. They said they had heard of these but had never seen one. I can't find any online except one in some kind of Daniel Boone museum.
    ~rthomas

  18. #1958
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greenville, NC
    My mom and I have a whole mess of stuff connected to when my grandfather was in Congress.
    Who was your grandfather and what state/district did he represent in Congress?

    I collect old Duke yearbooks, a/k/a Chanticleers. Some of them belonged to my grandfather (Class of '24) and some of them belonged to my parents (Classes of '54 and '56). Others I've found in old book stores and on eBay. The oldest one I have is from 1919, but I know that earlier ones exist, and I would LOVE to see them.

  19. #1959
    I have some watercolors and drawings from circa 1600 Japan. The story that goes with them is a bit long and revealing for here(no not stolen!). The best stuff from before that time period are still in the possesion of my parents.

  20. #1960
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    I own the Ark of the Covenant. Before he died and left me his possessions, my neighbor was one of the "top men" assigned to examine the artifact, which some archaeologist found in 1936.

    Come to think of it, I'm not sure I should be the rightful owner of such an antique, or if there can even be a rightful owner. Forget I said anything.

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