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.
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.
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
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 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.
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
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.
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
These are the oldest things I own. Do you know what they are?
~rthomas
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.
rthomas, is one a spoon-making kit? Zero clue about the other.
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
Who was your grandfather and what state/district did he represent in Congress?My mom and I have a whole mess of stuff connected to when my grandfather was 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.
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.
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.