History has a way of coming back to bite us, but that’s not always a bad thing. It can actually surprise us with hidden gems like Victorian teacups with mustache guards, and nursing kits full of cocaine tablets. You know, stuff you never knew you needed but now you desperately want to get a hold of.
So if you want to get started on building your new wish list, then definitely check out these 40 interesting old things that people found while digging in the garden, cleaning up grandma’s attic, chopping wood, and shopping at Goodwill.
Careful though, not everything here is safe, like the international French sundial with gangster blades sticking out of it, or the door in the middle of nowhere that opens up a portal to the Twilight Zone!
1) Great grandpa’s purple heart
2) This cute ol’ statue
“The archaeologists from the museum told him that it is probably from a grave dating back to 3-4000 years ago.”
3) These totally stylin’ keyholes
@KrisKrispyKreme:
“Bottom one looks like something you’d have to open for an Assassin’s Creed mission.”
4) “Found in the pocket of my grandpa’s WW2 bomber jacket.”
@Analyn Lahr:
“Shouldn’t insult pigs like that.”
5) “My late grandma still had her TV operating guide from 1962.”
6) “The filament of this antique light bulb is shaped like flowers.”
@NEHOG:
“Not a filament, but a neon lamp where the electrodes are shaped like flowers. They were pretty when they first came out, and are still a thing.”
7) “My barbershop still uses their original cash register from 1904.”
@Kozlow:
“That’s worth more than all of the money in it.”
8) “My grandfather had a miniature set of all of Shakespeare’s plays. It’s 111 years old.”
9) “I found this taped up in the toy aisle of Goodwill.”
10) This sharp nub embedded in a piece of wood
@Manly-man:
“That’s an old Fred Bear broadhead. They started making those in the 60’s and some folks still use them. I have a pile of them from my grandpa, I use them with my recurve for practice.”
11) “My Great Great Aunt’s 100 year old nursing kit has a vile full of cocaine tablets and a syringe.”
@warpedcartridge:
“Can cocaine go bad/lose its potency?”
@sick_of_your_BS:
“Just put it in your pocket and head to the airport. If the dogs can smell it, that means it is still good. If not, it has expired.”
12) This weird statue will cut you if you look at it the wrong way!
@Ferret_Bueller:
“Looks like literally the worst place to land when you’re skydiving.”
@btribble:
“Don’t forget that every year, you had to get all your friends together to rotate the whole thing for daylight savings time, and then back again in the fall.”
13) These rubber looking things…
@weareintheitchylot:
“Need to take them on Pawn Stars just so we can see what the 60 year old condom expert looks like.”
14) “Roman coin I found in France while metal detecting. Emperor Constantine I. Minted in Trier (Treveri) Germany. Bronze. ~AD 306-337.”
@Protaco17:
“I just think it’s so cool that at one point long ago someone in history, although probably not significant, held the same coin you’re holding today.”
@7th_Spectrum:
“I like to imagine that they dropped it and later that day was thinking “God f*cking dammit, I was going to buy bread. Then it was never held again until the 21st century.”
15) “This antique American Pledge of Allegiance does not reference God.”
16) “Typewriter for writing music? WHY NOT.”
@Bobert Robertson:
“Yet when I was taking piano lessons in the 90’s they made me draw it by hand…. nobody mentioned these existed.”
17) “36 Vettes from an 80s promtional ..one from each production year from 1953 to 1989 found sitting in a nearly abandoned New York City storage lot for about 25 years.”
@glong:
“WTF does a huge NYC storage lot cost per month!?! I hope he locked in to a good rate 25 years ago.”
18) “Found an old Monopoly set in the walls of my 1925 house.”
@Justhe8ofus:
“1941-1946. Wooden pieces were added and metal ones removed, probably due to WWII.”
19) This lovely antique aquarium
@iliveinlikeatown:
“People often used these to create artificial rockpools, much to the devastation of British coastal flora, as vast numbers of starfish, anemone, and other rockpool wildlife were collected from the coasts across Britain. Unfortunately, as several others have pointed out, the metals were often toxic but also they rarely had appropriate filtration, oxygenation and lighting which modern aquaria have, thus most of the animals collected died quite quickly.”
20) This old lunar globe
@manticor225:
“It would be cool if it were like old maps and it just said ‘Here be aliens.'”
21) Teacups for the dainty hipster crowd
@Globularist:
“Sippy cup for the well to do.”
@RightIsTheName:
“That’s the thing Hercule Poirot would’ve used.”
22) “I found this old lightbulb in my Grandparents’ house finished in 1902 and it still works.”
23) “2000 years old green serpentine stone mask found at the base of Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacán, Mexico.”
@Spartan2470:
“Archaeologists have discovered what they think are the original ceremonial offerings made by the builders of Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun before construction began around 50 A.D.”
24) “My Grandma has original Moon landing printing plates from the Time Magazine cover.”
@Wbrimley3:
“Her father in law was a scrap metal dealer. He apparently picked it up as scrap from Time but thought it was interesting so he kept it. They’ve been sitting in her basement for 50 years but when she moved she decided to hang them as a decorative piece.”
25) Old railway ticket to Willow Grove, Pennsylvania
@tarabt:
“…that ticket is still in good conditions! That’s awesome.”
@everymomentwonderful:
“I know! It was in the attic of a barn. I know the last owner moved here in the 60s or 70s, so it’s probably just been untouched for a long time. I’m afraid my touching it will make it break down faster.”
26) “This antique door from 1380 in Regensburg (Germany) helps finding the Keyhole after you drank too much wine.”
27) “I found this cleaning out Grandmas house.”
28) “Grandpa still uses a decades old computer that still runs Dos, typing and printing and storing things on floppies.”
@nallimy:
“Wordperfect 5.1?”
@SilverStar9192:
“Of course it’s word perfect. It was perfect, why would anyone need to change ?
29) “This page from an illustrated captain’s log from 1777.”
30) “Old school Nintendo cards from my Grandma”
@yalexn:
“These are called Hanafuda and are the cards Nintendo originally made. You can buy new ones but these are super old from my grandmother’s childhood.”
31) “Vintage forbidden candy identification chart”
@anonymous:
“Wouldn’t want to get accidental tums poisoning.”
@FiveHits:
“The only cure is to eat $20 worth of taco bell in one sitting.”
32) “Jackpot find at an antique market in Greenwich Village NYC. Poison ring.”
@ncognito:
“Please please please, use that for table salt and ask to season some stranger’s food.”
33) “Found three 1969 news papers about the moon landing in an old chest in the attic.”
@nightrainsmellsnice:
“Hopefully I get to witness an epoch like this in my life, like a Mars landing.”
@symbolsmatter:
“Nothing compares to the moon landing, for the very first time ever, a species left a planet and walked on another celestial object. Don’t get me wrong, mars landing would be an epic moment for humanity, but the first one is always special.”
34) “Found this coin in my gramma’s collection of old stuff. Turns out it’s from the year 1797!”
@fuuuuuckendoobs:
“That’s a huge coin! Imagine having to walk around with a pocket full of those guys.”
@prpolly:
“That’s the thing about 1797, most people didn’t have this problem.”
35) “Vintage Freddie Mercury Queen Plate, 1980s.”
36) “Mom found my old McDonald’s food toys that turned into robots.”
@anzeis:
“That ice cream became a milkshake.”
37) “Old European houses have a shoe scraper by the door so that you could clean the mud off your soles before entering.”
@roter-jager:
“Actually that’s Jerry’s front door, don’t disrespect him like that.”
@unionjackless:
“Yeah we always called them mouse doors.”
38) “Found this old calculator in my great grandmother’s attic.”
@jazzphobia:
“Errr I know I’m not qualified to math, but I’m also not qualified to use this calculator either. I wonder how subtract works…”
39) “New Orleans still has horse hitches in various parts of the city.”
40) “I found a door (and nothing else) on an abandoned beach.”
@brainyreaper4:
“If you put a letter in that mailbox, someone can read it two years ago.”
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