this post was submitted on 30 May 2025
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Just wondering what passes the test of time? I personally have an old Casio watch and if you count fruit trees, those are pretty old too.

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 1 week ago

I have a cheap plastic hair brush my mum bought me over 40 years ago when I was about 6 or 7, she said it cost a dollar and surprised I still use it daily.

There is nothing wrong with it, so it lives on.

[–] [email protected] 67 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I use my great grandfather's bottle opener. It's magnetic and sticks to my fridge, and it's over 100 years old. Works great!

[–] argh_another_username 34 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I have a Brazilian bottle opener that was a marketing gift from a store. The phone number has 4 digits.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 week ago (7 children)

Our staircase was built over two centuries ago, and still does its job! Spiral staircase

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Do you have no fear of splinters‽ Cause I know those stairs would give me a splinter just by looking at them wrong

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Hah! I don't know if it's because of how old the wood is, but it's not very splintery, it has a smooth fossilised feel even though it's so uneven.

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[–] MajorMajormajormajor 49 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm in my 40s now, so I guess my body.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (2 children)
[–] MajorMajormajormajor 34 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Apparently we are just the brain and eyeballs(and female gonads) piloting a meat sack of Theseus.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago

Meat sack of Theseus is an excellent band name

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've got a couple of cast iron skillets from the early sixties that I use pretty much every day.

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[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 week ago (8 children)
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

I came here to say my safety razor from 1932 that I use daily, but you beat me by a couple decades!

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 week ago

I've been using the same coffee cup almost every day for the last 50+ years.

Yup, I'm old.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (5 children)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I can’t believe how automatic it is!

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My dad was friends with the guy who designed the Aztec Hotel. He didn't want regular light fixtures originally, so he came up with an idea for lighted columns, and he made a prototype table-lamp sized. The was in 1925. The prototype is in my living room and I use it every day.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Interesting, got any pics?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I went downstairs and took one just for you:

His thing was that he didn't want obvious electric lights in the lobby because Aztecs didn't have electric lights. But it was decided that giant glass columns in earthquake country in the 20s was a bad idea, so they didn't do it

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

My violin was made in 1614, but to be honest I use my practice violin daily and use that as my concert violin, and tune and play it weekly.

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[–] argh_another_username 20 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I have clothes that are more or less 20 years old. Kitchen utensils that are 25 years old. But I think my body is the oldest thing I have that still works, more or less.

[–] snoons 10 points 1 week ago

Same. I'd like to find a replacement for the left foot (or at least the left big toe) but I can't find any, anywhere.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I have a 100 year old porcelain doll. Her name is Agnes, she has real human hair and is definitely cursed. Does that count?

Other than that, I have a pre-WW2 windup clock that still works perfectly. It's a solid steel brick.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A manual coffee grinder from about 1910.

I figure I need it because if the electric’s broke I’ll need coffee to fix it.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't use it daily, more like several times per week - a wooden cutting board I made in school about 44 years ago.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I have a ninja turtle cereal bowl from when I was a kid that I still use. It's from 1988.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

I have a refrigerator from around 1988 or 1989 that still works perfectly. Around 1999, it stopped working, so we bought a new one. We didn't throw away the old fridge because we used it to store plates and cutlery, but we were sure that it was completely broken. Then, last year, a technician saw it and told us that only a component needed to be replaced for it to work again. Lo and behold, the damn thing was revived, and after a two-decade slumber it worked again as if no time had passed.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A Leatherman wave I purchased when I first started working and they had just come out. Blade holds its edge and everything still works smoothly. Plus I have worked out a one handed flick to fully open the pliers.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Wrist watch that's made from an old pocket watch.

Waltham watch company: 1895.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago
  • My house was built in 1960
  • My car was made in 1974 (A land rover series 3)
  • I go to sleep listening to podcasts on a Sansa MP3 player from 2000 that I've used every night since.
  • My body, issued in 1971.
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

A Kenwood amplifier made in Japan in the 80s.
2007 Toyota Corolla.
Osprey backpack I bought about 12yr ago.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago

My keyboard is almost middle aged

IBM Model M. I bought 3 at a garage sale in the late 90s, 1 for use 2 for backups, and I've never needed the backups

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (6 children)

I bought a $5 leather belt 20+ years ago.

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[–] whoisearth 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

A Gillette open comb safety razor from the 1930s. But it's had the handle replaced with a Gillette tech handle from the 40s.

In an image search, I found someone selling the exact same Frankenrazor which leads me to believe this may have been a popular mod back in the day.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

My "TV" is a (modern) 36" LCD computer monitor hooked to a 2011 Dell Latitude E6400.

My washing machine is a workhorse from 1997. Can't say I use it daily but multiple times per week.

Some of the wiring in my house is still original from '55, if that counts.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I still use a first gen iPod.

[–] Adderbox76 11 points 1 week ago

I have an orange sweater that I got for a christmas present all the way back in 2001 that, despite nearly daily use a my "lounging around at home sweater", is still in almost perfect shape except for the colours fading a bit in the places that see a lot of robbing (elbows, etc...)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (2 children)

House is 123 years old, I have a couple of cast-iron pans that are civil war era, still get regular use.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The foundation of the building I live in is from the 1880’s. Does that count?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

.uk

What, it's not built on a Roman wall? Boooring. /s

It's crazy to me how commonplace truly deep history is over the pond. Like, there's been multiple different cities in the same place at different times, basically.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

I'm equally fascinated by the idea that the American peoples were there for so many thousand years with such dynamic cultures without a similar built environment. Little physical trace but an immense history

Edit: dammit, this was a week ago. I'm not great at conversation!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

No worries.

Yep. Australian too. And then there's ancient civilisations that are now poorly attested, but definitely were just as happening as other things around. The Cucuteni-Trypillians come to mind; they had the largest city on Earth at one point, but then that whole pocket of complexity - their whole world - faded out completely, and ended up named after where we found some buried ruins. Similarly, we have to assume the Parthian Empire was just as literate and culturally rich as their rival Rome, but because papyrus doesn't usually last and they didn't spawn successor factions like the Church and Byzantium, their works are lost.

There are ancient native sites around my area (they did build!), and they can be kinda cool, but we basically have no idea what the people who built them were like, or how many waves of migration and replacement have happened since. If it doesn't get recorded it's prehistory, and prehistory is just a little tantalizing.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

When my grandma passed away, we had to sell the family farm that had been in the family since the 1930s. While mounting the massive undertaking of cleaning out 100 years of stuff from 2 houses and 3 barns, I stumbled upon 2 old wooden cheese boxes being used to store screws from a brand called Blue Ribbon Cheese. I googled it and that was how Pabst Blue Ribbon survived prohibition. One sits in my sock drawer with a few pocket knives for me to choose from each morning.

I don't use it daily, but I also have a 3 foot long homemade level with my great grandfather's initials carved in it. He died in the 1950s but it could be older than that.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

A stove spatula my mom had in the 1940s. Not daily but I use it routinely. I hand wash it instead of putting it through the dishwasher.

We also have my wife's grandmother's old, completely out-of-tune standup piano. Nobody in our house plays piano. We use it to take up space, accumulate clutter, and make sure that area of the room is unusable.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

An old generic pocket knife I bought in a mall shop back in 2001.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I have 2 jumpers that date back to 2009ish. Have not found suitable replacements for them sadly.

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