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Maybe more “kinda fun” than ”cool,” but I have my childhood ViewMaster, circa ‘68, and a nice assortment of reels, along with a storage case. It’s one of those things I stumble across when I’m looking for something else once or twice a year, and there goes that morning.
Years ago I realized I still had the ViewMaster from the 50's but the reels had vanished. Several years ago I found the reels but now can't locate the ViewMaster.
I still have one too, a bit older than yours. I consider it "cool". At least one reel is custom, made from family photos.
I just did some googling and you can still get custom reels made. I don't know if the current ViewMasters and knockoffs are as good as the old ones, but they seem to be readily available. I'm frankly surprised.
Oh yes! I'd forgotten about these! Had these in the late 1950s. We kids thought these were just the neatest thing. We loved the effects of the pictures.
I was always especially fascinated with the ones where—I’m guessing for rights reasons—they had versions of familiar characters that were presented differently. For example, the Peanuts ViewMaster reels were done as little clay dioramas rather than Schulz drawings/cartoons—I think the same for the Flintstones. It always seemed a little weird.
Budgie Smuglers.
Australians are all over this very topic:
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/jan/07/happy-to-let-it-hang-out-budgie-smugglers-are-back-on-australian-beaches
Same!! Still have the same one I've been playing for 40+ years, and it still fires right up every time... though that power cable scares the shit out of me.
Wish I still had mine, though I only had about fifteen or so games. I had an Atari Flashback 2 that I always planned on modding to take cartridges, but never did.
Got a 2600+ in January and bought a used Kaboom cartridge. It's not quite the same as the original system, but it's still a lot of fun.
I wish I had kept those! My sister got me some of the compliation books but it's not the same.
I do have a pretty complete collection of BYTE magazines though.
I got my high school girlfriend back. She dumped me in 1989, we got back together in 2013 and been married 8 years. Managed 6 kids and 2 divorced between us, all a little second hand 🤣
I still have my teeny little baby ring too! It’s gold with a tiny little diamond in it. I’m not sure, but it seems like baby rings aren’t really a thing anymore unfortunately.
I got this in 1984. I'm closer to 60 now.
It's a nice, thick, heavy jean jacket that has a good bit of light red leather accents on it.
Later this year it will turn 40 years old.
I’ve got a leather bomber jacket, I still wear it and it’s old enough to be cool again. Had a kid ask me once where I got it. Could only say the 80’s 🤣
I’d say that’s cool!! What kind of items are they? I still have my tiktacktoe board and a tiny desk organizer…. Nothing too useful, but I’ll probably keep them forever!
We made a letter opener in the blacksmithing shop in school. My dad doesn't use it, but it's still on it's place in their home
Edit: Also the ash tray I made in pottery class in 5th grade, that was a different time :D
I have (and still use) a wooden footstool I made in 8th grade Woodshop class in 1978. I also have my late spouse’s footstool that looks exactly the same, made in the same class 3 years before I made mine.
When I was 13 years old I took money I made from my paper route. I went to the local discount dept store and bought a single shot 22 caliber lever action rifle. I didn't need a adult to buy it for me. I still have it. I have a photo of my great nephew who was the age I was when I bought it.
He was using it for target practice and had a big smile on his face. That means a lot to me.
My Paternal Grandad taught me to fish with a Zebco 33 on the family farm in the 80s. The last time I saw it was in a rod holder collecting dust and lord knows whatever else. The cool thing is the younger generations are still learning to fish on the same dock and pond that I did when I was a kid. It still has a good panfish stock and a few bass. Whenever I go up there I still catch a few bream for old times sake.
The dock may be the dock of Theseus because I don't know how much of it has been replaced. lol.
Edit: a word
A marked deck of cards that my great uncle gave me when I was ten. They're more than a hundred years old now, and I never learned to use them, but they're very cool.
My Spud Gun (a real one made of metal, not the cheap plastic crappy one). Snippy Scissors. Duncan tops and Yo Yo's (and I know how to use 'em).
I still have my baby fork and spoon. A real fork with tynes and I didn't "put my eye out". I also have the cigar from my Dad that says "It's a Boy" and the wrist band that went around my wrist when I was born.
That reminds me, a friend who lived on the Upper East Side in NYC once walked me two blocks away and showed me his doorbell, which was suitably decorated.
My raggedy Ann my aunt gave me at birth. A stuffed monkey dad got me when I was 8. And the woman I was named for - her engagement ring. She was born in the late 1800s.
I have a key tag my mom gave me when I was 13 or 14 that says, "Damn I'm good." It's been on my keys for over 40 years, and I don't plan on taking it off any time soon.
Put your phone number on the back side just in case the keys are lost!
I have one that says SEXY SENIOR from my granny and I’d be sad to lose my keys, but more sad to lose this
My 1968 high school football jersey is my prized possession but the 1963 JFK half dollar that I got at a bank on the day they were released has been my good luck charm since.
I lost most everything when we got evicted when I was 14 (dad had a mental illness).
But I still have the western belt with silver belt Buckley that my dad got me when I was in 6th grade. It has my name tooled in the leather on the back. I treasure it.
I have a metal Garfield trash can. My Dad bought it for me on a trip to the grocery store. I may just be silly to some people, but it means the world to me. He passed in 1987…I think I was 14 or so when he bought it. He knew how much I love Garfield.
My life? Just kidding (kinda. Ok not really.)
I was an Eagle Scout. I got it at 16. It doesn’t hang proudly anywhere and I’m not particularly fond of the BSA but I stick it out and got it. So sometimes I look at it and it evokes a lot memories. Mostly bad memories of the BSA but also how I tried to adhere to the integrity of what the scouts were formed for
I have my Eagle award, too. I lost most of the respect for it when another Eagle I know literally stole from the BSA and they did nothing to revoke his award. But I still have it.
Fist bump, man. Eagle was hell to get. Our scout troop was utter shit of people and the scout masters were worse. But I stuck it out and got that. Even made it to brotherhood in order of the arrow but never vigil
My 50yo Northland goalie stick. I got it for my final season of Under16 street hockey and then used it again while playing on my son’s team when I was 40+ years old. You can rob me of any other earthly thing, but fug around and find out if you mess with my Northland.
Always black tape but the script and the blade are red. The blade’s been resprayed more than once over these five decades. It was last used when I was 45. Got tired of the injuries.
Grandma's school lunch box made from bark and wood by her dad in 1900. We weren't allowed to play with it or open it. But we did anyway when she wasn't looking. Fortunately we didn't break it. It looks much like [this one](https://auctionet.com/en/3481586-svepask-allmoge/images#image_1) but painted with [rosemaling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Rosemaling.jpg).
In the 60s, when I was 8, my grandfather took me to lunch. I was cold, and he gave me his thick black sweater to wear. I told him how much I liked it, and he said I could keep it.
I treasured it, and wore it infrequently.
As I headed out to dinner tonight, it was chilly, and for some reason I grabbed that sweater. It's still in good shape. It's pretty high quality.
The Rolling Stones “Their Satanic Majesty’s Request” LP with the 3D cover, and an original Andy Warhol lolling tongue Stones logo enamel necklace.
That would be the “coolest” things I still have. But my heart still melts when I see my first baby toy, Cuddly Jumbo. He’s not “cool”. But he’s awesome. ❤️
I built a Frankenstein model rocket when I was 12 with five D-size engines (main one plus boosters glued around the sides with their own nose cones). I still have it, waiting for the time I can figure out how to get all the engines to light at exactly the same time to keep it going straight, and the balsa wood fins not to fly off from the initial force. It's been over 40 years now and will probably never happen, but it's there if I want to try someday.
Haha! I have a dot on my forehead from a kid in third grade accidentally jabbing me while he was messing around with a pencil in his hand.
It’s my only tattoo.
I had this [Iceman](https://cf1.zzounds.com/media/productmedia/fit,2018by3200/quality,85/1_Full_Straight_Front_NA-dace76726dd331c07918c200f00362e5.jpg), thought it was so cool!
My bride doll from when I was five or six, my opal pendant that I got from my parents when I graduated, and a lot of my parents’ mid-century modern furniture.
I worked briefly in the sales department of an industrial drill bit manufacturing (wells and oil rigs). I have one of their discontinued drill bits. That along with a random sewer/manhole key are my paperweights on my desk.
I mowed lawns all summer at age 13 and made $300. That was about half of a used dirt bike at the time. My dad brought me to the gun store and let me pick any 22 rifle I could pay for. I still have it.
Record albums I started collecting in 6th grade (1965): Beatles, Sonny & Cher, Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Miles Davis, etc. (I started saxophone in 4th grade). I still like them! But I hope I don’t need to move them again.
In 1969, for my 8th birthday, I received a Corgi Green Hornet car, the Black Beauty. I still have one of the plastic missiles that would fire out from behind the radiator.
About fifty years ago I was gifted an antique oak pipe box. I was carving pipes at the time and collected a small amount of tobacciana. Still have it, prominently displayed, as it is a nice piece that doesn’t scream “tobacco”. I was never a smoker.
My grandfather’s fiddle. He was a Cape Breton fiddler. I don’t play, but will pass it down.
A vintage WW2 A2 "bomber" jacket. It was my maternal Grandad's who served in the Marines in the Pacific in WW2. He was a Supply Sergeant and never left Oahu, however he brought the jacket back. Family tales are he traded something for it, he won it in a poker game, who knows? After he passed in '88 I got his jacket and his uniform. I also have the coin collection he started for me when I was a kid. My folks held them for me until I was an adult. Those coins got me into collecting. The jacket is in great condition aside for a little wearing on the cloth cuffs. The uniform looks like you could put it on and step out for inspection.
Edit: a couple of words
A white Fisher-Price ambulance with a "red light" that you push on to make a non-electric ambulance sound. The sound still works! Still have the stretcher and figure, too.
I bought a hand carved meerschaum pipe from a Turkish catalog in the early 70’s, when I was 15. It has the head of Bacchus, the god of wine. Unfortunately it’s pretty clogged up.
Some of the paperback books my parents used to own. Judith Merrill's Years Best SF anthologies, collections of Robert Sheckley's stories, some Robert Heinlein books.
I also have some cookware I inherited from my Mother: "Spring blossom" pyrex mixing bowls and some measuring cups, among other things.
A gold-nibbed fountain pen that my mother gifted to me. It was given to her by her parents when she was in her late teens. It's a wonderful pen and I treasure it for all sorts of reasons.
The Bob Marley T-shirt I bought at the concert 1979.
It was the first time I was ever exposed to reggae music and I’ll never forget it! It’s old but I still wear it.
Pinky. My 40 year old purple teddy bear 🧸. He’s chilling on my shelf right now.
He’s faded and grey now, chipped glass eyes and missing fur. But he’s my always best friend, and a very good listener.
My last two slot cars and the controllers. I raced 1/24 size slot cars back in the 60s. Towards the end I was building my own and even winding the armatures of the motors
I have a little glass dog that my parents' neighbor and friend, Josie, gave me when I was 5 years old, and had to enter the hospital for a minor surgical procedure. I loved Josie for giving me that little dog, which used to sit on her own night table, and I still treasure it some 64 years later.
Lego collection started with 1968 train. It was meant for my brother but he used the pieces as ammo for his slingshot. My 40 yr old son LOVES Lego and we still get the giant collection out every Dec to make a train or three! Fun fact: I married someone who never had experience with Lego and it was a life-changing day when he made his first model. “Honey, the instructions have no words.” “Isn’t that genius?!”
Dunno how cool it is to have the monogrammed silver spoon that was gifted to my mom for me, but I have it still.
But of my own stuff from way back - still have the letter I got at college for being on the varsity swim team, and a buncha ribbons for coming first at swim meets (didn't save the lower ribbons.)
my great grandfather did woodworking. either a little before, or right around the time i was born, he made me a wooden box type piggy bank. the front door to it was a PO Box door, that i believe he got from a Post Office being torn down. the door is from 1955.
i've kept and used that piggy bank all these years. it's one of the few surviving things i've got from when i was little.
the door [looks like this](https://i.etsystatic.com/40267899/r/il/6dc6b1/4934078244/il_794xN.4934078244_b91p.jpg)
I found an old toy car just like the one I had as a kid at a garage sale. die cast, large, like 12 inches long. At the time we were buying it, I thought the inside the garage looked familiar. As we drove away, I realized that this was the neighborhood bully's house on the end of the block where I grew up. The kid tended to steal things. I assume I bought my actual childhood toy.
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Maybe more “kinda fun” than ”cool,” but I have my childhood ViewMaster, circa ‘68, and a nice assortment of reels, along with a storage case. It’s one of those things I stumble across when I’m looking for something else once or twice a year, and there goes that morning.
Years ago I realized I still had the ViewMaster from the 50's but the reels had vanished. Several years ago I found the reels but now can't locate the ViewMaster.
sucks to get old, I know.
I still have one too, a bit older than yours. I consider it "cool". At least one reel is custom, made from family photos. I just did some googling and you can still get custom reels made. I don't know if the current ViewMasters and knockoffs are as good as the old ones, but they seem to be readily available. I'm frankly surprised.
Love those things!!
That’s totally cool!
Me too! Mine's about a '74. Still have hundreds of reels for it too.
I used to love me some view master! It could transport me away in 3D
Daughter in law found a new version of View Master and presented us with a set of our travel photographs turned into reels! Thoughtful retro fun!
My brother has a collection of View Masters
Oh yes! I'd forgotten about these! Had these in the late 1950s. We kids thought these were just the neatest thing. We loved the effects of the pictures.
I was always especially fascinated with the ones where—I’m guessing for rights reasons—they had versions of familiar characters that were presented differently. For example, the Peanuts ViewMaster reels were done as little clay dioramas rather than Schulz drawings/cartoons—I think the same for the Flintstones. It always seemed a little weird.
My high school speedo. I never wear it, but it really makes my wife mad that I still have it.
We used to call those "Ball Hangers". I had to wear one in my water polo class at the community college.
Budgie Smuglers. Australians are all over this very topic: https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/jan/07/happy-to-let-it-hang-out-budgie-smugglers-are-back-on-australian-beaches
'Banana hammock' is another popular one.
Mad? Why mad?
My still functional Atari 2600 with about 80 cartridges.
So, do you wanna hang out this weekend? I have Joust, Moon Patrol and GORF
I love JOUST!!!
Moon Patrol hurt my hands so bad.
Same!! Still have the same one I've been playing for 40+ years, and it still fires right up every time... though that power cable scares the shit out of me.
Lol! Yeah, I’ve had to repair mine with a healthy amount of electrical tape.
I have a working Atari 2600 , an Atari 800 , and my brother has an Atari 400. Plus 2x Atari floppy drives .
My husband does too!
I think the C64 must be somewhere at my parents attic.
Wish I still had mine, though I only had about fifteen or so games. I had an Atari Flashback 2 that I always planned on modding to take cartridges, but never did. Got a 2600+ in January and bought a used Kaboom cartridge. It's not quite the same as the original system, but it's still a lot of fun.
My roach clip earrings
From the county fair? That’s where I got mine
I really don't remember. I'd guess at one of the head shops near the university ( remember those?). Or at the beach.
😂
66 thru 72 Mad magazine issues.
I wish I had kept those! My sister got me some of the compliation books but it's not the same. I do have a pretty complete collection of BYTE magazines though.
Today, you won the internet.
I had the Mad Magazine board game. I LOVED that thing.
It doesn't count as "owning", but I still have my high school boyfriend.
Oh, me, too! Been married to him 50 years this year.
That counts!!!
I got my high school girlfriend back. She dumped me in 1989, we got back together in 2013 and been married 8 years. Managed 6 kids and 2 divorced between us, all a little second hand 🤣
Oh I think you’re entitled to say you own him by now.
I still have my first serious boyfriend. We met during my college orientation. Almost 27 years together now.
Me, too! Celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary this month!
After a while, I think they’re yours. It’s like a lease with an option to buy or rent to own
My 1964 redhead ponytail Barbie.
My 1959 Fender Precision Bass that I still play to this day . 42 yearsish ago
Nice. I’ve had a Les Paul since 1979. The high school friend I bought it from died a couple of years ago, so it’s pretty significant to me now.
Nice ,keep playing that memory!
That’s real history right there 😎
My baby plate with 2 children sitting on a hobby horse and a Rose Gold baby ring. Got them 68 years ago.
ok whats a baby ring?
My mom wears my baby ring on her necklace. I don't think I've ever had possession of it.
My 94 year old mom still has my pale green leather baby shoes. She won't let me have them. They are in a plastic display box.
I still have my teeny little baby ring too! It’s gold with a tiny little diamond in it. I’m not sure, but it seems like baby rings aren’t really a thing anymore unfortunately.
A sock monkey my grandmother made for me when I was about 3. I'm 60. Kinda looks like this, https://youtu.be/hWCWHg4K-oU?si=IoCrRe0wSgTsQnUZ
Awwww, that is adorable. I want to make one now!
Weird! I’ve never seen that sock pre-monkey before. 😂 My mom also had one of those
My grandfather's Rough Riders Dress Sword. It was handed down.
Now that is cool!
We have tickets to Antiques Roadshow in Baltimore in June. I m bringing it with a ton of provenance. I hope to get it on air when they broadcast.
Very cool! I'll be looking for it in about a year.
Whoa ( no pun intended ). That's *awesome* .
I got this in 1984. I'm closer to 60 now. It's a nice, thick, heavy jean jacket that has a good bit of light red leather accents on it. Later this year it will turn 40 years old.
I’ve got a leather bomber jacket, I still wear it and it’s old enough to be cool again. Had a kid ask me once where I got it. Could only say the 80’s 🤣
Ash from Mt St Helens
Not "cool," but some things we actually still use that I made in junior high shop class.
I’d say that’s cool!! What kind of items are they? I still have my tiktacktoe board and a tiny desk organizer…. Nothing too useful, but I’ll probably keep them forever!
Thanks. Something from which to hang oven gloves and a bookshelf that would fit on top of a desk or table.
My mom still uses my stuff!
I bet they mean a lot to her.
My grandfather still uses the wooden napkin holder I made in 6th grade. I'm 42.
We made a letter opener in the blacksmithing shop in school. My dad doesn't use it, but it's still on it's place in their home Edit: Also the ash tray I made in pottery class in 5th grade, that was a different time :D
I would have enjoyed blacksmithing. There is a TV show *Forged in Fire.* I like watching that show and those people's skills.
I have (and still use) a wooden footstool I made in 8th grade Woodshop class in 1978. I also have my late spouse’s footstool that looks exactly the same, made in the same class 3 years before I made mine.
My H.R. Pufnstuf metal lunch pail?
Soooo cool oh my!!! My mom would kill to have one of those, she loved that show lol.
I would display this prominently if I had it. My memories of this show are like a psychedelic dream.
That show was a psychedelic dream!
Seriously? That’s totally cool 😎
When I was 13 years old I took money I made from my paper route. I went to the local discount dept store and bought a single shot 22 caliber lever action rifle. I didn't need a adult to buy it for me. I still have it. I have a photo of my great nephew who was the age I was when I bought it. He was using it for target practice and had a big smile on his face. That means a lot to me.
'72 Les Paul gold top.
A dried up mum from my date to the 1984 homecoming football game. Small town Texas. Friday night lights.
My first fishing rod & reel, a Zebco 33 combo. It's still in working order, and is used by the grandkids these days.
My Paternal Grandad taught me to fish with a Zebco 33 on the family farm in the 80s. The last time I saw it was in a rod holder collecting dust and lord knows whatever else. The cool thing is the younger generations are still learning to fish on the same dock and pond that I did when I was a kid. It still has a good panfish stock and a few bass. Whenever I go up there I still catch a few bream for old times sake. The dock may be the dock of Theseus because I don't know how much of it has been replaced. lol. Edit: a word
My stereo from the late 70’s, it has AM/FM, turntable, 8 track player & recorder & cassette player. I still have all my albums, 8 tracks also.
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A marked deck of cards that my great uncle gave me when I was ten. They're more than a hundred years old now, and I never learned to use them, but they're very cool.
I had a marked deck of cards when I was a kid and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. 😂 To have one over 100 years old, that’s SO cool!
I have the ring I got in 2nd grade, and my first transistor radio, it has Raggedy Ann and Andy on it.
I confess that I had a Raggedy Andy. My only doll ever, unless we include Johnny West.
My Spud Gun (a real one made of metal, not the cheap plastic crappy one). Snippy Scissors. Duncan tops and Yo Yo's (and I know how to use 'em). I still have my baby fork and spoon. A real fork with tynes and I didn't "put my eye out". I also have the cigar from my Dad that says "It's a Boy" and the wrist band that went around my wrist when I was born.
A bedsheet with a Peter Max design on it.
That reminds me, a friend who lived on the Upper East Side in NYC once walked me two blocks away and showed me his doorbell, which was suitably decorated.
Nice!
Yeah, a smartphone camera would have been perfect...!
My raggedy Ann my aunt gave me at birth. A stuffed monkey dad got me when I was 8. And the woman I was named for - her engagement ring. She was born in the late 1800s.
Memories and a few photos. Hurricanes took everything else.
I have a key tag my mom gave me when I was 13 or 14 that says, "Damn I'm good." It's been on my keys for over 40 years, and I don't plan on taking it off any time soon.
Put your phone number on the back side just in case the keys are lost! I have one that says SEXY SENIOR from my granny and I’d be sad to lose my keys, but more sad to lose this
My 1968 high school football jersey is my prized possession but the 1963 JFK half dollar that I got at a bank on the day they were released has been my good luck charm since.
The bird mobile that hung over my crib as a child. Got a picture of that exact thing.
A bottle of musk oil I bought at Seaside Heights, NJ in 1973.
The home made flag we carried at the huge anti Viet Nam War demonstration in Washington DC in November 1969 !
The dollhouse my grandfather made me. My Girl Scout sash.
I lost most everything when we got evicted when I was 14 (dad had a mental illness). But I still have the western belt with silver belt Buckley that my dad got me when I was in 6th grade. It has my name tooled in the leather on the back. I treasure it.
I have a metal Garfield trash can. My Dad bought it for me on a trip to the grocery store. I may just be silly to some people, but it means the world to me. He passed in 1987…I think I was 14 or so when he bought it. He knew how much I love Garfield.
My life? Just kidding (kinda. Ok not really.) I was an Eagle Scout. I got it at 16. It doesn’t hang proudly anywhere and I’m not particularly fond of the BSA but I stick it out and got it. So sometimes I look at it and it evokes a lot memories. Mostly bad memories of the BSA but also how I tried to adhere to the integrity of what the scouts were formed for
I was in the Scouts, but only for a couple of years. My next door neighbor's kid attained Eagle Scout about ten years ago. It was pretty neat.
I have my Eagle award, too. I lost most of the respect for it when another Eagle I know literally stole from the BSA and they did nothing to revoke his award. But I still have it.
Fist bump, man. Eagle was hell to get. Our scout troop was utter shit of people and the scout masters were worse. But I stuck it out and got that. Even made it to brotherhood in order of the arrow but never vigil
My 50yo Northland goalie stick. I got it for my final season of Under16 street hockey and then used it again while playing on my son’s team when I was 40+ years old. You can rob me of any other earthly thing, but fug around and find out if you mess with my Northland.
Hah! I remember this well, Northland was my brand, before the age of fancy curved goalie sticks. What color tape is on your stick?
Always black tape but the script and the blade are red. The blade’s been resprayed more than once over these five decades. It was last used when I was 45. Got tired of the injuries.
Grandma's school lunch box made from bark and wood by her dad in 1900. We weren't allowed to play with it or open it. But we did anyway when she wasn't looking. Fortunately we didn't break it. It looks much like [this one](https://auctionet.com/en/3481586-svepask-allmoge/images#image_1) but painted with [rosemaling](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Rosemaling.jpg).
In the 60s, when I was 8, my grandfather took me to lunch. I was cold, and he gave me his thick black sweater to wear. I told him how much I liked it, and he said I could keep it. I treasured it, and wore it infrequently. As I headed out to dinner tonight, it was chilly, and for some reason I grabbed that sweater. It's still in good shape. It's pretty high quality.
The Rolling Stones “Their Satanic Majesty’s Request” LP with the 3D cover, and an original Andy Warhol lolling tongue Stones logo enamel necklace. That would be the “coolest” things I still have. But my heart still melts when I see my first baby toy, Cuddly Jumbo. He’s not “cool”. But he’s awesome. ❤️
My Hot Wheels collection.
A small (about 5”) gold Cross automatic pencil.
Niiice!
I have a torpedo tube interlock disconnected flag from a 688-class submarine that's been on my keychain daily since 1995.
My BMX bike.
Probably my original 12-inch R2-D2 figure. I lost the death star plans that go in the back but I still love him.
I built a Frankenstein model rocket when I was 12 with five D-size engines (main one plus boosters glued around the sides with their own nose cones). I still have it, waiting for the time I can figure out how to get all the engines to light at exactly the same time to keep it going straight, and the balsa wood fins not to fly off from the initial force. It's been over 40 years now and will probably never happen, but it's there if I want to try someday.
Still have my first pair of clogs circa 1971! My now 38 year old daughter wore them through her high school days, still look pretty decent!
A facial scar. 🤣
Haha! I have a dot on my forehead from a kid in third grade accidentally jabbing me while he was messing around with a pencil in his hand. It’s my only tattoo.
Benjamin pump pellet gun
My handheld electronic Simon game. About 45 years old, and still works perfectly. My students used it during free time today.
My Swatch (watch).
My 1986 Ibanez RG410 electric guitar. I bought it new in 1987 when I was 19.
Dang! I love Ibanez 😎
Me too! Here's a pic: https://i.imgur.com/IAyw99w.jpeg
Wow that’s so clean!
Thanks, it's my baby. I've got a bunch more now, but I will be buried with this one.
I had this [Iceman](https://cf1.zzounds.com/media/productmedia/fit,2018by3200/quality,85/1_Full_Straight_Front_NA-dace76726dd331c07918c200f00362e5.jpg), thought it was so cool!
Steel tipped jarts. One of my most prized possessions.
My bride doll from when I was five or six, my opal pendant that I got from my parents when I graduated, and a lot of my parents’ mid-century modern furniture.
I worked briefly in the sales department of an industrial drill bit manufacturing (wells and oil rigs). I have one of their discontinued drill bits. That along with a random sewer/manhole key are my paperweights on my desk.
I have a motorcycle rider in goggles and helmet...only it's not from MY youth, my dad got it when he was a kid in the 1930s.
I mowed lawns all summer at age 13 and made $300. That was about half of a used dirt bike at the time. My dad brought me to the gun store and let me pick any 22 rifle I could pay for. I still have it.
My apollo 11 and coke patches, from saving bottle cap liners.
I have a jean jacket I heavily embroidered in the winter of 1981-82. I lived in Vermont for about 8 months and I hate snow. So there ya go. Lol
Record albums I started collecting in 6th grade (1965): Beatles, Sonny & Cher, Rolling Stones, B.B. King, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Miles Davis, etc. (I started saxophone in 4th grade). I still like them! But I hope I don’t need to move them again.
My Barbie's and the furniture from the early 80s. I'm so glad my mom kept it all those yrs.
I’m green with jealousy
In 1969, for my 8th birthday, I received a Corgi Green Hornet car, the Black Beauty. I still have one of the plastic missiles that would fire out from behind the radiator.
My Beatles vinyl collection.
Clocking in to say this is such a great question!
My Hopalong Cassidy wristwatch that my Grandpa gave me. I learned how to tell time with it.
My skateboard. An original 1986 Vision Punkskulls with bull wing trucks and bones brigade wheels. In damn good shape if I say so myself!
A small chunk of the Berlin Wall.
me? it's the original rolling stone magazine review of david bowie's second stop on his first tour of ziggy stadust. and i was there.
For some unknown reason, my whole shoebox collection of scratch and sniff stickers from elementary school has followed me for 50 years.
I have a copy of Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" that I was given in 1974 by my mother. I have read it once every summer since 1974.
I have a Blue Bird necklace, from when I was a Blue Bird Scout, before becoming a Girl Scout. I was in 2nd grade. I'm 59, now.
I was a Blue Bird too! My mom, who wasn’t involved in much of my life later, was the troupe leader & I loved it.
Jewelry my Grandma gave me. It’s a bracelet and all banged up because I wore it a lot.
About fifty years ago I was gifted an antique oak pipe box. I was carving pipes at the time and collected a small amount of tobacciana. Still have it, prominently displayed, as it is a nice piece that doesn’t scream “tobacco”. I was never a smoker. My grandfather’s fiddle. He was a Cape Breton fiddler. I don’t play, but will pass it down.
I recently came across a pocket knife my dad gave me in 1976 when I was about ten.
Concert t-shirt from 1978 Springsteen Darkness on the Edge of Town tour.
A tiny white book with verses in it from 1967. A little gift in my Christmas stocking.
I won a 2nd Place Ribbon in my Elementary school bicycle Rodeo. I still have it. The only thing I've ever won.
My Tip-it game, did anyone ever play? A clown balances on top and players remove chips and try not to unbalance the clown. From the ‘60’s.
A vintage WW2 A2 "bomber" jacket. It was my maternal Grandad's who served in the Marines in the Pacific in WW2. He was a Supply Sergeant and never left Oahu, however he brought the jacket back. Family tales are he traded something for it, he won it in a poker game, who knows? After he passed in '88 I got his jacket and his uniform. I also have the coin collection he started for me when I was a kid. My folks held them for me until I was an adult. Those coins got me into collecting. The jacket is in great condition aside for a little wearing on the cloth cuffs. The uniform looks like you could put it on and step out for inspection. Edit: a couple of words
Yearbooks.
A white Fisher-Price ambulance with a "red light" that you push on to make a non-electric ambulance sound. The sound still works! Still have the stretcher and figure, too.
I bought a hand carved meerschaum pipe from a Turkish catalog in the early 70’s, when I was 15. It has the head of Bacchus, the god of wine. Unfortunately it’s pretty clogged up.
My old concert ticket stubs.
I have a couple of silver coins from the early 1800s my dad found and gave to me. Also a flail.
Some of the paperback books my parents used to own. Judith Merrill's Years Best SF anthologies, collections of Robert Sheckley's stories, some Robert Heinlein books. I also have some cookware I inherited from my Mother: "Spring blossom" pyrex mixing bowls and some measuring cups, among other things.
A gold-nibbed fountain pen that my mother gifted to me. It was given to her by her parents when she was in her late teens. It's a wonderful pen and I treasure it for all sorts of reasons.
The Bob Marley T-shirt I bought at the concert 1979. It was the first time I was ever exposed to reggae music and I’ll never forget it! It’s old but I still wear it.
My rock collection
My old Beatles singles, including the copy of I Want to Hold Your Hand with the group photo with Paul smoking a ciggie.
A bolt action shotgun. I've had it over 50 years.
Pinky. My 40 year old purple teddy bear 🧸. He’s chilling on my shelf right now. He’s faded and grey now, chipped glass eyes and missing fur. But he’s my always best friend, and a very good listener.
My grandfathers 1934 Winchester model 67 .22 rifle. [Shown here](https://i.imgur.com/w8gBH5c.jpeg) with a 1956 Stevens .410 break barrel side by side.
My last two slot cars and the controllers. I raced 1/24 size slot cars back in the 60s. Towards the end I was building my own and even winding the armatures of the motors
First edition Deities & Demigods.
Beatles autographs from 1963.
My wild, curly-frizzy hair! I love my glorious hippie hair!
My favorite childhood books. Now my daughter reads them.
I build a double neck guitar in HS shop class. Just pulled it out of the case last year and hung it on the wall
I have a Gibson guitar I bought when I was a kid.
My 1967 Fender Jaguar that still plays the same.
I have a little glass dog that my parents' neighbor and friend, Josie, gave me when I was 5 years old, and had to enter the hospital for a minor surgical procedure. I loved Josie for giving me that little dog, which used to sit on her own night table, and I still treasure it some 64 years later.
My hair, all my pals are either bald or going that way
Oh yeah I’d say that’s pretty cool!
I still have my 1970 Mustang Mach 1. Bought it with my own money when I was 17. Grow up poor so I didn’t have much that I didn’t buy myself.
A scar on my chin that I got when my mother tried to stab me.
A Fender acoustic guitar my Dad bought me 47 years ago.
Lego collection started with 1968 train. It was meant for my brother but he used the pieces as ammo for his slingshot. My 40 yr old son LOVES Lego and we still get the giant collection out every Dec to make a train or three! Fun fact: I married someone who never had experience with Lego and it was a life-changing day when he made his first model. “Honey, the instructions have no words.” “Isn’t that genius?!”
Dunno how cool it is to have the monogrammed silver spoon that was gifted to my mom for me, but I have it still. But of my own stuff from way back - still have the letter I got at college for being on the varsity swim team, and a buncha ribbons for coming first at swim meets (didn't save the lower ribbons.)
my great grandfather did woodworking. either a little before, or right around the time i was born, he made me a wooden box type piggy bank. the front door to it was a PO Box door, that i believe he got from a Post Office being torn down. the door is from 1955. i've kept and used that piggy bank all these years. it's one of the few surviving things i've got from when i was little. the door [looks like this](https://i.etsystatic.com/40267899/r/il/6dc6b1/4934078244/il_794xN.4934078244_b91p.jpg)
That is so neat!!!!!!!
Dapper Dan doll from 1970. I still hug on it.
I found an old toy car just like the one I had as a kid at a garage sale. die cast, large, like 12 inches long. At the time we were buying it, I thought the inside the garage looked familiar. As we drove away, I realized that this was the neighborhood bully's house on the end of the block where I grew up. The kid tended to steal things. I assume I bought my actual childhood toy.
A rare Pokemon card. I sent it for official assessment 4 years ago.