They say that you get what you pay for, and after cheaping out on a few home appliances that decided to stop working out of the blue, that lesson really hit home for me. The mark of craftsmanship isn’t just how nice a thing looks, but how long it lasts.
Whoever made the stuff below can rest assured that their skills are up to snuff because their things have certainly stood the test of time.
The Minnett-Shields Alzeda.
This racing boat first tore up the waves back in the 1930s, commissioned by Lady Eaton of the now-defunct Eaton’s department store chain in Canada for her son.
Looks like no expense was spared, and it paid off because it looks as good as new almost a full century later.
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This Roman ring dates back to the 2nd or 3rd century BC.
Not only is it extraordinarily well-preserved for something more than 2,000 years old, it also gives a little insight on Roman lives – they loved dogs then just as much as we do now.
Romans apparently knew how to craft rings that last.
Although you’d expect great craftsmanship from something that belonged to royalty. This ring is believed to have been one of Emperor Caligula’s, and it depicts his fourth wife, Caesonia.
“Was going through my grandfather’s things and I found a Portugese coin minted in 1732,” the uploader wrote.
Heck, you’d think it would be difficult to identify just about anything that’s almost 300 years old as definitively Portuguese, and especially something that would have traded hands and knocked around in pockets.
This Viking axe head is just over 1,000-years-old.
Obviously, it’s been through a restoration process, but the fact that it could bring out the runic symbols engraved on the metal is still incredible.
Four thousand years later, tablets are back in classrooms.
This is what a student in Ancient Egypt would have learned on, whitewashing over the writing to start anew when it’s filled up and a new lesson begins.
Ancient Egyptians used spoons, too.
It makes me wonder if they Egyptians invented breakfast cereal, too. You never know!
This three-chambered pistol once belonged to Napoleon.
You don’t have to be a fan of guns to appreciate the craftsmanship that went into this piece. It’s art.
This is a water tower.
Yeah, serving the exact same function that the big bulbs of metal that usually bear a small town’s name on them serve, only with old-world style because it’s in Poland.
It was completed in 1905, but it’s absolutely timeless.
This is a palette that a painter in Ancient Egypt worked with.
It was carved out of ivory and still contains cakes of pigment , including blue, green, yellow, red, and black.
“My 116 year old sword that is in great condition.”
Clearly, there are older swords out there, but you can still make out the writing on this sword’s blade, so that’s not shabby at all.
Not a magic wand, but still pretty magical.
It’s just a piece of wood, but it has not only been petrified, but opalized due to water trapped inside the wood.
Somewhere between the 8th and 10th centuries in Korea, people would have used this die to play drinking games.
Some things never change, right? Just like you see in the joke/novelty shop at the mall, the die has instructions for drinking written on each face.
And, with 14 sides, there are plenty of options, including “Drink a big cup and laugh loudly,” “Do a dance without music,” and “Drink from a cup with something gross in it.”
This ball of linen thread dates from farther back than 3,000 BC.
That puts it at more than 5,000 years old, which is older than the Great Pyramid. I would have thought a ball of thread would have broken down long, long ago.
“I ordered a pair of pliers on eBay and my package came smothered in vintage stamps. Some being over 60 years old.”
Hey, if they’re good enough for the USPS, that’s the mark of excellence.
Among the other artifacts preserved by the eruption at Pompeii is this incredible mosaic.
The “Seafood Mosaic” was in the largest house in Pompeii, and it features 20 different species of sea dwellers.
This old-timey steamer trunk converts into a chest of drawers, too.
It’s not just storage! If only luggage did that nowadays – although I’m not sure it would stand up to the punishment of airline baggage handlers.
These weren’t practical, but they were interesting for sure.
These modified buses never caught on, obviously, but they were pretty neat for what they were supposed to do.
That is, delivering passengers right up to a plane’s door, kind of like a jetway on wheels. Wouldn’t it be great to bypass all that standing around at the gate?
“Fully-restored 1958 Golden Sahara II with Goodyear’s Illuminated Neothane Glow-Tyres.”
Unfortunately, although the glowing tires looked amazing, there were a couple of drawbacks . Braking on them was tricky at best, and it only got worse at higher speeds.
In the rain, they were downright abysmal. Add to that the fact that they distracted other drivers and they were just never going to be road-worthy.
Imagine walking around on that!
If you were living in the Altai Mountains of Mongolia about 2,300 years ago, these could have been your shoes. The frosty conditions there helped preserve these stylin’ boots for a couple of millennia.
