History in the Attic

Did anyone see the 150
year old photo of slave children that has recently turned up in an attic estate sale? A rare photo, very haunting, but a testament to a dark time in American History. The boys, one who is identified as John (and who was purchased for a price of $1150) are looking straight into the camera and the sadness and suffering is so apparent. This particular photo was taken around the end of the civil war so they might have been recently freed (one can only hope) but they still look so lost.

I've found some history in the houses I have lived in: old medicine bottles with the labels still on them. Dr. Whitaker's Elixir (cures gas, chilblains, sort throats, melancholia and diarrhea....); old Civil War photos of family members who were soldiers, a post card from the front in WWI from a sad soldier who feared his sweetheart had forgotten him. I've found a stash of 1888 ceramic beer bottle caps with the brewers stamp still readable and a life-sized poster of John Wayne from the 1940s. My friend found her great grand mother's Parisian opera fan (ostrich feathers!) in a trunk, circa 1900.

Finding these things makes me think about the person who owned them and what their life was like. The monetary doesn't matter so much, but the history to me is priceless. What have you found in an attic, basement or behind the mantle piece? Anything interesting?