One man’s isolation is another’s treasure.
The renovation of an Illinois couple’s home led to the discovery of strange antiques hidden in the walls, including a still-working light bulb, dating from around 1904, according to Jam Press.
Emily and Ash Smith moved into the 134-year-old house in Belleville with their two children in September 2017 and immediately began restoring the Victorian home built in 1887.
The house’s first owner, Peter Martin Romeiser, apparently bought the bulb at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, said Emily, 34. The couple checked out the Belleville Historical Society and Ancestry.com to learn more about the house, according to an article in St. Louis magazine.
Romeiser was an “incredibly progressive” business owner, she said, and the purchase came just 14 years after Thomas Edison started making the bulb.
Her husband, a 36-year-old Air Force major, tested the conductivity of the bulb with a multimeter and was shocked to find a “low frequency.”
“I’m too nervous to try it because our lights are so much stronger today,” she said.
The renovation also uncovered an old business card under a floor, dominoes, a children’s game, a tool crusher and a glass soda bottle with its original cap.
They also found an early 20th century baby shoe inside a crawl space. Emily posted a number of treasures on Instagram.
“Whenever we discover something new, it excites us to try to find out how that item got there in the first place,” Emily said. “It’s almost like stepping into this moment in 1887 or 1904 or the 1950s. I’m also starting to dream of what’s left to find. What else is hiding from us?
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