You might have had the opportunity to participate in the creation of a time capsule to provide future generations clues about what life was really like during a historical period.
But the excitement was especially high on Tuesday when officials at a Boston museum cracked open what is being called America’s oldest time capsule, dating back to 1795.
The city’s Museum of Fine Arts opened the capsule, believed to have been buried under the Massachusetts State House cornerstone in 1795 by individuals including then-governor Samuel Adams, and American Revolutionary hero Paul Revere.
The capsule – which had also been unearthed back in 1855 and its contents cleaned and documented - was found embedded in the cornerstone and removed last month so it could be weighed and x-rayed.
The contents included five tightly folded newspapers, a medal depicting George Washington, a silver plaque, two dozen coins, including one dating to 1655, and the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
The oldest coin in the box was a 1652 specimen called the Pine Tree Schilling - a currency used before independence when the colony didn’t have a royal authority to create its own money.
Some of the coins appeared corroded, while other items were in remarkably good condition and fingerprints were found on the silver plaque.
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