Is There A Difference Between Vintage And Antique?

Antiques, simply put, are old items, things left over from a bygone world, markers of eras past. The Titanic wreck is an antique, although we don’t think of it as such. The only difference between this and what we normally consider antiques is that the Titanic, though having value, can’t be bought or auctioned off.

That’s another distinction regarding antiques: They have a market value. Although in an economic sense this is true, in the true definition of the word and concept of antiques, it’s irrelevant. Antiques are known for their age and, quite often, their rare and/or unusual design. Hey, even the Titanic has a particular design which represents it as an icon of a certain era, with a history all its own.

Of course, when it comes to antiques, it’s important to distinguish between antiques, collectibles, and vintage:

Antiques: Items of the past, usually identifying a particular era, with some value--economic, personal, cultural, artistic, but always intrinsic. Think: 1915 one-piece bathing suit, a “Model A” automobile, an authentic revolutionary tricorn hat, and, of course, the Titanic.

Collectable: Items produced to be collected and can comprise a series, such as baseball cards. Of course some aren’t produced for this reason, such as butterflies or coins, but, like antiques, they can form interesting collections and are each of a particular type which distinguishes them from the rest in the series. Think: a 1912 penny or a 1956 Buffalo nickel. These are distinctively different but are both unique coins, therefore they are collectable. They are also antiques! Collectables usually have some monetary value, but they are always sought for their personal value.

Vintage: This is synonymous with “antique,” but there is a difference. Vintage wine, for example, is that which is made primarily of grapes harvested within a specific year. It’s not too unreasonable to presume, then, that vintage items are not only identifiers of a particular historical era, but also a particular year, such as the 1912 penny, or the 1956 Buffalo nickel–or the Titanic!

Antiques cannot be discussed without mentioning road shows. Begun in England during the 1950s, road shows are collectives of antique enthusiasts (dealers, collectors, specialists) who travel around a particular country (sometimes internationally) appraising the monetary value of old items for those who are interested. Sometimes auctions take place where interested owners can sell their antiques (or collectables) to others who are interested in buying them. Nowadays, both road shows and auctions take place online as well as in some physical place.

Modern antiques, a seeming contradiction, are those items that are either technologically obsolete, such as computer hardware no longer being made, or items that are more recent yet still old enough to be considered antiques. Customs laws and dealers vary on the stipulation of age, but the commonly accepted age range for modern antiques is anything made within the previous 100 years. The 1956 Buffalo nickel, a Beatles album, and, yes, even the Titanic fit into this category.

Historically, however, antiques hold a particular reference. Those relics from Old Greek and Roman civilizations–called the “Age of Antiquity”–are particularly considered antiques, but this is only applied in certain contexts, not in the true sense of definition.

Antiques are all around us! They describe our world and who we are as a people, and measure where we’ve been and where we are now. Antiques are an ongoing commodity of human civilization and will always hold significance to us. Without antiques, we can never know ourselves.

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