For purposes of importation, the govt defined an "antique" as anything older than 100 years (an "antiquity" is much older, as in hundreds or thousands of years...Sumarian, ex.). This 100 years has been accepted for many moons as the definition of antique (everywhere except ebay, of course). I checked this definition on an official gov site at least 15 years ago. Obviously this involves a moving date of production. And I think that the 100-year mark is significant, because...
Interest appears to take off when an invention/item is near its 100th anniversary. I noticed that EAPG (my main collectible) began to get popular 1930-ish, because EAPG was near the 100 year mark (first glass pressed in 1825), and people became more aware. Didn't the phonograph also take off on some type of "anniversary" of its creation?? How many of the collectors here became more earnest in the 1980's or 1990's when the phono was commercially about 100 years old? Since ebay's appearance, someone added the definition of "semi-antique" as anything being 50 years old...not exactly sure where that one came from...possibly the govt as well. Hmmmm I think we might have a few semi-antique collectors here. ;) Also, one of my pet peeves: using the word "vintage" to mean something really "old." Vintage has to have a year or some reference to a time period added to it, as in "vintage 1893," or "Depression vintage," or even "vintage 1993." Just my 2 cents worth. ;) Ger PS: In my experience, particularly online watching chat groups, our younguns ain't so hot on grammar OR spelling. It used to drive me nuts. But now "your" being used for "you're" is becoming common, even in ads on tv! Who's to blame...or should I use a youngun's "whose" since they don't seem to know the difference between those 2 words either. LOL ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, January 03, 2010 7:17 PM Subject: Re: [Phono-L] definition of "antique" - was Re: Shipping phonographs Anyhting made after 1840 is not an antique, but is considered a collectible. Anything antique is usually referred to as an item hand made prior to 1840. A least for furniture this date is of signifigance due to the creation of the wire nail. Nails were hand wrought 1840 and prior. Also wood was being cut after 1840 with a circular saw and no longer by hand. So cars and phonographs are more or less collectibles rather than antiques. -----Original Message----- From: Robert Wright <[email protected]> To: Phono L <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Jan 3, 2010 3:59 pm Subject: Re: [Phono-L] definition of "antique" - was Re: Shipping phonographs ntique is a moving target, and I think it always has been. Regarding its legal efinition for purposes of insurance claims against shipping damage, Rich is ight, it does need to be clearly stated, though I think 100 years is too many, ersonally. I've also found more than one source saying 100 years is the ypical consideration (none of which were wiki-related). Seems it's a bit like "unique", another word murdered by popular usage and eneral misunderstanding. There are no degrees of unique -- it means literally ne of its kind in all of existence. That one gets me worse than "antique" oes. Fun story, Peter. I know people less than half your friend's age who are still o scared to embrace modern (computer) technology fully, even though in their outh they were anything but Luddite. _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
