The federal tax code definiton of antique is used for the purpose of the US government tax code for use of taxes only. If you reach out into the antique community and speak to the experts, including authors, antique dealers, who deal with the period antiques, antiques are considered by the trade items that are much older than 100 years old, again the time period of 1840 as cited in my explanation below. I am not trying to diminish the the true nature of our hobby, but items and products made after 1840, again according to the trade, are considered collectibles. The government is stretching the term "antiques" for the purposes of taxes which for the dealer can be used to their advantage.
-----Original Message----- From: John Maeder <[email protected]> To: Antique Phonograph List <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, Jan 8, 2010 5:30 am Subject: Re: [Phono-L] definition of "antique" er, In my previous post on this subject I said that I had long-ago heard that the 00-year old rule of defining an 'antique' came from Federal tax code, and I hink it probably comes from the importation rule to which you refer. As I also aid in that post, dealers used to assiduously avoid calling an item an antique' unless it was demonstrably 100 years old. I don't know how many eople on the board were into antiques 43 years ago, but I can assure you that ack then, that was the way it was done. And ger, you are correct, phonographs ere largely considered junk by the vast majority of dealers because they simply eren't old enough to be considered antique, and besides that, they were lentiful back then. I never used to look for phonos in the front rooms of ntique shops -- I'd head straight to the back 'junk' rooms and there they'd be! re: pet peeves -- It bugs me when an eBay or Craigslist listing refers to a honograph (or anything) as a "unit". "This unit works great." Also, "ones" . . "This is one of the nicest ones I have ever seen" ("It doesn't look like the umeral one, it looks like a Victor VI to me," I'm thinking! Redundant, as ell). And "guts", as in ". . . cabinet only, the guts have been removed". Are hose really the best words they can come up with? "Specific is terrific," my hird-grade teacher, Mes. Norlund, used to say when teaching us how to write. It took me a moment to figure out what "EAPG" meant right out of the barrel like hat, but, the context and recalling what you had previously posted allowed me o figure it out pretty quickly. Mrs. Norlund also used to tell us, "Write like he reader doesn't know anything about what you are writing about." BTW, it is pelled 'Sumerian', not "Sumarian". LOL! Sorry, just had to kid you a little here! > From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2010 02:05:14 -0500 Subject: Re: [Phono-L] definition of "antique" For purposes of importation, the govt defined an "antique" as anything older han 100 years (an "antiquity" is much older, as in hundreds or thousands of ears...Sumarian, ex.). This 100 years has been accepted for many moons as the efinition of antique (everywhere except ebay, of course). I checked this efinition on an official gov site at least 15 years ago. Obviously this nvolves a moving date of production. And I think that the 100-year mark is ignificant, because... Interest appears to take off when an invention/item is near its 100th nniversary. I noticed that EAPG (my main collectible) began to get popular 1930-ish, ecause EAPG was near the 100 year mark (first glass pressed in 1825), and eople became more aware. Didn't the phonograph also take off on some type of "anniversary" of its reation?? How many of the collectors here became more earnest in the 1980's or 990's when the phono was commercially about 100 years old? Since ebay's appearance, someone added the definition of "semi-antique" as nything being 50 years old...not exactly sure where that one came rom...possibly the govt as well. Hmmmm I think we might have a few semi-antique ollectors 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 t, 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 in't so hot on grammar OR spelling. It used to drive me nuts. But now "your" eing used for "you're" is becoming common, even in ads on tv! Who's to lame...or should I use a youngun's "whose" since they don't seem to know the ifference 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 honographs Anyhting made after 1840 is not an antique, but is considered a collectible. nything antique is usually referred to as an item hand made prior to 1840. A east for furniture this date is of signifigance due to the creation of the wire ail. Nails were hand wrought 1840 and prior. Also wood was being cut after 1840 ith a circular saw and no longer by hand. So cars and phonographs are more or ess 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 honographs ntique is a moving target, and I think it always has been. Regarding its egal 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 any, 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 iterally 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 till 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 ______________________________________________ hono-L mailing list ttp://phono-l.oldcrank.org _______________________________________________ Phono-L mailing list http://phono-l.oldcrank.org
