Redefining Antique
 

After reading Mark in Kenosha's mishaps with the estate sale, I thought I'd offer up my own chasing story from yesterday.

A free ad pops up on CL offering an "antique console tv." Well, the ad is over four hours old with no phone number (just says it's on the curb), but "antique" is a pretty strong descriptor, so much so my buddy and I head across town.

Forty-five minutes later we arrive, and yes, there's a TV in the driveway! Wait...what the???

Yep. The antique console tv was a mid-1989 bottom of the line RCA set.

Wonder what my wife would say if I told her she was an antique too...:scratch2:

I don't think she'd like that, LOL! You did leave the TV there, I hope.

I used to run into this quite often when I was advertising for antique radios on a regular basis. I'd get a call from someone who claimed to have an antique radio. I'd make the trip 25 miles out in the country only to find a mid '70's digital flip clock radio or an early '80's cheap radio/cassette portable. And, many of these sellers were old enough to know that a 15-20 year old cheap radio is not antique. When someone calls me now, telling me that they have an "antique radio" is not good enough. I ask very specific questions and if they haven't got a clue as to what I'm talking about, I simply thank them for their time and hang up.

Oh, and it's kind of hard for me to consider something from the '80's or '90's an antique since I remember when the stuff was new and it don't seem like it was that long ago.

I can't even consider late 80's *vintage* quite yet, let alone antique.

I don't call stuff antique until you get back maybe into the 30's or something (altho my parents wouldn't really appreciate that moniker applied to *them*)... to some around the world whose countries have numerous buildings from the Renaissance still standing, stuff from the 1930's is nearly new. :)

It still pains me that 80's stuff is considered 'vintage' now. *sigh*

1930s might be pushing it a little. Vintage, yes. Antique....hmmmhaa.... I mean something isn't quite right calling an art deco piece antique.

100 years is generally the cutoff point for "antique" although this number could grow. I don't see the "antiques" of the future holding up too well.

The traditional definition of "antique" when applied to man made objects, is anything predating 1830 or at minimum 100 years old. So technically very little in the realm of electronics is truly antique.

Of course the word antique is applied much more loosely nowadays; but even so, in no fashion is an 80's TV antique.

antique,vintage?we have a radio station here is columbus ohio that plays nothing but oldies-80s and 90s.grandpas radio is now great grandpas radio.is it us or are they confused?

I can remember when rock oldies stations rarely ever played anything newer than 1969. Then it was '50's, '60's, and early '70's. Then, '60's and '70's. Now, a few late '70's songs, '80's, and '90's. There also used to be many more "music of your life" ('30's, '40's, '50's) stations than we have now. I guess the older crowd that used to listen to music of the '30's and '40's is dying out and the people who used to listen to rock oldies stations in their 30's and 40's are now in their 50's and 60's. I'm 32 and I remember when the current "oldies" first hit the airwaves.

Yeah, I was in disbelief when I heard "Dr. Feelgood" on an "oldies" station while traveling a few months ago.

And yes, I left the RCA where it lie. It probably drowned in the heavy rains we got today.

If 1989 is an antique, then my wife and I are certified fossils, ready for museum display!

In some fields such as antique and vintage automobiles, there are fixed definitions for the terms, at least as they are applied at concours competitions, in media publications, collectors' clubs, etc... In other areas, the terminology gets blurry. Audio is not a well-enough-established field to have universally agreed definitions of what is "vintage" or "antique"...

But I seriously doubt many AKers would ever agree that 1989 is old enough to be called antique! It would be stretching things a bit, IMO, to call anything after 1982 or 1985 or so "vintage", even. With a few exceptions, I cut off "vintage" at around 1980, and "antique" to me suggests no later than the 1930s in audio, even older in other things like furniture.

with old electronics, i tend to consider vintage and collectible everything housed in a stylish cabinet and neatly designed and made by human hands, and useless junk every piece of BPC designed with CAD to maximize production efficency and put together by robots.

So, for example, a mid-late 1980s Thomson, Panasonic or Sharp is a mass produced piece of BPC junk, while a Grundig, Magnadyne or Philco set from the same era is an interesting collectable set.

I never thought I was "antique" at age 42, but I have several Toyota Diesel cars & trucks from 1984-85, and they're all qualified, registered and insured as antiques.

Charles

In two years my 1986 F-150 will be classified as antique. Maybe it will be worth more then. :)

Bill

Funny this topic came up. Today I was following some young guy in a beat up 80's camaro and nocticed he had a weird plate on it. Upon looking closer it was an Antique plate. I really think they need to push the years back a little more in order for it to be considered for an antique plate. I am sure he is not following the rules for them either. Looked to be a daily driver.

In CA, it's 20 years for classic, and 25 for antique (from original date of mfg; not model year). They did that because people were side-stepping road taxes and taking advantage of antique exemptions by registering brand-new Model As and '32 Fords, etc., as antiques when they were actually 100% brand-new kit cars. The flip side is that you can usually get cleared as antique at 24 years, if the car was built the year before the model year.

Charles