What is Vintage?

[ljstores]

[grannyscrafts1912]

I'm older then fine wine
Younger then a model T

granny

[KathysCornerStore]

My personal favorite is all the "Depression Glass NEW" you see online! But the scarier stuff is the New depression glass passed off as old.

Here in NJ if you were shopping in an antique center there are labelling guidelines that they stick to.

Antique is 100 plus years old.
Vintage is 30 plus years.
Collectible is anything under 30.

Retro is just a mid century style term like Eames. There is no specific age connotation, but would generally be a modern style from the 50's and 60's.
Ebay has changed these guidelines radically over the last few years, but I try and stick to the old fashioned set of rules to avoid trouble. And like Linda I put the decade something is from wherever possible.

Online sales are one of those areas where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure! Any misrepresentation, intentional or not can bring a lot of headaches!

[2BOYSandTOYS]

[ljstores]

[retroattic]

I sell vintage items in my store. It is all at least 25 years old and usually older than that. I have this stated in my shop announcement. I give a decade when I can but often I don't know 100% and I don't want to mislead my customers by giving inaccurate info. But I DO know it is all at least 25 years old.

[thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat]

Fossils are at least a million years old. Don't think you qualify ljstores.

It is totally incorrect to use Retro to describe something that is new but in the style of an older item. Retro refers to the period from the late 60s to the early 80s but primarily the 70s. New items that replicate older items are reproductions, modern copies or replicates.

Vintage however is anything over 20 years old according to Ruby Lane so an item can be both vintage and retro. Antique is generally 100 years.

The terms that really get me are senior and elderly. These terms need to be redefined as science and lifestyles change the reality of aging.

[TexasTreasures]

Actually, with costume jewelry, anything made before 1950 is considered an antique. It's only been in existence for a little over a hundred years, so when they started writing books about collecting costume jewelry, 1950 became a generally accepted standard for dating it.
Vintage is really a misused term! As someone else says, it is a term used in dating wine and not really a specific length of time. so a wine made in 2003 is considered 2003 vintage-barely old enough to set the cork-lol!
When referring to costume jewelry, or anything else, the best way to describe it would be as '1970's vintage' or something similar..but a lot of times we don't know exactly when it was made, so vintage is used to indicate that it is from a previous era.
But I'll be the first to admit that the term is misused to describe anything that is just plain 'used'!

[thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat]

I have a question re labeling vintage items. I am constantly in limbo about this. What are you doing?

I sell only items from estates and charity shops. They range from antique to last year. Many of the items have never been used. Some still have tags on them.

My problem is how to list these. If I don't check USED on the listing page the item is labeled brand new product. Since I didn't buy retail or wholesale that is not a true declaration. But if I check USED for items that obviously have never been used, they get overlooked, particularly by people looking for gifts.

How do you handle this? I'm assuming you are all at least partially vintage sellers on this thread.

[TexasTreasures]

I sell 'used' jewelry. My view is that I'd rather be overcautious than have someone think I misled them about the item. Unless I bought it brand new from the store myself-it's used. i sometimes buy items that appear to be unused, but you just don't know for sure-and if you buy it at a garage or estate sale, it may not be used, but it's not truly 'new'.

[moondance4me]

I think I'll just put "really, really Old" and let it go at that.

Myra

[eleganzajewels]

The term "vintage" is often subjective, and people use it differently depending on what they sell. The term "antique" is not subjective, it's been clearly defined by the United States Customs Service as anything 100 years or older:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/speak/antique.html

Here's a great breakdown of vintage jewelry periods, will help those who sell vintage jewelry with their descriptions (the trick is dating the piece first!):

http://www.jeweler.com/estate_and_antique_jewelry.htm

As far as items with their tags on them, I highly doubt anyone would wear clothes or jewelry with the tags still hanging out on them, so I would not check the 'used' box. Just my opinion, though, you have to go with what works best for you!

[TexasTreasures]

But you're wrong about the tags on clothing...let's not forget Minnie Pearl and her tags!

[TexasTreasures]

Isn't it funny how things affect people differently? I grew up in a home full of Victorian antiques, mahogany, porcelain, and cut glass, which I also had to dust. I now have a home full of arts and crafts era furniture, and 1940's Mexican pottery-but no cut glass and very very little porcelain! I love antiques, just not the fussy stuff.
My two sons grew up with the same stuff-one loves antiques and he and his wife have carried off loads of mine...the other son hates it!

[thelivesandlovesofmaggiethecat]

Sometimes I think it skips a generation. My mother grew up with antiques. When she married she vowed to have nothing but new in her house. Her parents both died soon after and before she had realized the value of what she was turning her back on. I remember going to my uncles' houses and touching things and Mother would say, that was my mother's. Aren't you glad you don't have to dust them? By then she must have realized she was not going to replace the items she had given up with anything near equal in value.

My sister and her grown children are the same way. I on the other hand am happiest when on antique row no matter the city I'm in. I tried to salvage as much as I could from other heirs only interested in disposing of the estates but I live in a small apartment and can only store so much. I recently asked my niece if she could imagine a time once her boys were older when she would want any of it. She said probably not. I really think there is an antique gene.