How old must something be to be considered antique? Vintage?

Answer 1

It is changing all the time. Back in the 1920's when the Rockefellers and Israel Sack were buying up everything, it had to be pre-Empire period (before 1820 or so). This school of thought persisted into the 1960's. At some point, it was defined by law as anything over 100 years old. Now antiques shops are filled with items from the fifties and sixties. Cars just need to be 25 years old. As an old time antiques dealer, I think of "real" antiques as being hand made items with charm, not just arbitrarily assigning a designation based on the number of years it's been around.

Answer 2

There is no set definition as to the age of an object to be defined as antique. Basically it is anything from an earlier age that is sought by collectors although generally the consensus is that it should be at least 100 years old.

Vintage to be perfectly accurate does not relate to age at all although many things are so described such as old cars. Vintage actually refers to the annual grape gathering from which wine is prepared. When ready it is tested by a team of expert tasters who grade it and declare whether that year is a 'Vintage Year' or not. Certain wines would thus be more expensive if produced in a vintage year. Some wines such as those from Bordeaux and the champagnes and clarets improve with age whereas others such as Beaujolais deteriorate. You could, therefore drink a vintage Bordeaux or Burgundy but not a Beaujolais since it is always drunk young.

Answer 3

Generally, a car needs to be 25-30 years or older to be considered as an antique or collectible car. Since your Solara was made in 1999, it's still considered as a modern car. For a car to be considered an antique, it would just have to be old. On the other hand, for a car to be labeled a classic, it needs to have some kind of demand and value on the collector's market. The definitions for antiques differ from state to state. The best place to check is at your DMV. And if you would want to register it, you would need to bring some title work and insurance. Hope that helped.

Answer 4

For something to be considered antique, it must come from the 18 century. Although these rules have exeptions, for instance if the object is in mint condition and is the only one out of for instance 20 left. I'm not sure about vintage...

Answer 5

Antique is defined as 100 years old.

Answer 6

20 years to be an antique. Vintage could be yesterday depending on what venue you are referring to.

Answer 7

antiques are like more than 70-100 yrs old. vintage is 20-60 yrs old

Answer 8

For something to be considered an antique: From 50 years old on. Vintage: At this point, anything from the 70's and 80's.

Answer 9

25 years old

Answer 10

a generation or two