What Exactly Does "Vintage" Mean?

 

QUESTION: I see the word vintage used a lot on eBay and by antique dealers on Twitter. There doesn’t seem to be any order to it. It seems they consider anything modern as vintage. Can you clarify what vintage means for me?

ANSWER: The word antique has a definite meaning. Since a law passed by the U.S. Congress in 1930, it refers to any items of furniture, ceramics, glass, etc. as being 100 years old or older. The law established what was an antique and what wasn’t for reasons of import. Any items made after 1930, were then considered old or used. 

Of course, as time went by items that were 100 years old were getting newer and newer. Then along came the 20th century. For most of it, there were no items that were considered antiques. During the 1960s, middle class people began to get interested in collecting old things. The post-war generation was all about looking to the future and didn’t want to be bothered with old things.

The word “vintage" originally applied to wine making and the process of picking grapes and creating the finished wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality.

The people who sell on eBay and other auction site saw that word “quality” and figured why not use the word “vintage” to describe their pieces and make them more attractive to bidders. In this case, vintage means referring to something from the past of high quality. Let’s face it folks, anything from yesterday—the day before today—is from the past and if it’s of good quality, then it technically can be labeled vintage. When the folks on the auction sites saw the word quality, they perceived vintage to mean something old that has lots of value. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always apply.

Online sellers throw the word vintage around like it’s a catchall word that will instantly add

credibility and perceived value to the items they’re selling. You’ll see vintage jewelry instead of estate jewelry, vintage furniture instead of used furniture, and vintage kitchenware instead of used kitchen utensils. It’s all in the wording. 

Unfortunately, middle and lower market antique and flea market dealers have picked up on the use of vintage to describe goods for which they don’t know the age. Since using the word online has become rather successful—you can fool a lot of people a lot of the time, to paraphrase an old saying—they figured they might as well try it. 

In fact, vintage, in relation to old things, actually refers to items that are at least 50 years old. So objects from 1970 and back, usually to about 1930 can be and are referred to as vintage.

To read more articles on antiques, please visit the Antiques Articles section of my Web site.  And to stay up to the minute on antiques and collectibles, please join the over 30,000 readers by following my free online magazine, #TheAntiquesAlmanac. Learn more about world's fairs in the 2020 Summer Edition, online now. And to read daily posts about unique objects from the past and their histories, like the #Antiques and More Collection on Facebook.