What is the difference between "vintage" and "antique"?
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peggylou (
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January 23rd, 2007
And what determines each?
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9 Answers
I think something qualifies as antique when it is more than 100 years old? No idea where I heard that, though. And to me, vintage is just a word to make something old or out of style sound cool.
I don't think there's any difference. If you call it vintage, you can charge more.
If it helps, at the Alameda flea market in California (an amaaaazing place to go if you like antiques) they don't let vendors sell anything less than 30 years old.
Vintage is what you call something unique that you found if you are the age of 30 or younger.
Antique is what old people call unique aged things
I'm glad I use vintage instead of antique. Do you suppose I'll not get old if I continue to use it?
Antique has always held a certain connotation of collectibility for me.
While vintage has an implication for an era (such as wine or clothing).
That is my own personal reading of the terms, mind you. Nothing official-likes.
Antique means old. It’s from the Latin, and doesn’t necessarily equate an item with value or uniqueness, it is often implied in context. 25 years is usually the length of time it takes for an item to become classed as an antique, though the word is commonly used to describe things of greater ages.
Vintage comes from the wine-making industry, it describes a wine from one season’s harvest during a specific year. It has since been adapted to describe things unrelated to wine, for example clothes and accessories (and porn), with a style that is not current but from a specific stylistic period that is currently back in fashion, though usually by decade not year (A 1960’s dress as opposed to a 1956 Beaujolais).
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The difference between an antique and a vintage item is its age. Antiques must be at least 100 years old. Vintage items must be made between 20 to 100 years ago. I like antique furniture and lighting (furniture like antique beds, desks, sideboards, etc.).
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