Antiques

An antique (Latin: antiquus; old) is an old collectible item. It is collected or desirable because of its age, rarity, condition, utility, or other unique features. It is an object that represents a previous era in human society.

Antiques are usually objects which show some degree of craftsmanship, or a certain attention to design such as a desk or the early automobile. They are bought at antique shops, or passed down as an estate. Some valuable antiques can be bought from antique dealers and auction services or purchased online through websites and online auctions. Antique dealers are often members of national trade associations, many of which themselves belong to CINOA, a confederation of art and antique associations across 21 countries, representing 5000 dealers.

The definition of antique varies from source to source, product to product, and year to year. However, some time-tested definitions of antique deserve consideration, such as the following:

"An item which is at least 50 to 100 years old and is collected or desirable due to rarity, condition, utility, or some other unique feature. Motor vehicles, power tools and other items subject to vigorous use in contrast, may be considered antiques in the U.S. if older than 25 years, and some electronic gadgets of more recent vintage may be considered antiques."[citation needed]
"Any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity."[citation needed]
In the United States, the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act defined an antique as "works of art (except rugs and carpets made after the year 1700), collections in illustration of the progress of the arts, works in bronze, marble, terra cotta, parian, pottery or porcelain, artistic antiquities and objects of ornamental character or educational value which shall have been produced prior to the year 1830."[citation needed] 1830 was roughly the beginning of mass production in the U.S.

These definitions allow people to make a distinction between genuine antique pieces, vintage items, and collectible objects.

The alternative term antiquities commonly refers to the remains of ancient art and everyday items from antiquity, which themselves are often archaeological artifacts.

The term antiquarian refers to a person interested in antiquities, or things of the past.

The collecting of antique furniture is a particularly popular area of antiques due to the practical characteristics of these antiques. Antique furniture includes dining tables, chairs, bureaus, chests etc. The most common woods are mahogany, oak, pine, walnut and rosewood. In Chinese antique furniture the most common wood is elm a wood common to most regions able to sustain trees. Each wood has its own distinctive grain and colour. Many modern pieces of furniture often use laminate or wood veneer to cheaply achieve the same effect. There are a number of different styles of antique furniture depending on when and where it was made. The most common include Arts & Crafts, Georgian, Regency and Victorian.

An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops can be located either locally and with the advent of the Internet found online. An online Antique shop can also be located within an Antique Mall such as MALLERIES, one of the major online antique malls., where an individual Antique seller can open a shop and display their items for sell within the mall.

Normally their stock is sourced from auctions, estate sales, searching at flea markets or garage sales, etc. Many items may in fact pass through multiple antique dealers along the product chain before arriving in a retail antique shop. By their very nature, they sell unique items and are typically willing to buy items, even from individuals. The quality of these items may vary from very low to extremely high and expensive, depending on the nature and location of the shop. Frequently many antique shops will be clustered together in nearby locations; in the same town such as in many places in New England, on the same street such as on Portobello Road in London, or even all under the same roof in one antique mall, though frequently in that case it may be referred to as a stall rather than shop, especially if that antique dealer has another larger non-mall location.

Antique shops may specialize in some particular segment of the market such as antique furniture or jewelry, but many shops stock a wide variety of inventory as well. Additionally a shop may have an online component as well, or even be an online-only seller and have no physical shop.