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The Everyday Antiques Around Us Which Often Go Unnoticed
By Jamie Woo
Antiques are old items that are usually several hundred years old, although most antique collectors will generally agree on the antiquity of an item if it is more than 25 years old. Not every old item will count as an antique though. What makes an antique, an antique by definition?
For starters, it needs to have a demand. I can call my 30 year old pajamas as an antique, but unless it is in demand, I can throw it away and nobody would bat an eyelid. But suppose I have some old baseball cards, dating back to my 3rd grade, now are those antiques? They are, because old baseball cards are in demand, and buyers are willing to pay top dollar for rare cards. Did you know this applies to a lot of other items?
An antique is also an antique, if it’s rare, or hard to find. Here's a good example from the archives of war. During the Second World War, German Tiger tanks were one of the most feared military weapons around, but they were produced in very limited quantities due to material shortages and the complexity of the design. In contrast, the US produced more Sherman tanks than any other tank in existence, before or since. Today, an old Sherman tank in mint condition is still much less valuable than any worn out Tiger tank, simply because there are very few surviving specimens of the Tiger tank in existence, and vintage specimens can easily command a multi million dollar price tag.
Back in your everyday world, look around you. There are bound to be sitting in your home and gathering dust. If you make it a point to look for them, you’ll find in the unlikeliest of places.
Let’s consider an example – mailboxes.
With the advent of email, mailboxes have been largely overlooked, and most mailboxes receive only a little mail these days. Take a look at your mailbox; it may
be older than you think, especially if you live in your family’s ancestral home. It may date back beyond your grandparents’ days. It might be made of hard, heavy steel, and have intricate designs or carvings etched on the surface. Is there a demand for it? Yes! There are definitely antique collectors that collect old mailboxes, just as there are collectors of old tennis rackets, old ovens, old bicycles, old furniture, etc. You name it, and it already probably has a group of specialist collectors specializing only in that item.
These are the everyday that go unnoticed around us. They may not have the glamor of the multi-million dollar auction pieces at Christies, but they have their own unique charms as well. They stand as a living record of daily life as it was back in those days; simpler and less fettered. Sometimes, these are the items that best convey the emotion of that particular era. From old Coke bottles to old typewriters, to old dolls, these “ordinary” bring back the long forgotten humdrum and reverberations of those times.
Thinking of starting an antique collection? How about starting with the less glamorous that escaped your eye today? You’ll be surprised with what you can find, and what you will discover along the way! By: Jamie Woo Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com Jamie Woo is a prolific writer who has interests in gadgets, collectibles, gardening, antiques, and health. He writes for a variety of websites, one of which is Antique Joint, a site about antiques.To find more about antiques, visit www.antiquejoint.com
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