Antique

An antique is a collectible item that is usually a hundred years old, and is desirable because of its age, rarity, condition, utility and design. It is usually the rarity, age and design that play the most significant part. An antique is considered to be an item that is “of a by-gone era” and is touted as a witness of a previous era in human society. An antique must not be confused with a collectible, as a collectible is a limited edition variant of an existing product. The term antique is also applied to products which belong to the 50s and the 60s; however this classification is incorrect, as products from the 40s, 50s and 60s are referred to as vintage, and from the 70s onwards are known as retro. Pre-1940s products may be considered as antiques.

Usually antiques are well-designed and often were the epitome of wealth in their time. This is possibly so because high value items tend to be preserved and conserved better by their owners than low-wealth ones. Also low-wealth items would have been easily available for their time, and were often utilitarian in purpose, thereby limiting their aesthetic value. However, the single most important factor that dictates the price of an antique is its rarity. One off or custom designed jewellery or limited edition pieces of furniture will command a significant premium. Antique furniture is a big business in the United Kingdom, and one can find many antique dealers and retailers across the country.