Tool Talk
Wrench Forum => Wrench Forum => Topic started by: leach on June 16, 2013, 09:33:56 AM
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when we say vintage it means 50 to 90 years old
and antique means 100 +years
or am i wrong, just want to hear your thoughts on it- when i looked up my old wrenches i founf last night at swap meet i got on ebay they say vintage but i also seen tools on ebay from the 70,s that said vintage.
ok thank you LEACH
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It's a matter of sloppy word usage combined with a lack of perspective of what constitutes "old," plain ignorance, maybe with a dash of misrepresentation. I've seen things made in the '50s called antique.
Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, antique meant 80 years old or older. Some make that 100 years or older nowadays. Was there ever a standard set for "vintage?" Old, but not antique seems to be the idea. It's pretty vague. For a lot of folks, vintage means something like "older than I am," and if they are 25, there's a lot of "vintage" stuff out there.
I got tired of trying to figure it out, so for most of my search parameters I just use "old."
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Antique always meant 100+
Vintage never did mean anything more than, anywhere in between 100 year old and yesterday afternoon.
Its just a sales tactic.
yours Scott
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I agree with scottg about the definition of an antique. An item must be at least 100 years old to be considered an antique. For my purposes, as a dealer in "Vintage & Antique Tools", the "vintage" term is applied to tools no newer than those made in the 60s, yet not yet 100 years old. "Vintage" seems to apply differently in different categories. For instance, there are "vintage electronics", i.e. record players, tape decks, etc. These are items that may only be 30 years old, or so, but the technology is obsolete.
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I have some late 20s early thirties autos, does that mean I have too stop calling them antique cars??? Me thinks not
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The State of Texas will register your 25 year old car, truck, or motorcycle as an antique. I don't agree, but I have an antique plate on my '78 BMW R 100/7.
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State will up here also.
Probably so people could register 70's muscle cars in the 90's as antiques...
Somehow a '76 Barracuda just doesn't seem in the same class as a 1910 franklin tho...
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HEAVY DUTY is another word used to offen by shucksters.
EvilDr235
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I always sorta wondered the same. I think it depends who exactly you talk to.
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HEAVY DUTY is another word used to offen by shucksters.
EvilDr235
Please define " shucksters" , I use Vintage and Heavy duty when applicable .
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Shukster, thats the same guy that says easily repaired
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Vintage on ebay always bugs me. It can mean anything. To me vintage begs the question when, i.e. vintage 1930's. Another one is "Very good condition for it's age". Another one that doesn't show up as much as it used to "L@@K"
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I used to worry about all of this too. Nowadays, it really doesn't matter to me what words they use, just as long as the price is normal or around normal.
"Rare" is the only one that makes me laugh or frustrated when I see it.
Really, that IHC HE911 wrench that there are currently at least 25 listings for on ebay, you consider to be rare?
I quit worrying about words used as much because as a seller you need to do what you can do to draw people to the item.
Searching by category is a complete joke and waste of time, so you have to do it by words. "Old" "Vintage" "Antique" "Farm" or "Plow" combined with wrench seem to find most of the wrenches I'd be interested in on there. I check on "Cutout" and "Unusual" occasionally, but 99% of the time they will show up in the other searches anyway. I always try to remind myself to look for "Spanner" too, but rarely remember to do so.
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>"Very good condition for it's age".
That's what I used to tell people about their cars when I didn't have the heart to tell them the really bad news about what it was going to cost to make it pass inspection ;P
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They can and often do say anything! Never buy a story.
My personal favorite is "This belonged to my grandmother".
Oh yeah, your granny bought it last year at K-mart, when she was drunk!
Talk is cheap. Only a chump buys a sales pitch.
Show me. :)
yours Scott
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Antique is a relative term. The 1918 Cadillac is an antique car. The 18th c. Duncan Phyfe table is an antique table.
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For me:
Antique is anything 100+ years old.
Classic is anything that was a stand-out or unique style, regardless of age. (I take it as a play on the word "classy"). Like Corvettes - they are classics no matter what era or color!
Vintage is anything that is no longer manufactured but considered desirable for whatever reason. (I take it as a word play on "vintner"). Like fine wines. A vintage wine can be from the 80's - not that old, but no longer made and very sought after.
YMMV
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Vintage! Look it up in your Funk N Wagnall! "represents the best of a given time or period. "
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You guys have summed up what an elderly friend of mine once told me. There are some old cars worth a pile of money, and sometimes they don't even have to run. There are some old houses worth a fortune. Old guns, the same thing. But us old guys, well, cleaned up his statement was something like: our worth is somewhat debatable!
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I always use vintage when searching for old tools. You see a lot more tools that way . I saw a bunch of vintage craftsman tools advertised with several pictures but only showing one side of the wrenches the side that said drop forged . I wonder what the other side said? bob w
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> I wonder what the other side said?
"See other side"
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"vintage" should be used with an era, as in "50's vintage, 60's vintage" etc...I don't know where I got this from but I've always heard 45 years for antique. There is an ad in a local CL listed as "vintage hwy caution markers" or somesuch. The pic show pretty new plastic reflectors that you set behind your disabled vehicle. I have emergency roadside marker kits that have flares, others that have smudge-pots, and a few with the cat-eye irredescent reflectors. I really don't know the age of any of them. I let the picture tell the story
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> I wonder what the other side said?
"See other side"
Man, that was funny! lol
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"vintage" should be used with an era, as in "50's vintage, 60's vintage" etc..
You know, this cuts to the chase. Wines would be "vintage 1925" or maybe "pre-1940 vintage." In this usage vintage does refer to the year of manufacture. By extension, a tool can be associated with a year, as in Plomb tools are all "pre-1948 vintage tools."
Nowadays vintage is just a nice way, a more elegant way to say "old."
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...................Nowadays vintage is just a nice way, a more elegant way to say "old."
In that case, 9 hours framing a dormer has me feeling vintage today :)
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I'm starting to feel pretty vintage also.
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Tempes fugit for all of us, Bus.