What Is The Definition of Antique? Some Say Seventy Five Years & Some Say One Hundred Years

When I embarked on putting this website together more than ten years ago, it was to photo document, set up an online store, and get a large collection of mostly vintage established and archived online.

Initially some of the online research I did, claimed an antique was anything that was at least seventy five years old. It seemed the consensus then, was about 50:50 between the definition of antique being seventy five, or a hundred years. But now, almost all sites refer to antique jewelry as being a hundred years old, or older.

As time has gone by, I have noticed fewer sites go with the seventy five year claim, and most adhere to the standard hundred years.

So because there was a discrepancy in definition, I was going with the seventy five years. But I have decided to go with the more prevalent standard of one hundred years.

Therefore all the 1930’s and 1940’s jewelry with the antique word in the title, will be removed. If something straddles the age span between 1920’s and 1930’s, I will still call it an antique in certain cases.

My apologies, if as a customer or browser, you saw things dated 1940’s described as antique. The 1940’s items are certainly approaching their “golden years” of being a hundred years old, because they are now eighty-three years old. But they still do not meet the criteria.

In some cases, especially when it comes to antique beads, the age is very difficult to pin down. Antique beads have been carried from place to place for hundreds, if not thousands of years. To make it even more complicated, often jewelry maker’s use a mix of collectible beads from different eras.

As time goes on, I realize nothing is created equally, when it comes to jewelry. Sometimes expensive coloured gemstones are put into brass settings. Some of the valuable antique beads are strung with wood, or other cheaper beads. And most of all, not all glass is created equally. Some glass is more valuable than some gemstones.

Organic materials can also be difficult to date. Obviously amber is very old. But the jewelry setting it is put into could be mid century, or any age. So one has to juggle the definitions around the materials, a mix of materials, as well as the time of the creation of the piece. The clasps, pins, and hooks, help to date the older pieces as for as when they were made.

With vintage costume jewelry, it is easier to date, because of the different signatures, and use of the copyright symbol. Typically the copyright symbol was added to jewelry after 1955.

Also patent numbers can help to date items. In addition, the rise and popularity of authentic vintage costume jewelry happened between the late twenties, and for many of those companies, they lasted into the seventies. Therefore most of those pieces fall into the mid-century range.

As I gain more experience, I am getting better at identifying the old, from the really old. Also after so many years of collecting, there are many ways to differentiate the old from the new materials. Of course most of what is in the second hand market now is 1990’s and newer, with a few old things in the mix.

As I continue to go through the collection this summer to measure, describe, and make corrections, the antique titles will be changed to reflect the hundred year range, as opposed to seventy five years.