Antiques and Collecting
Webpages concerning "Antiques and Collecting"
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Wikipedia-Article "Antiques"
Antiques (Latin antiquus, old) are objects which have reached an age which makes them a witness of a previous era in human society.
Antiques are usually objects which show some degree of craftsmanship, or a certain attention to design such as the desk or the early automobile. In a consumer society an antique is above all an object whose atypical construction and age give it a market value superior to similar objects of recent manufacture. Any historical museum makes a considerable use of antiques in order to illustrate historical events and give them a practical context.
Just about any object can become an antique if it survives long enough, but snob appeal or social acceptance only can ensure that it is actually worth something in the market place.
The term "antique" is used as an insult in some instances, usually to depreciate the usefulness of an object or a procedure. Those who reject the trappings of a consumer society reject the markets which inflate the monetary value of antique objects, regardless of their usefulness or esthetic qualities.
Antiques are usually bought at antique stores, or passed down as an estate. Some valuable antiques can be bought from antique dealers.
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Definition of Antique
The definition of antique varies from source to source, product to product and year to year. But, there are some time tested definitions of antique for you to consider.
- An item which is at least 75 years old and is collected or desirable due to rarity, condition, utility, or some other unique feature.
- antique (noun) - Any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity
Using this definition will help you begin to understand the differences between genuine antique pieces, vintage items and collectible objects.
The term is sometimes conventionally restricted to the remains of ancient art, such as sculptures, gems, medals, seals, &c. In a most limited sense it applies only to Greek and Roman art, and includes neither the artistic remains of other ancient nations nor any product of classical art of a later date than the fall of the western empire.
See also
References
- This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.
External links
- Antiques General Information Site- General information on a variety of antiques and collectibles.
- Newel Art Galleries, the World's Largest Antiques Collection
- Conker Collectables - Making antiques fun for children
- Antique Furniture - Antique Furniture Information Resource on antique furniture and antique furniture history.
- Antique and Rare Maps - Art Source International - Links to rare and antique maps and to cartography resources.
- Cycleback: Print & Photograph Study
- Artisans Libres - Beautiful examples of decorative antique reproduction furniture
Wikipedia-Article "Collecting"
The hobby of collecting consists of acquiring specific items based on a particular interest of the collector. These collections of things are often highly organized, carefully cataloged, and attractively displayed.
Since collecting depends on the interests of the individual collector, it may deal with almost any subject. The depth and breadth of the collection may also vary. Some collectors choose to focus on a specific subtopic within their area of general interest, for example 19th Century postage stamps, milk bottle labels from Sussex, or Mongolian harnesses and tack. Others prefer to keep a more general collection, accumulating any or all Star Trek merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world.
Some collections are capable of being completed, at least to the extent of owning one sample of each possible item in the collection (e.g., a copy of every book by Agatha Christie). Collectors who specifically try to assemble complete collections in this way are sometimes called "completists". Upon completing a particular collection, they may stop collecting, expand the collection to include related items, or begin an entirely new collection.
The most popular fields in collecting have specialized commercial dealers that trade in the items being collected, as well as related accessories. Many of these dealers started as collectors themselves, then turned their hobby into a profession.
There are some limitations on collecting, however. Someone who has the financial means to collect stamps might not be able to collect sports-cars, for example.
Items and subjects that are popular in collecting include:
- Animals
- Butterflies
- Cats
- Dogs
- Eggs (Oology)
- Fossils
- Model Horses (Breyer, Peter Stone, North Light, Hagen-Renaker, Royal Worcester, etc)
- Insects
- Seashells (Conchology)
- Skulls and Skeletons (see Maceration)
- Antiques
- Art
- Autographs
- Automobile license plates (only legal in places where the plates are not government property)
- Books, often by genre (see also bibliophilia)
- Bottles (usually a particular type, such as beer or cola)
- Boy Scout and Girl Guide memorabilia
- Brand articles
- Candles
- Cigarette Cards
- Coasters
- Coins - Numismatics and Token coins
- Comic books
- Computers (especially Vintage computers)
- Crystals
- Currency (Notaphily) - paper currency collecting
- Dolls
- Figurines
- Games
- Keyrings
- Live Music Recordings - e.g. Grateful Dead/Phish/other bands live performances
- Lottery tickets (lotology)
- Lunchboxes
- Matchbooks
- Memorabilia
- Militaria
- Scale models
- Paperweights
- Patches and badges (Scutelliphily)
- Phone-cards
- Pornography
- Postcards
- Records
- Refrigerator magnets
- Rocks
- Scripophily Collecting Stock Certificates
- Silver
- Souvenirs
- Stamps (Philately)
- Stickers
- Tea bags
- Teapots
- Teddy bears
- Thimbles
- Trading cards
- Sports cards
- Non-sports cards
- Digital collectibles
- Video games
One alternative to collecting physical objects is collecting experiences of a particular kind. Examples include collecting through observation (especially popular for transportation, e.g. train spotting, aircraft spotting, metrophiles, bus spotting; see also I-Spy), bird-watching, and systematically visiting states, countries, continents, national parks, etc.
See also
Further reading
- Charles M. Schulz, Charlie Brown's Super Book of Things to Do and Collect: Based on the Charles M. Schulz Characters, Random House, 1984, paperback, ISBN 0394831659, hardcover in library binding ISBN 0394931653