How Old Does Something Have to Be to Be Antique?
An antique is an old object valued for its age, craft or rarity. Customs authorities and most dealers draw the line at one hundred years.
An antique is an old object kept for its beauty, rarity or history rather than its use. The usual threshold is a hundred years, a figure that comes from customs rules rather than from taste.
- An old and valued object. *The clock is a genuine antique.*
- Belonging to the distant past (adjective). *Antique furniture.*
- Old-fashioned (mildly disparaging). *Their antique booking system.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | antique | A rare antique. |
| Plural | antiques | She deals in antiques. |
| Adjective | antique | An antique mirror. |
| Noun | antiquity | Roman antiquity. |
| Person | antiquarian | An antiquarian bookseller. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The table is an antique, not a reproduction.The core distinction in the trade.
- Antique dealers must record provenance.Attributive use.
- Their filing system is positively antique.The joking sense.
Antique, vintage and retro
| Word | Usual meaning |
|---|---|
| Antique | At least a hundred years old |
| Vintage | Roughly twenty to a hundred years old, of its period |
| Retro | New, but made to look like an earlier style |
| Reproduction | A copy of an older design, openly so |
From Latin *antiquus*, former or ancient, from *ante*, before. The same root gives *antiquity* and, oddly, *antic* — which began as a word for the grotesque figures found on ancient Roman walls.
Is a hundred years an official rule?
It is the customs convention in the United States, the United Kingdom and the European Union, and the trade generally follows it. It is not a law of language.
What is provenance?
The documented history of an object's ownership. It affects both authenticity and price.