About Antique & Vintage Style
The Beauty of Stepping into the Past
Many people consider today’s mass-produced furniture to be a shadow of what furniture used to be. There was a time when the United States was booming with furniture manufacturers hand crafting pieces of fine furniture for American homes from the White House to the house next door. Today there is too much demand for fast fashions and new tech for those handmade traditions to stay alive and profitable. Those who miss the solid wood construction and timeless beauty of American handcrafted furniture now turn to vintage and antique pieces to bring a sense of sophistication and style into their home. This furniture was made to last, made to be passed down from generation to generation as a treasured heirloom.
Are Antique and Vintage the same?
The short answer is no, antique and vintage do not refer to the same thing. When you are shopping for high end used furniture, it can get frustrating if the two words are used interchangeably. Here is a quick breakdown of the differences between an antique and a vintage piece of furniture.
What is an antique?
An antique is defined as a collectible object (such as a piece of furniture) that has a high value because of its considerable age. Considerable age is considered anywhere 100 or more years old. So in order for an item to be considered an antique today, it had to have been made prior to 1920. Somehow that may not seem like a very long time ago, and there are a great deal of beautiful hand crafted pieces of furniture we carry that qualify as antiques because of their age. Many of the brands we sell got their start prior to the 20th century, and many more started prior to 1920.
What is considered vintage?
Wine connoisseurs probably appreciate nothing unrelated to wine being referred to with the word vintage, but vintage has infiltrated the English language as a colloquialism to refer to older styles of used clothing. Over time, it became the term to refer to items beyond clothing. The generally accepted standards say that anything made between 100 and 20 years ago is considered vintage. Anything older is an antique, as we discussed. Anything newer than 20 years that represents the previous era is considered “retro.”