Antique vs. Vintage

People love to throw the word ‘vintage’ around when selling jewellery, but what does it actually mean? And how is ‘antique’ different?

Thankfully for those looking for genuine antique and vintage pieces, there are a set of generally accepted rules when categorising old jewellery and collectibles.

Anything older than 300 years old, which is certainly possible as jewellery was first made somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago, is considered an artefact or antiquity. Most of these items haven’t survived, so those that have are incredibly difficult to come by and impressively expensive, usually finding their homes in museums.

To be considered an antique, an item must be over 100 years old. At the time of publishing, this means that anything made before the early 1920s would be considered an antique. This means that art deco pieces are beginning to be considered antiques, as the Modernist period was just beginning in the early 1920s.

Vintage items are not as old as antiques, but the accepted age for pieces to be considered antique is at least 40 years old. As such, anything made before the 1980s would be considered genuine vintage at the time of publishing. Vintage jewellery is probably the most common of the collectible jewellery, but it is also the most reproduced.

Reproductions are purposefully made to emulate an older style of design, for example art deco, or the pop art styles of the 1960s and 1970s. These items don’t claim to be from the time period that they take inspiration, and buyers get the benefit of a sparkling new product in the older style that they are looking for.

A final category that merits mentioning is retro items. The specifications of retro pieces are less strenuous than antique or vintage. Something emulating an older style that evokes nostalgia can be called retro, or anything that is in the 20 to 40 year old age bracket that is still nostalgic, but certainly not old enough to be considered a vintage item.

The second-hand jewellery world is full of confusion regarding whether pieces are actually old, and what descriptors can be used to age them. It is something people tend to get wrong, and requires a careful eye when sourcing genuine antique and vintage pieces.