Archive for vintage
Vintage is not a designer brand
Posted by: | CommentsToday I’m having a rant, not done that on here for a while but some Internet sellers are beginning to annoy me and what much worse they are misleading customers. Have you noticed how words like “Vintage”, “Antique” and “Victorian” are used by many Internet sellers of fashion items these days? Actually I believe that many of them are breaking the trades descriptions act along the way. Hopefully this article will help those looking for genuine vintage or antique to avoid buying new by mistake.
Vintage may be popular but it is not something you can buy wholesale from China, stock up on to a website and sell hundreds of one item. One of the major points about antique, vintage and Victorian is that they are not making them any more. You have to search out pieces and the pieces you find are almost unique.
This guide can also be applied to other terms including Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Georgian and even Retro.
What Vintage is not:
Vintage is not brand new, you cannot buy it wholesale over the interenet from China. It rarely comes all clean and nicely packed. Two pieces are rarely alike .
“Vintage ” ( and Antique, Victorian etc etc) is not a designer brand. You cannot get someone to make you vintage if it is new then it is no more vintage than black is white. On the other hand you can come across some brands which are vintage eg can no longer be bough as new.
Vintage necklace
What is vintage :
What is vintage is a great topic for debate. To my mind it should be at least 25 years old, I accept that others would say 20 or 40 years but I am sure that all genuine vintage dealers and collectors would agree it has to have some age to be vintage. In general an item has not become vintage until it is no longer available as new in the shops in its current form.
Due to its age Vintage ( Antique, Victorian etc) also has other interesting features, its style and method of manufacture is of the past. The pieces are pre-owned and many have signs of age or wear. This is not necessarily damage and some signs of age can be most desirable such as metal acquiring a nice patina. Vintage pottery may be decorated in colours which cannot be re0created today due to the toxicity of the processes involved.
Vintage is Green
Unlike most new stuff, buying vintage is green. You are re- using, re-cycling, spending a lower carbon footprint or whatever the latest term is. Much new stuff these days comes from the other side of the world and a far greater percentage of vintage and antique items were made in this country or closer to home.
How to spot real vintage on the Internet
Many items which are described as vintage or antique on the Internet are actually new. Here’s a few tips for spotting real vintage and antique items on the Internet.
- How many of an item does the vendor offer for sale? If they have more than one then it is likely that the item is new. Occasionally it is possible to have more than one item but it doesn’t happen very often. For example there are over 1200 pieces for sale on AntiquesAvenue.co.uk. I have a few duplicates but this would be way less than 1% of my stock.
- How is it described? Vintage style or vintage inspired are most probably new. Does the site actually give an age for the item? Most vintage sellers will give some indication of how old the piece if, if not ask before you buy.
- Is the website specialised? Good Vintage and Antique sellers tend to specialise in vintage and antique items and have very little new or modern stuff on the website.
- Google Shopping. It is a requirement of putting your items into Google shopping that you state is a piece is New, Used or Refurbished. Many many items described as vintage actually say new as the condition in Google shopping so you can check here.
- Look at the photograph? Is it highly professional? Us vintage and antique sellers have to take a picture of every item we sell and because it is used for just the one sale it is not economical to get a professional photographs taken. We cannot get stock photographs from our suppliers and so many of us have photographs which are taken by amateurs
- Is there a comment about condition in the listing of the piece? If so then it is more likely to be a genuine vintage or antique item. Sellers of new dont comment on condition normally.
Buying Vintage Style
My aim here has been to educate those interested in buying genuine vintage or antique so that they do not fall for buying new by mistake. Should you prefer to buy vintage style but new items then do look out for items described as “Vintage Style” or “Vintage Inspired”.
Happy Hunting Anne x
Style Vintage, Antique, Retro – how old am I?
Posted by: | CommentsDo you collect old stuff? Antiques, vintage, retro, period or antiquity? Today I am taking a look at what each term means – how old is antique or vintage? Here are my definitions and why and how they are applied here on antiquesavenue blog and my antiques shop.
Modern anything newer than vintage eg less than 20 years old. Applied today that would be anything after 1989. These items could also be know as Second hand or pre-owned. I think the Americans refer to stuff of this age as “Estate”.
Antique or vintage?
Antique – the official legal definition of antique takes us to items of 100 years old or more. 19o9 is not a good cut off date for antiques . The official definition now includes all Edwardian items and many Art Nouveau ones too. Stylistically the end of the Edwardian era is not a good place to change from antique to vintage as style advanced very little during the 1910′s, presumably the first world war held back much of the design change which came in the 1920s . Some major antiques fairs are now allowing anything older than 50 years to be described as antique. I actually think this is too lenient as it means that items from the 1950s are antique where as stylistically they fit so closely with the 1960s that it is best to keep these in vintage. You can see I have divided my jewellery in the shop into antique jewellery and vintage jewellery – the cut off date between the two being circa 1920.
Vintage - anywhere between the modern and antique . By my current interpretation of antique that is 1920s to 1980′s. This period encompasses art deco and modern design of the 195os, 1960s and 1970s. Following the first world war and its immediate aftermath came the 1920s and a drastic shift in design to art deco – stylistically this fits best with the modern design rather than the antique.
Retro - This refers to style rather than age of an item. Retro refers to the high style of the 1950s through to the 1980s but can also refer to new items in that style
Period – these are items which genuinely come from the age they are styled for rather than reproduction. So if a vase is referred to as Period Art Deco it is from the 1920s/ 1930s rather than a newer piece. The opposite to this is to call a piece Art Deco style, if you see this beware it is most likely much newer than the art deco era.
Antiquity – items from the ancient world – the Romans and Greeks for example.
Revival – here is an interesting term. Revival means when a style cam back into fashion. Hence we had an art nouveau revival in the 1970s and I think that there is a little art nouveau revival going on right now – just take a look at some of the swirling designs popular in fabrics and on websites at the moment. Some other revivals are: Egyptian in the 1920s, Japanese -1870s, medieval gothic – 1860s and art deco in the 1980s.
I’m onthe look out for more interesting antique time scale terms – can you suggest any?
Buy Vintage – Save the planet
Posted by: | Comments
These days we are all being urged to go green and save the planet. Switch off lights for earth hour, use nasty low emission light bulbs ( so very dull) , buy cars with reduced fuel consumption, recycle ( so much tedious washing of containers and tins) and reuse ( yes I’ve bought re-usable supermarket bags but I keep forgetting them). All of these “Green ” things mean giving something up or they are uncomfortable, unpleasant or at the very least inconvenient. But here’s a secret you can go green and indulge in a little luxury too.
vintage glass
Think about it, we who are used to handling vintage and antique items know that there is plenty of stuff available which we could incorporate into our every day life which is wonderful, stylish, not available in the shops and ( by the way) just happens to be re-cycled too. This is not your average nasty tatty re-cycled stuff you see at car boot sales, there are lots of wonderful vintage and antiques out there which are of brilliant quality, exquisite style and quite often cheaper than new too. Whats more if you buy your vintage and antiques on-line you are saving the planet a second time as on-line shopping has a lower carbon footprint than shopping in the high street.
I am not suggesting that you throw everything you own out and replace it all with antique or vintage items. You dont have to throw out your Ikea or Next furniture and replace it with nasty tatty brown stuff thats 7o years old. Just next time you need something for yourself or your home to think about if an antique or vintage item might just be be the right thing – more stylish, more unique, quite possible cheaper and greener too. Antique and Vintage items can look great in a contemporary setting, worked in with modern items to give an eclectic look and feel or select items which tone in colour to give great interest to your surroundings.
So what are these wonderful antique and vintage items which can help us save the planet? I will be taking a look at the top 10 tomorrow here on antiquesavenue antique vintage blog.
Antique or Vintage – Poll results
Posted by: | CommentsAs you can see my “Whats hot Antique or Vintage?” poll is now closed. Here are the results;
Vintage = 55% , 21 votes
Antique = 45%, 17 votes
News/modern = 0%, 0 votes
So vintage is somewhat hotter than antiques with new or modern not getting off the starting block. Interestingly vintage has stayed slightly ahead all through the poll right from the start. Perhaps its time to dust out our vintage items and start showing them off.
Is it vintage or Antique?
Posted by: | Comments
Antique or Vintage
Have you seen my poll asking about if you prefer vintage or antique items? For the purposes of the poll I defined antique as pre 1920s and vintage as 1920s to 1970s with anything after 1980 as being modern. Is this right? Is the 1920s Nutcracker in the photo vintage or antique?
Strictly anything Antique should be a hundred years old or more making all things Edwardian now in the official Antique category. Lapada ( The association of Art and Antiques Dealers) runs fairs which dateline at pre 1940 for all things antique (so this Nut Cracker would fit in) whilst Bada ( British Antique Dealers Association ) still seem to stick with the hundred year rule and so they would reject the Nut Cracker.
So my definition which runs half way between the two cant be far out. Certainly items made in the 1920s and 1930s seem so similar in their art deco styling that it would be wrong to set a date of 1930 and create an artificial split in styling.
Does it matter? Or perhaps this is splitting hairs? After all all things which are now vintage will eventually become antiques if they survive long enough. This is partially why I named this site AntiquesAvenue – things that are on the road to becoming Antiques!
Vintage Charms – an introduction
Posted by: | CommentsVintage Charms are back
Charms bracelets are back in fashion! Very trendy in the 1960s and 1970s, they faded from popularity for over 20 years but are back in a big way. Old or new, ready made or lovingly assembled to reflect the owners personality, silver, gold, glass, opening, moving, gem studded, traditional and Italian charms – the variety seems endless. When selecting your charm bracelet you have a choice of buying one with charms ready attached or purchasing a suitable bracelet and adding your own charms or even getting one with some charms already attached and still having room for a few of your own.
- vintage charm bracelet
What is a Charm? These are decorative little items of jewellery, often figural in shape. In the past charms have been associated with Good Luck and have been given as Love Tokens. Normally charms are made of metal, silver being the most commonly seen. Gold charms have increase in price recently along with the rising price of gold. Base metal or plastic charms are the budget option however these will probably not wear as well as silver and so silver better buy for those wanting to actually wear their charm bracelet. Please note that most English silver charms do not carry hallmarks. British hallmarking law does not require individual silver items weighing less than 7.8 grams to be hallmarked and it would be very unusual for a silver charm to even approach this weight. Vintage English silver charms will almost certainly be made of .925 grade sterling silver, theoretically it is possible for them to be of a higher grade but English silver would normally adhere to this standard.
It is usual for a silver charm bracelet to fasten with a heart shaped padlock; this padlock snaps shut and does not use a key despite being fashioned with a key hole. Often the bracelet will also have and attached safety chain. If you look carefully there is often ( but not always) an English silver hallmark to be found on the padlock, by reference to a silver hallmarks book it is possible to translate the hallmarks and find the date when the bracelet was made. Other marks which can be found on charms include: Silver, sil and manufacturer’s markings such as the highly sought after Nuvo charms and Chim charms.
I originally published this article on e-zine and thought it worth repeating here.
Vintage for Christmas – Style and economy
Posted by: | CommentsStill got some Christmas presents left to buy or fancy a little treat for yourself? Me too (both of these!).
Buying vintage for Christmas really does make sense this year in particular with the down turn in the economy everyone needs to save a little and everyone will think you are so knowledgeable about style and fashion.
So here are a few suggestions:
For Grandma or Grandad – A vintage porcelain miniature Coalport Cottage
For Mum and Aunty – Vintage brooches, or a vintage brooch and a wedgwood vase?
For Dad – a glass paperweight
For an art student or someone who really knows about style – An antique art nouveau tile or a piece of contemporary studio pottery?
A nice collectible cat figurine for your younger sister
Your best friend who look sot stylish in a genuine vintage silver charm bracelet and you could just get a couple of starter charms if your personal economy is feeling the credit crunch.
All these items are still available from antiquesavenue.co.uk and can be delivered to the UK mainland in plenty of time for Christmas . Please do look soon as every piece is genuinely vintage I rarely can offer more than one of any item.
Christmas present for golf fan