Who Are You Calling An Antique?
I recently took a trip to our local Antiques Mall to go antique shopping. I had never been before and I was interested in seeing what kinds of antiques were available in our neck of the woods. Imagine my surprise when I saw items that I had received for wedding presents.
I always thought that something had to be 100 years old to be considered an antique. The items I see when I watch The Antiques Roadshow, especially the British version, sometimes date back to the first Queen Elizabeth.
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Antique Shopping
I can understand seeing things I remember my parents or grandparents owning, but not things I’ve purchased brand new myself for goodness sakes!
I even still own some of the items I got back in the day and they are made a lot better than any replacement I could buy now. My 35-year-old stand mixer (avocado green, no less) still works great. It sounds like I’m at a monster truck rally, but I warn my husband when I’m about to use it and he just turns up the volume on the football game he’s watching until I’m done.
I know retro is in style – I see shag carpets are back for example – but they are usually made from modern materials and/or have an updated look. So, my question is: Why would anyone actually want to purchase these old items voluntarily? And for the prices they are asking?
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I think back to my brown and orange plaid living room furniture (pretty hideous in retrospect), my Harvest Gold appliances and the multi-colour kitchen flooring that I can’t even begin to describe (it was no-wax though).
I feel like I should put on a housedress, wrap myself in a nice warm shawl, sit in my rocking chair and watch the world go by. I’ll complain about today’s young’uns and tell everyone I see about the “good old days.” (Oh, wait, I do that now already!)
I think I’ll go through all my closets and cupboards and see what I can find. Maybe I’ll put them on eBay and make a mint. Or, maybe I’ll leave these “valuable antiques” to my kids in my will. I can just see the amazed and excited looks on their faces. 🙂
I’m picturing Boomer sitting on a rocking chair on her front porch, shaking her fist, yelling at those damn teenagers to get off her lawn.
I don’t understand the attraction of antiques either. Although I am a big fan of old Nintendo games, so I guess you could consider them antiques.
Financial Uproar: You’re right. That’s me.
PS I do have an old Nintendo and games kicking around as well as Atari and, believe it or not, the very first Pong game. I’ve been waiting for my kids to clear out their old stuff.
Your story made me think of the saying, “I resemble that remark!”
I’m sure I could find an old electric model train engine even older than your mixer, and yes, we had electricity way back then. How long do you figure until we see the first antique ipod?
Thanks for the smile.
Hi Ian. I believe I still own a clunky old cell phone that’s about the size of a pound of butter. I wonder if I could still get service for it? And since I tend to hang on to things if they still work, I probably will own an antique ipod down the road.
Cute post.