Antique Collectibles
An antique is an old, and almost always collectible, object. Antique collectibles are desirable because of their age, rarity, craftsmanship or other unique features that were made in the past and represent that past. Sometimes they are so old that they are actually archaeological artefacts of an ancient civilization, such as ancient Minoan or ancient Chinese society.
The definition of "antique" varies with the type of item, and accordingly the term is a bit imprecise. Just about any item can become an antique if it survives long enough - but how old an item must be before it could be considered an antique collectible depends on the type of object it is. For example, in the U.S., a piece of furniture is not regarded as a true "antique" unless it is at least 100 years old. The same time period = 100 years - applies for books and for postcards and other pieces of paper ephemera. But because it is subjected to daily use and wear, an automobile is generally considered to be an antique if it is only 25 years old.
Antique collectibles are sometimes called "antiquities," but that term is most properly used for the types of antique collectibles that are either artefacts of an ancient civilization (Greek, Roman, Minoan, Egyptian, ancient Chinese, etc.), or for objects that are no more modern than roughly the same period as the Renaissance of the 16th and 17th centuries.
There are a variety of different types of antique collectibles. They include coins, books and manuscripts, pottery, weapons, armament and other militaria, tools, artwork, furniture, paper ephemera and more. "Paper ephemera" consists of pieces of written or printed material that have survived to the present even though they were originally intended to be quickly discarded or destroyed. Examples of ephemera that can be antique collectibles include postcards, posters, trade cards, leaflets and advertising flyers.
Antique collectibles can be from anywhere in the world. Oriental antiquities can be anything between small items such as Chinese snuff containers or chops, to large objects such as Japanese samurai swords or Siamese temple adornments. European antique collectibles are equally varied, and range from ancient Greek or Roman coins to the beautifully illuminated (illustrated) Bibles and other religious books that were painstakingly hand-decorated by Medieval monks. Antique items from the Americas include war bonnets or chest pieces worn by Native American (Indian) warriors, historical documents such as those from Colonial times, and ancient Inca, Aztec or Maya amulets, pottery and carvings.
Because of their age and scarcity, many antique collectibles are quite valuable. Some, however, are inexpensive - such as a postcard that shows the small village where your ancestors lived. But the main reason most people collect them isn't because they can be valuable - it's because of the craftsmanship they exhibit, or because the objects captivate them because of the history they reflect.
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