RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1502

Copyright © Harry Rinker, LLC 2015

Who Defines a Decade?

During a November 1, 2015 WHATCHA GOT? interview with Eric Bradley, author/editor for several KP/Krause Publications titles including the “Antique Trader’s Antiques and Collectibles 2016 Price Guide” and Public Relations Associate for Heritage Galleries, we discussed the concept of categorizing antiques and collectibles by decade.  The first chapter in Eric’s “Picker’s Pocket Guide – Toys” is entitled “Top Collecting Toys By Decade.”

A decade approach works for toys, especially if you assign a toy to the decade when it was introduced and to subsequent decades when key variations occur for that toy, for example. Matchbox Redline (1968-1977) versus Matchbox Blackwall Era (1977-1988).  The antiques and collectibles trade thinks decades.

[Author’s Aside:  Regular readers of “Rinker on Collectibles” know that I question the decade approach when applied to antiques and collectibles.  I much prefer a lifestyle change chronology.  For example, I divide the post-1945 period into 1945-1963, 1963-1980, 1980-2001, and 2001 to the present.  The trade does not agree.]

Eric and I concur that (1) we could easily identify those antiques and collectibles that define the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s and (2) defining the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s is extremely difficult.  Eric thinks impossible.  I do not.

Eric argued that up to and including the 1970s, decades had distinct personalities.  There were shared experiences across populations that created a sense of unity.  He conjectured that since 1980, broad shared experiences were no longer the norm.  Individualism became more important than community.  Therefore, the absence of shared experience makes it impossible to define the 1980s and the decades that follow.  When I first heard Eric’s assertion, I was inclined to agree.  However, the more I considered it, the more convinced I became that his supposition was not valid.

In December 2013, I wrote Blog #22 entitled “Collecting the 1990s” for the American Collectors Insurance website.  I noted:

“It is easy to think decade, at least once the decade is defined.  The antiques and collectibles trade is in the process of defining the 1980s, the Reagan years.  The return to a conservative mindset reminded many of the 1950s.  However, the 1980s also heralded the dawn of the home computer.  Atari was part of the video game arcade and console crash of 1983.  By 1990, video games were focused on the home computer.

“Decades are defined as individuals become nostalgic and wish to recapture their childhood.  There is a distinct progression of interest.  Childhood toys are among the first to rekindle the flame.  Movies, music, and television memorabilia and period clothing and accessories quickly follow.  Five years later, interest develops in the furniture and decorative accessories that were part of the collector’s childhood.

1990 was 24 [now almost 26] years ago.  Since collecting memory begins between ages 6 and 8, the 1990s is the focal point of nostalgia for the late twentysomethings and early thirtysomethings.  The television show ‘Thirtysomething” aired between September 1987 and May 1991.  The generational issues it raised are applicable today.”

In 2010, “Rinker on Collectibles” Column #1246 focused on the arrival of the 1980s as a definable collecting decade.  At the end of that column, I asked readers to share their thoughts.  Diana Briscoe wrote in an April 29, 2010 email: “I was so busy in the 1980s I would not have a clue as to what was collectible.”   I now realize how important her observation is.

I was born in October 1941.  My memories begin in the late 1940s and extend to the present – a period of eight decades.   As a writer in the antiques and collectibles trade since the early 1970s, I spent countless hours attempting to categorize objects into meaningful groupings.  Given my powers of observation and the fact that I lived through these decades, offering a definition for each should not present a problem.  But, it does.

My conversation with Eric raised a very basic question: who or what group is most capable of defining a decade?  The answer is not any individual who lived through it.  This is too broad an approach.  The correct answer is the individuals who were between the ages of eight and 30 during the decade requiring definition.

For reasons which I still am trying to understand, individuals do not remember each decade equally.  Diana Briscoe is correct.  The older an individual becomes, the busier he/she is.  Life’s demands such a job, mortgage, marriage, children, grandchildren, and aging require increasing attention as time advances.   Time, which seemed so plentiful when one is younger, is difficult to manage.  Actual time does not change, but its pace accelerates.

When I ask individuals which decade they remember the most, the answer is overwhelmingly the decade of their teenage years or early adulthood.  The first period is the wonder years.  Although the television show “The Wonder Years,” which aired between 1988 and 1993, was set in the 1970s, the concept could be applied to any decade.   The wonder years are mystical, magical, and memorable.

While the roaring twenties is a term used to define the 1920s, it also has applicability as a definition of each decade’s young adults, especially since the 1970s when marriage has been postponed until the late twenties or early thirties.  The period focuses on freedom and independence, the time period before a person is overwhelmed with life’s responsibilities.

Decade definition is an awesome responsibility.  Once a decade is defined, it is extremely difficult to redefine.  Once “Top Ten” lists are made for dozens of lifestyle categories such as collectibles, design styles, designers, fashion, movies, music, television shows, and toys, they are repeated ad nauseam.
Few question the expertise of those who create decade defining “Top Ten” lists.  Many are created by magazine and newspaper media writers, whose expertise has more to do with personal preferences, an urban mindset, and print deadlines.  Individuals read these lists, disagree, and do nothing.  The defining process would be much stronger if it included argument, rebuttal, and reflection.
Be especially leery of academic definitions.  The generational divide, which is not decade based, into Baby Boomers (far too general a term), Generation X, Generation Y (Millennium), and Generation Z (Boomlets) is a case in point.  Finding universal agreement of the definition of each is impossible.  Yet, the general public accepts these terms without question.
I lived through the decades of the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.  While I have and will continue to offer my opinions as to what defines them, I am not the ideal person to do this.  By the time these decades occurred, my views and life course were firmly set.  My core values and work ethic are those of the 1940s and 1950s.  Of course, I made course corrections along the way.  Everyone does.
Who should define a decade?  The answer is in two parts. First, it should be done by the individuals who were teenagers and young adults during the decade.  Second, the definition process should take place when this group reaches their forties.   This allows sufficient time to reflect on what is and is not important from the decade.
A good decade definition evokes common memories—I had one of those, I remember one of those, and I wish I had one of those.  Experience memories also are critical—I was there or I wish I had been there.
Eric Bradley is correct.  Decades do require shared memories, a basic set of common experiences with which everyone can identify.  Today, it is more common to see differences than similarities.  Yet, similarities exist.  When accurately defined, every decade has a personality.
I continue to track attempts to define the 1980s and 1990s.  If all goes well, I will live long enough to witness the first attempts to define the 2000s, my grandchildren’s decade.  Forget the 2010s and 2020s.

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.  Selected letters will be answered in this column.  Harry cannot provide personal answers.  Photos and other material submitted cannot be returned.  Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Point Court SE, Kentwood, MI  49512.  You also can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker@aol.com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered.

You can listen and participate in WHATCHA GOT?, Harry’s antiques and collectibles radio call-in show, on Sunday mornings between 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM Eastern Time.  If you cannot find it on a station in your area, WHATCHA GOT? streams live on the Internet at www.gcnlive.com.