Rinker on Collectibles

RINKER ON COLLECTIBLES — Column #1802

An Antique Is Anything Made Before 2000

Edward De Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” was published in 1985 by Little Brown & Company. De Bono identified six colored hats designed to expedite group discussion and planning. The hats were a blue hat (the Big Picture), green hat (creativity, new ideas), white hat (facts and information, neutrality), yellow hat (positive assessment), red hat (emotional feelings), and black hat (negative, pessimistic). In group interaction, the black hat argument that “we cannot do that” was often the first hat worn when an idea was advanced. De Bono’s six hats were designed to change the thinking process and delay the presence of the black hat until each of the other five hats were worn. The six hats normally are not used for the individual thought, although they can be. I am going to use them to explain why in 2021 an antique is anything made before 2000. Consider the following before putting on your black hat.

It is necessary to put this column in perspective before proceeding. When “Rinker on Collectibles” began in the mid-1980s, Column #1 tackled the difficult task of differentiating between an antique and collectible. Column #942 was entitled “An Antique Is Anything Made Before 1963.” “An Antique is Anything Made Before 1980,” Column #1400, moved the definition forward. Column #1664 entitled “What is an Antique? – A 21st Century Definition” offered my first thoughts on how the transition from the 20th century to the 21st century impacted the perception of what is an antique and a collectible. It did not raise the question of whether these terms have lost their meaning. This column does. All these columns are available in “Defining An Antique” in the “Rinker on Collectibles Special Series” URL on www.harryrinker.com.

When the 20th century transitioned to the 21st century in 2000 or 2001 depending on one’s point of view, I and many others did not see a significant change in life style. December 15, 1999 was almost identical to January 15, 2000. This feeling prevailed for over a decade. Hindsight is better than foresight. As the 21st century ended its second decade, the change became much clearer.

It is now 2021. Individuals born after 1990 consider themselves citizens of the 21st century. The 21st century now has begun its third decade. From a Big Picture perspective, there is a noticeable change between the 20th and 21st century. The digital age dominates the 21st century. A question used to determine the age of an individual is no longer where were you when President Kennedy was assassinated, but do you remember life before the personal computer.

The green hat encourages looking at an idea from new perspectives. Do the terms antiques and collectibles in 2021 continue to have the same importance and meaning as they did in the 20th century? There is a strong possibility that they do not. Instead of becoming more tightly defined over the past two decades, the meaning of the terms has broadened and blurred. The terms are often used interchangeably on internet websites such as eBay and Instagram. There are no internet police assigned to enforcing the proper terminology. The internet has increased the role of individuality whereby everyone is their own authority.

In the 20th century, auctioneers, dealers, and collectors controlled the definition of antique and collectible. In the 21st century, the influence of collectors in determining the fate of the antiques and collectibles marketplace continues to fade. Decorators, reuse proponents, and investment speculators are the major players. Many auctioneers and dealers have adjusted their approaches and inventories to fit their needs as opposed to serving the collecting community. What were once antiques and collectibles have now become accent pieces, recyclables, and commodities.

There are several facts (white hat) that suggest a new definition of antiques and collectibles is essential. First, a division of the antiques and collectibles marketplace into antiques, collectibles, and desirables (objects with an unproven secondary market resale track record) is no longer viable. Today buyers and sellers use terms such as vintage and retro that are impossible to define accurately and appear far more frequently than antique and collectible. Instead of a cohesive whole, the antiques and collectibles market has become a free-for-all venue. Everyone feels free to create their own interpretation and definition.

Millennial and Generation Z generations are future focused. Although some care about the past, the vast majority could care less. Most do not want their family heirlooms. “Get rid of the junk” is their common plea to the older generations. They have a buy it new, use it, and then toss it aside mindset. Avoid clutter. Their embrace of decluttering has not had a positive impact on collecting or the antiques and collectibles market.

Collecting as a concept has suffered. It is no longer fashionable to collect. Collecting as a status symbol is long gone. “It’s an antique” is a phrase more often spoken in disdain than praise. Modern emphasis on family usually does not include stressing the importance of family heirlooms. Most individuals under 30 are hard pressed today to name their great grandparents let alone identify where they are buried. Those over 60 are lucky if they know where their grandparents are buried.

Spending a day antiquing is no longer an adventure for the vast majority of the general population. It has dropped entirely off the adventure list for most people under 40. Countryside antiques shops are vanishing. The average age continues to climb among those attending antiques and collectibles flea markets and show. In 2021, far too many collectors have grey hair or none at all.

The yellow hat suggests it is better to accept rather than challenge the changes wrought to the definition of antique and collectibles in the 21st century. The good news is that collecting survives. The bad news is that the modern collectors’ focus in terms of approach and objects falls outside the traditionalist 20th century approach to collecting. I always argued that I did not care what a person collects as long as the person collects. I continue to hold to that belief.

Antique, although more broadly defined than ever, continues to be part of the popular vocabulary. The is not true for collectible. No universally accepted definition for collectible exists in 2021.

During my career, I have watched the “hot” collecting decade change from the 1950s to the 1960s to the 1970s to the 1980s to the 1990s, where it currently resides. I probably will live long enough to see it shift to the 2000s. When the traditional antique and early collectible collector looks at what is hot from the 1990s such as sealed game cartridges and Pokeman cards and the prices they realize, they shake their heads in disbelief. Prices easily can exceed that of the “finest” antique.

Emotionally (red hat), no one wants to be considered an antique. People refuse to accept that anything from their childhood to the present is an antique. Realizing this I offered an alternate definition for an antique in an earlier column -- an antique is any object that a person does not remember. If not remembered, it must be old. If it is old, it must be an antique.

The black hat is worn by the 20th century traditional antique collectors who continued to hold fast to the one-hundred-year rule. The difficulty is that one hundred years ago in 2021 is 1921.

I created Rinker’s 30 Year Rule – for the first thirty years of anything’s life, all its value is speculative – to distinguish between collectibles (a stable secondary resale market) and desirables. In 2021, the rule has outlived its usefulness. The definition of an antique differs based on the age of the definer. In the 21st century, collectible is rapidly becoming a meaningless term, a result of the demise of the printed price guides devoted exclusive to collectibles that were instrumental in defining the term.

When scholars read this column in 2035, their only question will be: “What was all the fuss about? I assumed an antique was anything made before 2010.

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.

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