Originally Posted by Wendy
Gail,
I have always been told that for sturdy things, like furniture, an object must be 100 years old or older to be considered an antique and breakable things like glassware and china must be at least 50 years old. I guess it depends on the country. We bought many antiques when we lived in China. When we were ready to move home again, the Government sent someone from the Antiquities Bureau to come to our home and evaluate all of our antique purchases. Each piece received a red wax stamp and had to be less than 200 years old to leave the country. I imagine that was to protect their heritage and make sure that Ming vases or Tang horses were not leaving the country. We had no problems as nothing was that old! The rules for antique boats and cars are different. They become "Classic" before becoming antique, but I don't remember the ages.
Maybe there is a quilter who is an antique dealer who would have better information. Wendy
For a car, 30 years is antique, and 20 years is a classic. As far as other things, I don't know. My parents have an old cast iron sink that was recently removed from Dad's "shop". It had been in there for a long time. We moved there about 25 years ago, and who knows how long it was in there before that? On the bottom, it says Richmond. The date was somewhere around (and I can't remember for sure. I didn't write it down) 05-22-44 (or 46?). Then somehwere else it has the dates of 1814 (or 1816)-44. So....is that thing old or what!? It's to my uneducated-in-antiques-opinion, in very good shape!
I also have a Singer treadle. I think mine is a 1908 model that came out of New Jersey. Mine was "seized up", and the big, long metal bar/shaft that runs through the inside of the machine was broken when we tried to fix it. My mom gave it to me a couple years ago. Maybe I can get it fixed someday. My aunt has one that is in better shape. She used to sew with it; it was her only machine. She left it in her house when she moved into her new home (right beside her old home), and they turned the old home into a storage area. She hasn't been able to get in there to make sure it is OK (health issues) and hasn't been leaked on or anything.