Antiquing: Going Out Collecting Antiques
There is a certain magic in collecting antiques. A sense of sincerity that is now oftentimes missing when talking about the things that are being produced today, is somewhat rekindled, giving those who go out collecting antiques a sense of just how things were when their collected items were still in and new.
Going out collecting antiques brings about a sense of respect for the times long gone, manifested through the existence of antiques within one's own immediate surroundings. People who go out of their way into collecting antiques may appear to be impractical to most, but as with all types of collections, collecting antiques doesn't necessarily have to have a "practical" backbone behind the act's fruition. Collecting antiques is simply the act of collecting antiques, with the goal of collecting antiques. Simple as that.
Antiques are basically items which are old, traditionally at least one hundred years of age. The term antique comes from the Latin word antiquus, which means old. Though not necessary to be definitely one hundred years old, the term antique could be used to define rare items which have had a considerable number of "notches" in the "belt of its existence". Unique items which have had years on it could also be defined as antiques, as well as the age-condition-value aspect of an item. The historical relevance of an item, coupled with its age, defines the value of the antique to higher or lower standards.
Antiques basically differ from collectibles, in the sense that collectibles don't necessarily have to be a hundred years old for them to be defined as such. Vintage, refers to items which hail from the 1950's, the 1960's and/or the 1970's. Antiques are items of value because of their age, as well as the notable craftsmanship put into making these items.
The most common of items those collecting antiques often encounter would be antique clocks and/or pocket watches. From wind up, pendulum powered clocks, to self winding pocket watches, these antique items are quite common to find, and are quite pricy in antique specialty shops.
Antique furniture would be another item one collecting antiques would often encounter. Other home related fixtures like fences or bird baths are known to have certain antique value, while rare antique items like functional first generation telephones, which could me "rigged" to work with today's telephone standards, and first generation motorized vehicles, stand to be not so commonly found antique items.
Antique jewelry, considering the nature and value of precious stones, are also quite common in most antique shops, with some shops dedicated to the sale and purchase of antique jewelry alone.
All in all, collecting antiques, termed antiquing, stands to bring collectors closer to the times that had passed, giving them a window to the way things were then. Be one into collecting antiques just for the heck of collecting antiques, or be on in it for the profits, collecting antiques has certainly become more popular today than it ever was, considering how fast things are deemed as outdated and obsolete.
