What is an Antique?
According to the Oxford English dictionary, the term antique applies to objects which are “aged”, “venerable”, or “in the style of an earlier age”. Applying this definition, the determination of what qualified as an antique was very subjective. However, our current definition comes from an interesting source.
U.S. Custom officials traditionally considered antiques as fine art and they were permitted to enter the country duty free. Exploiting the absence of a definition, importers brought goods that were far from venerable or aged, into the country as duty free antiques. The high tariffs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries further encouraged importers to circumvent the regulations, costing the government revenue. Finally, in order to support the imposition of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, Customs officials decided they needed to establish a definition of what constitutes an antique.
After research and consultation with individuals involved in the trade, the Customs service decided that antiques were items produced before the era of mass production began about 1830. Had they left 1830 as the dividing line between antique and non-antique, it would have been disastrous for importers, because they would pay tariffs on everything made after 1830. However, the Customs officials noticed that the 1830 date was 100 years prior to 1930. Therefore, they determined that antiques were items produced 100 years before importation into the United States. That 100 year rule, established for customs purposes, has become the conventionally agreed upon period for determining whether an item is an antique.
According to the Oxford English dictionary, the term antique applies to objects which are “aged”, “venerable”, or “in the style of an earlier age”. Applying this definition, the determination of what qualified as an antique was very subjective. However, our current definition comes from an interesting source.
U.S. Custom officials traditionally considered antiques as fine art and they were permitted to enter the country duty free. Exploiting the absence of a definition, importers brought goods that were far from venerable or aged, into the country as duty free antiques. The high tariffs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries further encouraged importers to circumvent the regulations, costing the government revenue. Finally, in order to support the imposition of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, Customs officials decided they needed to establish a definition of what constitutes an antique.
After research and consultation with individuals involved in the trade, the Customs service decided that antiques were items produced before the era of mass production began about 1830. Had they left 1830 as the dividing line between antique and non-antique, it would have been disastrous for importers, because they would pay tariffs on everything made after 1830. However, the Customs officials noticed that the 1830 date was 100 years prior to 1930. Therefore, they determined that antiques were items produced 100 years before importation into the United States. That 100 year rule, established for customs purposes, has become the conventionally agreed upon period for determining whether an item is an antique.