General Antique Classifications
An antique to many is just an item that has been in a family’s possession for the longest time, regardless of the actual value or beauty of the item, the mere fact that no one has had the courage or nerve to toss to the trash seems to be sufficient for an item to acquire an “antique” status.
However, this is not so. An “old” item, is not necessarily an antique, though an antique by necessity has to be an “old” item; meaning that a book, for instance, can be an “old” issue if it is up to 45 years back, but it turns to an antique when it reaches over the 45 years of age or more.
The older an item is beyond the 45 years, more of an antique it will be considered. There are different kinds of antiques; some of them are rare, popular or scarce. A rare antique means that it was hand made or that the number of items produced when it was first launched to the market has reduced in almost a 95%, meaning that out of every 100. There are only 5 items of these.
On the other hand, an antique is popular when there is more than the 60% of the total manufactured still available, and, finally, an antique will be scarce when there is more than the 5% of the items produced but less than 65%.
With these numbers is simple to determine and diagnose whether an antique is rare, scarce or popular. This determination will directly affect the financial value of the antique.