anything that is 100 years old is an antique....things with good workmanship will be more soughta fter than things which are shoddily made...I think! LOL!
There are antiques and there are collectables.....and the ephemera of today will always be collectable to the next generation.
Someone once told me "save everything and save the box it came in....because someday it will be worth something".
I wish I had a 1960 Barbie doll and the box it came in.
Linda C

Lindac,

I have a friend in Pensacola, Fla who has an opened case of 24 original Barbie Dolls. She says that is her pension plan...LOL

On the other hand, judging by the quality of most of the furniture I see today I wonder if any of it will hold up for 100 yrs?

IMO most things that were junk one hundred years ago are one hundred year old junk today. Some vintage objects have an epheremal value and as the people who remember them first hand die off, their value will decline. Purchase what you like, the highest quality you can afford, keep it pristine, and if you still like it in twenty years and it maintains its value, you're on your way. What Linda C said is true, but I'd hate to live with someone who did that.

That's a question I've mused about often, Patty Cakes.

The term antique tends to take us back into the age of handmade stuff, while retro and vintage is already machine-made and/or mass produced. So I guess if you look into the technological age and ask what would be considered antique, it might be things that are made with methods now that will be obsolete later; skills that most people will no longer have in 100 years that we take for granted now. So I'm thinking hand-drawn things vs CAD drawn, real books, things that show handwriting... I dunno.

With respect more to collectibles that are not necessarily valuable, the funny thing is that I don't think it is so much about quality or artistry, but rather things that are iconic of their time, likely the things we dismiss now. I guess that's what is meant by "ephemera?"

KarinL

How about MacDonald posters?

An Apple II C...rotary dial phone a Walkman, those old fashioned CD's and how about an example of an early bag phone?

Good question. IMO This is a throw away world and everything is made in such large quantities. I suspect that any common every day thing that is built today and can last 100 years, will be a collectible.

Y'all got me thinking! So if I were to make a quilt, it *might* be considered an antique in 100 yrs.? So it would also apply if I were to make my soon-to-be born GD a dress and if my DD keeps it, and GD keeps it....until she's a Grandmother. ;o)

Things that people do not save and become rare that way will be collectible antiques. Mass produced 'collectibles' of today may be too common to be of much interest. Studio made furniture from the 1980s is already increasing in value, so furniture made by places such as Thos. Moser will be tomorrow's antiques. Furniture like this is pricey now, but is available at the same price point, or less, than some of the higher end mass-production companies. However I think they may have more value to someone in the future.

I think the value of things comes and goes and sometimes comes again. I recently read some articles on Hummel figurines and how they are practically worthless now...because young people now are more into simplicity and new vs. "grandma's old junk". I'm betting that one day in the future, they'll become interesting again.

But it does make one wonder about all that money some people spent on Beanie Babies 10 years or so ago in hopes of financing their children's college educations!