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When Does it Become Vintage?

Just as the title asks, when does something in this hobby of ours become vintage?

Unless there's some definite timeline for an item or product to become vintage, this is obviously very subjective. For purposes of what most of us are able to acquire as it relates to wet shaving, "our" collections probably date back to the early 1800s giving us a time frame of over 200 years.

My uneducated guess would be most of the razors and hones in use today were manufactured in the past 15-20 years so would you think that's the benchmark?

Would love to hear your thoughts. Maybe this has been discussed already?
 
I purchased my first razor, a Gillette Fat Boy, in 1962 for $1.50 from my local drug store. Some call the Fat Boy vintage, but in that case, I'm not old, just vintage. One dictionary definition is something of high quality from the past, e.g. my Iwasaki Tamahagane straight.
 
Often with vintage car clubs, there are classifications - "veteran", "vintage", "post-vintage", "classic", "modern classic", etc. Often they're arbitrary, centred around decades, but some clubs define them by epochal events in the industry.

The same could be applied with razors. You could come up with an arbitrary scheme with a few different categories. That way, "antique" razors are clearly delineated from those that are simply "classic".
 
I have heard that automobiles are antiques when they are at least 20 years old. That would be my best guess for vintage.


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Vintage: Made in a style no longer modern and no longer in production and with a nostalgic value for at least some people.
Antique: Anything that is at least 100 years old.
 
It’s all relative. The Antique Automobile Club of America now defines antique as a car more than 25 years old. There is no standard.


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after the first hone?

I'd buy out of production in that configuration. but yeah, I'd call it subjectively relative.

and in direct/inverse relation to the price tag on it. see how that works?
 
Hey there you amazing member you I'm glad you decided to join the thread

I do believe I managed to express my view, idea, and experience as requested without any condescending adjectives and as simply as possible. It doesn't matter.

Honestly, the question posed only seems like it matters to someone trying to post sale ads.

As a buyer, I care more if it is NOS or used then whether its described as vintage or antique (two words for the same thing). After that, its simply the condition of the razor. At no point do I care if it is vintage or antique.
 
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Wow, thanks for writing back to me, and no, it's not only for people posting sale ads. It's possible to just be a question related to a pet peeve of people listing their ads this way.

And one may not care if it's described with specific adjectives but simply by looking for NOS it shows you sometimes look for older razors that aren't currently in production. AKA: vintage, antique, retro, NOS, whatever word you like.
 
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