Are we approaching an era devoid of Antiques? - No one wants your 30 year old funko pop

[Duiker]

Antiques. They have always held a warmplace in my memory, from seeing old shit my grandparents had for generations to walking through secondhand stores and finding cool old stuff that still works 30 years later.

It gets me thinking what items will be in those shops when we're all old and senile. I don't think there will be much that anyone would ever take an interest in putting them up for sale. Combine that with alot of stuff being cheaply made or are complex electronics that dont last, or need subscriptions or online connections or drm.

Many of these same mass produced items dont have strong emotional bonds with their owners so arent the kind that will be passed down from generation to generation either.

It seems like we will soon reach a point where you wont find items that are old. They are either new, or they become useless trash quickly.

Am I a doomer faggot? Is the idea of me wanting things to become antiques cope? How much of what you currently own could be used by someone else after you die? Got any cool antiques owner by ancient relatives?

 

[The Lawgiver]

When I was a kid something being "antique" meant it was over 100 years old with everything else being"vintage" or "retro". Now we live an in era where the terms "vintage" and "retro" are diluded to mean something as recent as the last 2 years sometimes due to ebay scalpers abusing the terms and antique stores running out of actual old and I mean OLD shit to sell due to "value speculators" squatting on a bunch of actual old stuff essentially making them independently owned thrift stores more or less.

I think the last time I saw actual old shit in an antique store was like over a decade ago where they had these weird fucking hair-art things that were like just human hair from people inside a tiny picture frame as well as old late 19th-early 20th century hats i remember solely because I almost bought one and the guy was like "if you buy one of these DO NOT WEAR IT IT WILL BREAK APART DUE TO IT'S AGE" So I was like "ok" and didn't buy the hats. Sucks because they were cool hats. At least I later got a cold war era Russian hat that I could wear if it wasn't too small for my head a few years later. It's been on a mini-shelf for a good while in my room and has a weird stain on it now I think that happened when something fell on it a few years ago. If I knew how to clean it I would.

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

Back in the day, things were built to last, which is why we had antiques. Then corporations discovered the profitability of "planned obsolescence," so now we have things that break down every few years. The fact that the Chinese make them only lowers the quality further.

That said, there will be antiques; however, rather than giving us a glimpse into the lives of people past, they'll be custom-made items, such as a hardwood bookshelf or custom jewelry.

It's kinda sad, really. Rather than leaving a legacy for future generations, we're more focused on consuming the latest product.

 

[rel=alternate]

There will be antiques as long as there is craftmanship.

What makes antiques valuable is not only their age, it's their uniqueness and the craftmanship that went into their making, the names attached to them. Not only of the makers, but also the clientele.

This will not disappear. The rich will not stop commissioning talented artists and craftsmen to build them very special furniture or items. And some of it will ultimately become desirable in the future.

For every single antique that you can think about right now, there was probably hundreds of thousands of the same made of planks and nails. Ikea is pretty much the same threat to antiques as the plank.

If you're asking about the current antiques, especially the very heavy furniture. They are indeed loosing a lot of value and interest. People move a lot more nowadays, and it's extremely inconvenient to have to drag around heavy furniture. Its very expensive as well.

In the end, it's more of a financial choice that people have to make. If you're moving around, like most young adults do, you can't be sinking 1K+ into moving fees every few years.

 

[Trapped Under Rice]

I had an experience that made me think of this recently. I moved long distance and did not take my stereo system, because it was too much of a pain to move. I got it about 15 years ago at Best Buy and figured I'd buy a new one when I settled in at my new place. Turns out, no one really sells them anymore. You can get soundbars for your Smart TV or shit little bluetooth speakers that will break in two years. All throwaway Chinese shitware. I bought three systems and returned each one of them because they sounded like shit and were so cheaply made. I finally got my hands on an ONKYO receiver circa 1987. It's built to last- you can just tell by the smooth resistive glide of the knobs, the heavy construction, the thought put into the design. Nothing manufactured after 2008 can compete. It's pretty sad. But by god they better bury me with this, cause I'm keeping it forever.

They general trend is that they just remove features I want and add things I don't want. Oh you want expandable external memory on your phone? Not anymore. Removable battery so you can keep a spare? Nope. You want wired speakers on your stereo? Nope, you have to struggle with blue tooth every time you turn it on. You want a car? Great, now the console now has a bunch of dumb apps that serve ads to you. Make sure you sign into your google account. Are you really sure you wanted to change lanes? I liked it when I told my devices what to do and not vice versa. Don't even get me started on smart TVs and computer operating systems.

 

[Rozzy]

What makes antiques valuable is not only their age, it's their uniqueness and the craftmanship that went into their making.

Does that mean Fursuits will become antique and collectable in decades from now?

 

[Duke Nukem]

No we won't have antiques because nobody wants your overpriced Funko Pop collection.

And if modern civilization is any indication it'll probably be the only thing left after the human race has nuked itself into oblivion. It's probably not going to happen over some vodka monkey slapfight though.

 

[Marcus Tullius Cicero]

Does that mean Fursuits will become antique and collectable in decades from now?

Given that they're mostly made of cloth, they're not liable to last very long. It's a miracle we have any clothing from a century ago, let alone from even older periods. It's doubtful there would be much demand for them anyway.

 

[admiral]

Depends what you mean by 'antique'. People don't really have stereos or gramaphones or single use appliances anymore (except kitchenware), but we have a lot of *stuff* which will one day be old and stuck in an antiques shop. The stuff filling antique shops will be mostly garbage, but there will be a lot of it.

A lot of modern stuff seems to be crap, but tbh a lot of old stuff is also crap. There was a huge amount of shitty china and crockery being produced in the 20th century and most of it ended up in landfill. Crap from our generation is technically more long-lived because it's all plastic, so I think we'll actually be seeing far more antiques in the future as people try desperately to sell Grandpa's funkos or animu figurines or what have you.

 

[Pixy]

The BBC will find a way to keep Antiques Roadshow going. The idea of 'antique' will likely change, focusing on works representative of whatever 21st century artistic movement was in vogue, simple or not-too-complex electronics, certain white goods, and furniture of course, rather than every single consumer product from that time, as some antique stores are fond of doing.

Automated mass-production and use of polymers kill some of the magic, but then we still have bakelite products that are touted as 'antique' despite their mass-produced and common nature.

 

[WelfareNiggerQueen]

No. Don't give into your wife's endless bitching about neat things passed down from your ancestors. Don't become pussy whipped and give into her demands to get rid of the neat longcase clock with the classic bell chime tune that plays at noon that makes her irritated. All the neat antique's you see at pawn shops was because of someone giving into their wifes bitching, or they were a hoarder forced to clean up though most antiques are the old fag's equivalent to a funko pop and Magpul brand Pmag(Bakelite AK mags)

Radioactive china is a neat thing of old that's hard to find but has it's niche of being an antique. Before the dangers of radioactive materials was common knowledge it was pretty fucking sweet to be the dude to own dishes that glowed in the dark.

 

[Looney Troons]

I have tons of neat tools, books, cookware, sheet music, and other assortments of neat crap passed down to me. Most of this stuff requires restoration, but the books are still legible, albeit very frail. I have recently thought what cool items from my time that my great, great grandchildren will unearth that was mine, and I honestly struggle.

Our technology is being antiquated rapidly on its own. Consider how many of our devices that require some sort of authentication to a server to even function properly. A friend of mine has a Christmas tree with an array of impressive LEDs - well, was impressive. The server the application on his phone needed to communicate with to get these lights to work has been offline for years. I’ve got a Sous vide cooker that requires an application. I suppose I have some Le Creuset cookware that will stand the test of time, but so have the cast-iron skillets, etc. that were handed down to me from my parents.

As far as tools and other such devices go, we are in the Instagram era of really poorly designed shit that definitely won’t last more than a few years, months. Granted, this isn’t true across the board, but why buy an expensive DeWalt tool set when you can buy a singular Linus Tech Tips ratcheting screwdriver?

 

[Toolbox]

Does that mean Fursuits will become antique and collectable in decades from now?

Seeing what furries tend to do with and in the suits, fuck no. Another thing to consider is just how fleeting furry popularity is. There will be few people who care about the 'value' of any specific fursuit in 30 years even if the furry that made it had millions of followers online.

Given that they're mostly made of cloth, they're not liable to last very long. It's a miracle we have any clothing from a century ago, let alone from even older periods. It's doubtful there would be much demand for them anyway.

They are rarely made from cloth from what I understand, rather the standard of various textiles made from petrochemicals which have sadly become increasingly standard among clothing. I see fursuits being worth massively less over time especially since it seems like anyone obsessed enough can throw one together. Anything structural I believe is also made out of oil based foam. These materials won't hold up as a whole over time, though sadly the chemicals themselves will continue to poison the environment practically forever.

 

[Atli]

When I was a kid something being "antique" meant it was over 100 years old with everything else being"vintage" or "retro". Now we live an in era where the terms "vintage" and "retro" are diluded to mean something as recent as the last 2 years sometimes due to ebay scalpers abusing the terms and antique stores running out of actual old and I mean OLD shit to sell due to "value speculators" squatting on a bunch of actual old stuff essentially making them independently owned thrift stores more or less.

I think the last time I saw actual old shit in an antique store was like over a decade ago where they had these weird fucking hair-art things that were like just human hair from people inside a tiny picture frame as well as old late 19th-early 20th century hats i remember solely because I almost bought one and the guy was like "if you buy one of these DO NOT WEAR IT IT WILL BREAK APART DUE TO IT'S AGE" So I was like "ok" and didn't buy the hats. Sucks because they were cool hats. At least I later got a cold war era Russian hat that I could wear if it wasn't too small for my head a few years later. It's been on a mini-shelf for a good while in my room and has a weird stain on it now I think that happened when something fell on it a few years ago. If I knew how to clean it I would.

Man, in 50 years when all these scalpers die off and people realize how not worth it all the stuff is that they were hoarding, I'm gonna have a whale of a time traveling the country going to estate sales. I'm gettin me an in the box N64 for fitty bucks.

 

[Lurker]

ANTIQUING.

-jumps behind cover-

 

[Stoner Metal]

All the talk of things being made better back in the day is often times really just survivorship bias. You see these well made antiques that stood the test of time but you are not seeing the massive amounts of crap that was made back then that didn't stand the test of time.

As far as items that I own that will someday be antiques; I have modern well made firearms that will likely be considered antiques some day. I have certain high quality handtools that will probably be considered antiques in a hundred years. Thats about it.

but why buy an expensive DeWalt tool set when you can buy a singular Linus Tech Tips ratcheting screwdriver?

Not to get too off topic but if you use tools for your job, you can typically use the cost of the tools as a tax deduction on your income taxes. So you might as well buy the good expensive stuff.

 

[Toolbox]

All the talk of things being made better back in the day is often times really just survivorship bias. You see these well made antiques that stood the test of time but you are not seeing the massive amounts of crap that was made back then that didn't stand the test of time.

Survivorship bias is one of those terms I see passed around recently without any thought really given. The truth is things are produced quicker with more complexity than ever before. Overseas labor is used to reduce prices as much as possible. We have a much higher population with a greater strain on world resources. Many, many other things you can point to to say that many modern items will not last as long as a lot of older ones. There are thousands of types of products with sealed in batteries that alone will be practically trash within a decade or less.

Yeah, not all old shit was automatically gonna last longer than whatever it's newer equivalent is, but there were plenty of things that had to be built tougher simply because the consumerist market did not exist at the scale it does now, electronic design didn't allow exact skimping on certain areas of production, etc.

 

[Lemmingwiser]

Just to add to this: much like survival of the fittest wasnt just the best hunters and farmers, but also the sexiest (those selected for procreation), survivorship bias in antiques isn't just those that were built to last, but also those worth not throwing away.

There is selection going on as well. Thank you lady that didn't throw away Van Gogh's paintings.

 

[NyQuilninja]

It's really hard to tell what is going to be considered memorable. It has to kind of encapsulate a generation

It also has to be an example. It has to have craftsmanship quality and durability to last as others have pointed out. There will of course be more disposable items that will be highly sought after 100 years because there are very many examples. What'll be interesting. Is once they start implementing more degradable technology when manufacturing, how that will affect the need or want to hold on to an object

 

[Otterly]

I want to live in an arts and crafts era cottage or Edwardian parsonage and have a nice mix of beautifully made antique furniture, morris wallpaper (sans the arsenic) and Henry dearle tapestries. Sigh.
I’m not sure what would be antiques from nowadays - we are still making nice crockery and china, so that would be a thing. Art is still being made by hand. Furniture a little less so but there’s still some good stuff being made - completely out of the average persons price range though,

to get rid of the neat longcase clock with the classic bell chime tune that plays at noon that makes her irritated.

I’ll take the clock… !