A little knowledge can change the way we see an object. A familiar curve, an unusual pattern or a mark beneath a piece can become the beginning of a discovery.
This glossary is a companion to exploring the collection: a plain-language guide to the words we use when discussing older objects. Some describe age, some refer to historical periods, and others describe a style. They can overlap, but they do not mean the same thing.
Dates and definitions vary across countries and collecting fields. The descriptions here are broad reference points, not a way to date or authenticate an individual object from its appearance alone.
Understanding Age & Attribution
Authenticity and age are assessed through evidence rather than a universal ladder of terms. An object does not move from vintage to antique and then automatically into antiquity. In decorative-arts collecting, the hundred-year convention for antiques is a widely used reference point.
Beyond that, historical and cultural context becomes more informative than another birthday. An object’s form, materials, construction, marks and documented parallels all contribute to its proposed attribution. Comparing an object’s form and construction with recorded examples is known as typological comparison. It can support an estimated date or cultural attribution, but resemblance alone does not establish authenticity or an exact production year.
Terms such as Roman, medieval, ancient and Classical Antiquity describe historical or cultural contexts, not rolling age brackets. A three-hundred-year-old object may be an antique without being an antiquity, and an object does not become archaeological simply because it is two thousand years old.
Vintage
An object from an earlier period, often understood in decorative-arts collecting to be at least twenty years old and recognisably connected to its era. There is no single age threshold used consistently in every category or on every platform. A production date or estimated decade is more informative than the word alone.
A newly made object with an older look is not vintage simply because of its appearance.
Antique
Generally, an object at least one hundred years old. This is a widely used collecting convention rather than a guarantee of quality, rarity or value. Particular collecting categories and formal contexts may use their own definitions.
When an estimated production range crosses the hundred-year boundary, the dates deserve to remain visible. An old design, ancient material or historic maker’s founding date does not establish the age of the finished object.
Antiquities
Objects from ancient cultures and civilisations. The term is connected to historical and archaeological context, rather than being a universal age band that follows directly after “antique”. Its chronological boundaries vary by region and field.
A three-hundred-year-old object may be an antique without being an antiquity. A modern reproduction of an ancient vessel is a modern object, however closely it follows the original form.
Ancient
A broad description referring to the distant historical past. What counts as ancient depends on the region, culture and subject being discussed; it does not have one universal starting date or a fixed number of years.
Where possible, a named culture or period and an estimated date provide more useful context than “ancient” alone.
Classical Antiquity
A historical term particularly associated with the ancient Greek and Roman worlds of the Mediterranean. Its precise boundaries depend on the subject and scholarly context.
It is not a label for every object between one thousand and two thousand years old, nor does it encompass every ancient civilisation. Later objects can also draw on classical designs without having been made in antiquity.
Roman
A cultural and historical attribution associated with ancient Rome and its wider world. Roman objects were made across many regions over many centuries; “Roman” does not mean that an object was necessarily made in the city of Rome.
A more specific date, place or regional attribution helps explain the term. For example, “attributed Roman, circa first–third centuries AD” gives a proposed historical context and date range, rather than an exact age.
Medieval / Post-Classical
“Medieval” refers to the Middle Ages, especially within European historical frameworks. Its boundaries vary by place and field. “Post-classical” is used in some historical frameworks for the period following classical antiquity, but is not a universal synonym for medieval in every region.
Neither term is a rolling age bracket. An object approximately 350 years old in 2026 dates to around 1676; its age alone does not make it medieval.
Archaeological
A term relating to the study of the human past through material remains and their context. It describes an approach, evidence or relationship to archaeology, not a birthday an object reaches.
Archaeology can investigate relatively recent periods as well as ancient ones. An object does not automatically become archaeological at two thousand years old, and its appearance alone does not establish an excavation history.
Retro
A description of a look that recalls or revives an earlier style. Retro objects may be newly made or older; the word itself does not establish their production date.
A contemporary lamp inspired by the 1970s can be retro without being vintage. A lamp actually made in the 1970s has a separate claim to age.
Baroque
A historical style associated broadly with seventeenth- and early-eighteenth-century European art, architecture and decorative design, with timing and expression varying by place. Drama, movement, strong contrasts, rich ornament and grandeur are recurring characteristics.
Later objects can draw on Baroque forms. “Baroque-style” describes that influence without claiming the object was made during the historical period.
Rococo
A style that developed in early-eighteenth-century France and spread through other parts of Europe. It is often associated with playful ornament, asymmetry, curling scrolls, shell-like motifs and delicate decorative effects.
Rococo and Baroque are related historical terms, not interchangeable labels for anything ornate. Rococo-inspired decoration can also appear on much later pieces.
Victorian
A period label associated with the reign of Queen Victoria, from 1837 to 1901. It provides a British historical reference and is also used in relevant collecting contexts beyond Britain; it is not a universal name for all nineteenth-century objects.
Victorian objects encompass many styles, materials and purposes. A practical apothecary tool and an elaborate floral serving tray can belong to the same period without looking alike. “Victorian-style” may describe a later revival rather than a period original.
Edwardian
A period label associated with the reign of King Edward VII, from 1901 to 1910. Some cultural and design histories use a broader Edwardian context extending towards the First World War, so the intended dates should be made clear.
Like Victorian, Edwardian is not one decorative style. An object’s appearance alone does not establish that it was made during the reign.
Art Nouveau
An international decorative movement that flourished broadly from the 1890s into the early twentieth century. Flowing lines, botanical forms, curling stems and an interest in integrating art with everyday design are familiar features, although regional expressions differ.
Not every floral object is Art Nouveau. A later piece may show Art Nouveau influence without being a period example.
Art Deco
A design style especially associated with the 1920s and 1930s. Geometric patterns, stepped forms, stylised motifs, streamlined shapes and striking material contrasts are among its recurring features.
Art Deco can appear in ceramics, glass, metalwork, furniture, jewellery and architecture. Its influence continued beyond those decades and has been revived repeatedly, so an Art Deco look is not proof of an interwar production date.
Mid-Century
A broad reference to the middle decades of the twentieth century. The precise span depends on the collecting context, making a stated decade or date range useful.
“Mid-century modern” is more specific: it describes modernist design associated with that era, often characterised by purposeful forms, clean lines, organic shapes and experimentation with materials. Not everything made in the middle of the century is mid-century modern, and later reproductions can echo the style.
Farmhouse
A decorating description rather than a fixed historical period. It often evokes practical domestic objects, country kitchens, natural textures and a sense of warmth and everyday usefulness.
A piece can suit farmhouse styling without being antique, without having been made for agricultural use and without ever having lived on a farm.
Reading a Description With Confidence
The most useful question is often: does this word describe when the object was made, the historical period it belongs to, or the look that inspired it?
“Circa” means approximately. An attribution identifies a proposed maker, origin or period based on the available evidence; it should be read alongside the research supporting it. “Style”, “inspired by” and “revival” describe a relationship to a design tradition, not necessarily production during its original period.
A reproduction takes its own age from when it was made, not from the age of its model. For prints, the date of the original artwork or publication is not automatically the date of the particular impression, and a later frame has its own history.
The aim is not to take the wonder away. It is to give curiosity somewhere useful to begin.
— Ina Lubbe, Purveyor of Vintage Treasure
Shift2ThriftVintage • Est. 2024 • Curated Vintage, South Africa • shift2thriftvintage.co.za