Definition:Vintage

A vintage dog collectible is defined as any piece at least 40 years old — the standard used by most dealers, collectors, and customs authorities to distinguish vintage from merely ‘used’ or ‘secondhand.’ Some collectors and dealers stretch the definition to include anything made before a particular cultural threshold — pre-1980, pre-1990, or pre-1999 — but the 40-year standard is the most widely accepted. At A Dog’s Tale Collectibles we apply the 40-year definition: pieces made in 1985 or earlier currently qualify as vintage. Pieces made before 1925 qualify as antique. Both vintage and antique dog collectibles are actively collected; age alone does not determine quality or value, which depend far more on maker, condition, rarity, and the strength of a piece’s design or sculptural character.