What is considered an antique by law. What is an antique? Let's define the concepts

Aug 28 2017

IN Soviet time jewelry was especially highly valued. They were not cheap, were more often inherited, were stored in strictly inaccessible places and were obtained extremely rarely and only by special occasions. Silver used great success, since it was cheaper than gold. It was easier to buy silver jewelry; Soviet people could afford it...

Feb 22 2017

One evening I returned home so tired that I only had the strength to crawl to my favorite chair and plop down in it. Opposite me is a bizarrely shaped lamp that my friends gave me for my birthday. The lamp was purchased in a modern lamp store, but is made in the form of an antique lamp, inside of which, in theory, it should...

Feb 25 2016

May 19 2015

What is a button accordion? As Wikipedia says: Bayan is a Russian reed push-button pneumatic musical instrument with a full chromatic scale on the right keyboard, bass and ready-made (chord) or ready-chosen accompaniment on the left. Modern variety hand harmonica. IN Western tradition A button accordion with a left chord keyboard is considered a type of push-button accordion. Bayan consists of...

The first is about an old man, all of whose loved ones were destroyed in the Holocaust. He had nothing left of them - not a single thing and not a single photograph. The old man kept memories of his relatives in his memory; he perfectly remembered their faces, voices and smiles: before trouble came to Europe, this large family had a good life and many reasons to rejoice. The old man loved old things - they reminded him of the only time when he was truly happy. He could walk around this market for hours, sorting through tattered books and looking at other people's photographs from old albums. One day he discovered a familiar binding in the ruins of a used bookstore, and the old man’s heart began to beat with excitement - it was a miraculously surviving photo album of his loved ones, somehow in an incredible way reached Israel, perhaps in order to find its real owner - the only person from big family who managed to escape.

LIFE AFTER DEATH

The second story began in an ordinary way: someone, introducing himself as a collector, invited an antique dealer selling old documents on Dizengoff to come to his home to formalize a deal to purchase quite large quantity rare papers and photographs dating back to the period of Mandatory Palestine and the first decade of the Jewish state. The antique dealer came to the specified address, found a sign with the name given and knocked on the door. While going through papers and photographs, he discovered that many of the documents had the same name as the one on the door sign. “So you’re not a collector? Are all these documents yours? - the antique dealer asked the owner. “Yes, mine,” he replied. - Believe me, I am rich enough, I own many houses in Israel, and I do not need to make money by selling old things. I'm worried about something else - I have no one to convey my past to. I know that after my death, my children and grandchildren will throw everything in the trash bin - they have no sentimentality about family heirlooms. That's why I called you. If you take evidence of my life, it will continue after I die, because someone will buy these documents for their collections and will keep them as carefully as I kept them.”

CYCLE OF THINGS IN NATURE

The third story was about an old-timer in Tel Aviv who discovered his first rental agreement for an apartment in Tel Aviv among old papers. Decades have passed since then, and this man has moved from apartment to apartment more than once, but this was the first - it was in it that his Tel Aviv life began. He bought his contract from an antique dealer for ten shekels and, as eyewitnesses say, he was so excited by the acquisition that he even shed tears.

Reflecting on how such things end up on antique markets, I remembered the story of the famous antique furniture restorer Igor Vysotsky, about whom I wrote several times.
years ago. Igor told me about what priceless rarities he found in St. Petersburg landfills after the blockade. As for documents, they are often brought to antique dealers by relatives of deceased old people, or some collector begins to sell off his collection. There is also a complete accident: when demolishing an old house, a worker discovers a folder with papers and turns to antiquities experts to find out what its value is. This is how the cycle of things in nature happens, and someone’s past ends up on an antique dealer’s counter, and from there into someone’s private collection.

COLLECTORS

Just five years ago, I quite often came across newspaper advertisements placed by collectors - they were talking about the exchange, purchase or sale of rare items. Then such advertisements almost disappeared. The reason is simple: collectors have permanent place meetings, exchanges, sales and purchases - antique market. Some of them come here as early as five in the morning.

There are many stories about collectors. This is a completely special world in which serious passions boil, sometimes reaching an obsessive state. So, they told me about a resident of Tel Aviv who, due to a desperate need to collect all kinds of antiques, sold her large apartment and rented inexpensive housing. She continues to buy antiques, which she keeps in bags in all corners - there is no longer room for them.

Another funny story told to me by the antique dealer Mati Saar was about a lawyer obsessed with Japanese trinkets, on which he spends all his fortune. His house already resembles a warehouse, but he continues and continues to buy them.

“One day I decided to play a prank on him,” Mati recalls, “I put Japanese-style consumer goods on the counter. He immediately asked: “Is this a Japanese thing?” - “Yes, but it’s very expensive,”
- I answered and named some exorbitant, completely unrealistic price. He immediately, before my eyes, began
go crazy, begging: “Bring the price down a little, I want this thing!” I felt embarrassed, I immediately admitted to the prank and said that the real price of the trinket was a couple of shekels. I didn't dare make such jokes anymore.

Walking around the market, I meet many of my former compatriots. One of them, a former collector, now
forced to sell off his collections. In Russia, he worked in Akademgorodok, receiving a good salary, which allowed him to constantly replenish his collections of weapons and award badges. IN
Israel works hard at the factory, earning pennies, and is slowly selling off his collection.

Do you see these anniversary rubles? - he turns to me, - Once upon a time they were allowed to be exported from Russia like this: five coins per family member. True, the problem of exporting any amount of anniversary rubles was easily solved with the help of a bribe to the customs officer.

On the counter there are October and Pioneer badges next to the “Honorary KGB Officer” sign. Natives of the country prefer to buy badges with the image of Lenin in infancy, and the “Honorary KGB Officer” badge is popular with our compatriots, who give it, for example, for the birthday of their friend - a former conscientious objector who suffered a lot from the KGB.

Among the authentic badges “Russian Special Forces”, “Warrior-Sportsman”, “Graduate of the Military Academy” and many others, there is only one copy: the badge of the USSR pilot-cosmonaut, as evidenced by the microscopic inscription at the bottom.

Among other rarities, this time “material”, is the helmet of a torpedo boat sailor, made from genuine leather, May Day flags on wooden stick, banner of the USSR.

A former resident of the academic campus says that not far from his table a guy, who also repatriated from the CIS, is selling general and admiral uniforms, police and special forces ammunition, badges, shoulder straps and emblems of elite military units Russian Federation. Last weeks the guy is not visible, apparently he went to Russia for replenishment, he assumes.

ANTIQUES

According to Yaakov Datz, an antiquarian with 30 years of experience who speaks five languages, this craft cannot be learned at a university - it is learned through intuition, life experience and knowledge gleaned from different sources, including from people.

Previously, Yaakov ran antiquities shops in different Israeli cities. Then he moved to the antique market in Tel Aviv.

Thousands of people pass here. Summer is full of tourists from different countries, says Yaakov, “and the market itself is very specific: in Israel it is, perhaps, the only one, although there are many of them in Europe. On Fridays, collectors and antiquities dealers come here from all over the country. Pay attention to the man in a black kippah selling ancient Judaica: he gets here from Safed. Here, each antiquities dealer has his own permanent place. Collectors are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for an item that interests them. So you can live from this craft, but it’s unlikely to get rich: the falafel trade is considered more profitable in Israel. It's just that most of us are collectors, and that explains a lot. Working with ancient things simply gives us pleasure.

There are a lot of interesting things on Datz's counter. For example, a rug with portraits of the Kennedy brothers woven on it, made in America after the assassination of John F. Kennedy; a sixty-year-old lantern from the Carmel Mizrachi winery; newspapers published in Palestine in the 1930s.

When a thing comes to me, I am in no hurry to part with it, says Yaakov, first I try to find out everything about it, look for analogues - there are many sources. This process gives me great pleasure. But now the research is completed, the results are received - now I know everything about this thing and I no longer regret parting with it.

The aforementioned Mati Saar, a former El Al employee, long years collected a collection of netsuke and rare books. Having become disabled, he retired early and began selling antiquities, opening a store at the Jaffa Flea Market, from where he later moved to the antique market.

I am still glad that I came here: there are such buyers here that you don’t see at the Flea Market: collectors are very high level, true experts in their field. In addition, celebrities hang out here all the time - actors, TV stars, journalists,” says Mati. - And I consider myself to be one of those crazy people who are capable of dragging a 20-kilogram weight here every Friday. typewriter"Remington" from the beginning of the last century. Here she is, a beauty, admire her. Maybe she will eventually find her own lover.

I ask Mati's opinion about the antique dealers from Russia that he has encountered.

ABOUT! “They are great experts,” he says with respect, “and how to make a good business out of antiques,” too. Buying old things here cheaply, in particular Judaica, they take them to Russia and sell them to the nouveau riche there for a lot of money.

Nelya, who repatriated from the former Soviet Union and, together with her husband, sells old things at the market, does not think so. She claims that in Russia, under the laws there, to this day it is impossible to truly engage in antiques.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

The idea to create a market in Tel Aviv similar to those found in Europe belongs to municipal worker Yadida Bar-Zvi and collector Beni Yeruham, who has been collecting wind-up toys made from tin for many years. Now Beni is responsible for ensuring that every antique dealer who wants to trade in the market is provided with a table and chairs; the bribe for these amenities is small - 40 shekels per day.

I consider this municipal project very successful,” says Yadida Bar-Zvi. - Firstly, the antique market has turned into one of the most interesting attractions
city, it is visited by many people. Others spend half a day here, looking at old things. Collectors finally have a place to meet, exchange, buy and sell items from their collections. Many antique dealers sell here rare books, historical documents, newspapers and magazines published in Israel many years ago. For example, the famous collector and second-hand bookseller Yigal Baron brings here every Friday books that you will not find today even in libraries - they are from private collections of people who came to Israel from different countries a long time ago.

The market is divided into two parts: the antique market itself and the consignment market, where used clothes are sold. Yadida recalls being horrified one morning when she saw an elderly repatriate show up in the thrift section of the market with a vanload of belongings. He was about to leave the country and decided to sell everything he had, even for pennies. In four hours, the entire contents of the van were bought on the vine - down to the last spoon.

...The antique market, unlike other Tel Aviv markets, is very quiet: here you will not hear any shouts from barkers or noisy arguments. Many foragers come here simply to meet their own kind and socialize. The main interest here is not monetary. It has its regulars; this is the second time I’ve met a repatriate from the USA, Erica, who comes here on Fridays and invariably returns with some kind of trophy. Erica is not a collector, she just loves old things and decorates her home with them - and today she has already managed to purchase a wooden pencil holder made in the century before last.

“You can find amazing things here,” Erica tells me, “I once bought a whole collection of American miniatures from the 1930s.” How did she get here? Apparently, one of the repatriates brought the collection with him, and when he died, the children sold it to an antiquities dealer.

Finally, I go around the market again. On one of the tables I notice a miniature loom, which, it turns out, can be used to weave, on the other - an equally modest size fire truck, which must have adorned the childhood of our grandfathers. There is also porcelain, from the time of the British Mandate, dishes with company marks. My companion drags me to tables with weapons, where rusty swords, heavy revolvers, sparkling sabers are laid out.

Look,” he says, not hiding his delight. - Yes, this is a real bayonet from the famous Russian Mosin rifle. The wounds inflicted by him did not heal, which is why the rifle was later declared an unconventional weapon. Wow, that's a parabellum! The only thing in the world firearms, in which the cartridges, when fired, fly not to the right, but to the left. Wow, a naval officer's dagger! Even as a boy I dreamed of at least holding it in my hands...

We often throw out old and unnecessary things from our home. It would seem, why collect all kinds of rubbish? However, sometimes it turns out that this “junk” is actually... beautiful objects antiquities that are highly valued for their long history and can become interesting pieces of some antique collection.

What are antiques and why are some people willing to shell out huge sums of money for old things?

The concept of “antiques” came to us from Latin language: antiquus translated as "old", "ancient". This is where the word came from antiquarius – "concerning antiquity", that is, an antiquarian, an expert on antiquities, a person who likes to collect various antique things or is engaged in their trade.

Despite its Latin origin, in most Slavic languages ​​the word was borrowed through a German place name antique, which in translation also means "old".

Antiques are any old things that can be traded or collected. These include artistic and literary works, furniture, household items, ceramics, porcelain, marble products, terracotta and much more.

There are many criteria by which this or that item is classified as an antique. In particular, they consider the rarity of things, their cultural or artistic value, and connections with any historical eras or events.

An important aspect is material value– objects made of gold or precious stones.


But first of all, when classifying objects as antiques, their age is taken into account. In Russia, things that are at least 50 years old are considered antique, while values ​​older than 100 years are prohibited from being exported outside the state.

In the US, antiques are items that were made before 1830; in the UK, they are over 100 years old. For cars, the age limit is slightly different: a car created 25 years ago is considered antique.

Very often antique things are called rare, but in fact the word “rarity” has a slightly different meaning. In Latin raritas means "rarity", that is, a rarity is a rare item made in a single or small edition.

The difference between antiques and rarities is that any antiques can be classified as antiques, the number of which is not limited.


Rarities are unique items that have no analogues. However, it is not at all necessary that they be old.

Modern products made in the Russian Federation can also be called rare. last years in single copies. For example, Russian coins in denominations of 1, 2 and 5 rubles, manufactured in 2002, are considered as such. They can only be found in the collections of the Moscow and St. Petersburg mints.

If we talk about unpopular antiques, then things that have little artistic value or were produced on an industrial scale are usually reluctantly bought up. These include, for example, cast iron irons or sewing machines.

Among popular objects, painting is the most valuable throughout the world. famous artists, sculpture, antique Chinese porcelain, vintage gold and gemstone jewelry. Many collectors are happy to buy ancient icons, ancient books and manuscripts.

IN Lately In Russia, the so-called samizdat is in great demand - literary works by Nabokov, Solzhenitsyn, Brodsky, which Soviet years were produced abroad in limited editions.


Many collectors love to buy antique furniture because it not only has historical value, but also practical use. There is high demand in antique stores for chests of drawers, bureaus, tables, chairs made of mahogany, walnut, pine, and oak. Moreover, the less furniture has been restored, the more expensive it is.

People's interest in antiques can be caused by two reasons. The first is a love of history, antiquity and, as a result, old things that bear the imprint of past centuries. Not only are antiques beautiful and original in themselves, many of them also have great artistic and cultural value. This is where the second reason comes in: many of these items become more expensive over time, that is, their acquisition is in a good way investing money.

As a rule, a person has both of these motives when he decides to start buying antiques. But for this you need to have not only interest, but also certain knowledge. A good place to start would be to find out what is an antique and what types of it exist?

According to the definition, antiques- these are old and rare works of art or valuables that are the object of trade and gathering. Experts consider the following to be the main characteristics of an antique item:

- old age;
- rarity or uniqueness;
- non-serialization;
- connection with historical era or with historical events;
- impossibility of reproduction;
- artistic value.

However, in order for a thing to be considered antique, it does not have to have all these characteristics. Their mutual intersection and combination is important. Although the most valuable antiques have all of the above in stock. Central a sign, of course, is a category of old age, and it must always be present. After all, a thing becomes antique primarily thanks to time and history. The artistic value of the item is also very important: This is precisely the characteristic that, as experts say, allows a thing to “go on a journey through time.” And to get into rarity category, required in the subject there must be a twist, artistic individuality or some historical feature.

Thus, we have decided on the semantic component of this term, but there is a component no less important - legal. How is the above-mentioned trade and gathering carried out in our country, what laws regulate these processes? First of all By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 30, 1994 No. 1108“On the sale of antiques and the creation of a specially authorized state control body for the preservation cultural values" This Decree contains one important clarification: “ Antiques are understood as cultural values, created more than 50 years ago" . IN this document All main categories of antiques are listed:

A) historical values , including those related to historical events in the lives of peoples, the development of society and the state, the history of science, art and technology, as well as those related to life and activities outstanding personalities, government, political and public figures;
b) objects and their fragments obtained as a result archaeological excavations ;
V) artistic values, including:
· paintings and drawings entirely self made on any basis and from any materials;
· original artistic compositions and installations from any materials;
· artistically designed religious items, including icons and church utensils;
· engravings, prints, lithographs and their original printed forms;
· works of decorative and applied art, including products of traditional folk crafts and others art products made of glass, ceramics, wood, metal, bone, fabric and other materials;
d) components and fragments of architectural, historical, artistic monuments and monuments of monumental art;
d) rare manuscripts and documentary monuments, including incunabula and other publications of special historical, artistic, scientific and cultural interest;
e) archives, including phono and photo archives and other archival materials;
g) unique and rare musical instruments ;
h) ancient coins , orders, medals, seals and other collectibles classified as cultural valuables - antiques."

So, the main categories of items that may be antiques are listed in this decree. But, in addition, it must be remembered that Article 1 of this Decree establishes that “since January 1, 1995, on the territory of the Russian Federation, the free sale of antiques is carried out by enterprises registered on the territory of the Russian Federation on the basis of a special permit (license) issued by the Federal Service of Russia for the Preservation of Cultural Property on the proposal of the executive authorities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The procedure for the sale of antiques established by paragraph 1 of this Decree does not apply to authors of cultural property.". Thus, only their author (which in reality is very rare!) or an organization that has the appropriate license can trade antique items.

How is it determined authenticity and value antique item? Based on the opinions of an expert or group of experts. For example, in 2004 in Russia, a number of experts, appraisers, insurance companies and banks united and created a modern, equipped last word technology laboratory "Art Consulting", capable of giving an opinion on the time, place of creation and authorship of a work of art. Based on the laboratory data, a reasoned assessment of the item sent for examination is made. There are also expert councils at museums, art galleries etc., as well as well-known experts in certain fields whose opinions are highly valued. But in any case, the problem of counterfeiting in this area remains very relevant.

So, in this article we talked about general outline what antiques are, what are their main features and types. Our next article on this topic will be devoted to the global and Russian antique markets. We will touch upon the general situation on them, and also dwell in more detail on the characteristics of the main players in this market in our country.

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