Definition of Vintage....

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bfyler

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Since the discussion from the thread "why so little love for Vintage cards" I have been trying to figure out what a defination of vintage is.. I know cards from the 50-60's are considered vintage but what do my fellow collectors feel is an age that starts the "modern" vs vintage? would it be with the introduction of Jersey cards, auto's and parallels? or later.. ..

Please let me know what you think.. lets get some discussion going and maybe it will lead to a more active vintage section.. BTW the recent history of Goalies has been great..

Bill
 
You'll probably get a wide range of answers for this question.

Personally, I see the 90-91 boom as the single biggest turning point in the hobby. Not only was it the first time that the number of sets released per major league exceeded two, but it was also the first year with a significant change in card stock.

So, I consider anything from the 80s to be "old stuff." I'm not sure I want to use the word "vintage" but it would be a lot more subjective to pick a "vintage/modern" cutoff somewhere in the middle of the 70s or 80s. I could certainly see an argument for going even further back than that.
 
Anything pre1990 is cool by me. I love the old stuff and I also love all the 1980's stuff. Even the 80's stuff is 20-30 years old.
 
Personally when I hear "vintage" I think pre-expansion. I consider the 70's and 80's "old" and anything from the 1990-91 boom onward is "modern".
 
Just for my purposes, I consider vintage to be pre-1963. Not sure why I chose that year, I think it maybe has to do with the design of the cards and how they started to develop after that year. The "vintage" cards in my opinion were very basic, to the point, nothing flashy with logos and symbols all over. I know this means I do not include guys like Esposito, Dryden and Orr to name a few as vintage, but it's just my personal take on the matter.
 
habsheaven said:
Personally when I hear "vintage" I think pre-expansion. I consider the 70's and 80's "old" and anything from the 1990-91 boom onward is "modern".
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I agree! I hear vintage I'm thinking original six or before. I hear old cards I'm thinking 70's & 80's. Early 90's is trash until mid 90's and up then I'm thinking modren cards.

Then let's talk about great cards pre lock out verus post lock out crap! :|

Man we could get all kinds of catagories going!:devil:
 
I think 1970 and before is the usual accepted date. I would love to see cards have era`s similar to what they do in comics platinum-gold-silver-bronze-copper-modern.
 
Personally, my line of demarcation is 79-80, the 'Gretzky RC'. Older is 'vintage'. Newer is 'modern'. It also marks when I was 'old' enough to collect on my own ;) (I still cringe when I hear the music I listened to in high school on the classic rock station).

The other spot I think of is the late 60's around the Orr RC. There is something about the 'feel' of the cards after that...

I think it would be interesting to outline the 'eras' in the comic terms. I'd try, but I'm still too 'new' to vintage to know where good lines could be drawn.
 
I've always considered 1970 as the vintage line. 1970-1990 is the pre-boom, OPC years and 1990 onward is modern. Just my tuppence.
 
I'm with most in that anything before 1990 is vintage. The card stock from those OPC cards of the 80's is similar to that of the majority of the cards all the way back to the C-55's.

Because of the type of card stock used, and the lack of storage options like toploaders and one-touches back then, the style and importance of condition lumps them all together for me.

In addition, most of the players from the 80's (with a few exceptions) have retired from the NHL which puts them in the vintage category for me.

matt
 
89chinook said:
I agree! I hear vintage I'm thinking original six or before. I hear old cards I'm thinking 70's & 80's. Early 90's is trash until mid 90's and up then I'm thinking modren cards.

Then let's talk about great cards pre lock out verus post lock out crap! :|

Man we could get all kinds of catagories going!:devil:
Click to expand...

I originally had something like this in my post and took it out, but I 100% agree with the sentiment.
 
Anything before Gretzky's RC year is my cut-off point.

Gretzky's RC yr represents a launching point of exposure and expansion of the exposure of hockey. His rookie year also happens to coincide with the 1980 Olympics, which created more interest in the sport. The exposure of players before then was more directly local, heavily concentrated around the major playing cities and minor league affiliates. That year also represents the year and the beginning of the decade that started a larger European influence into the game with players and techniques of playing. The influenced kids of the previous generation were coming out and making an impact in the league. Molded after Orr, or as best as they could be, D-men were more offensive. And molded after some of the greatest goal scorers of the previous era, there were some very strong scoring forwards. And a revolutionary style called "butterfly" evolved to create a new group of goaltending superstars to compensate. I believe that this era evolved and ended with the lockout. A new era has been created since then with players who can play as skilled but faster.

The 70's and before are vintage, due to most of my unfamiliarity with it and the players. I'm sure in time that the 80's will become part of the vintage desciption and probably is if you ask some younger people. "Vintage" is reflected within the age of the person collecting and what they consider as vintage. I certainly do not want to call my chilhood vintage as much as the next person. The sad point is, somebody already does.:(
 
I tend to mark "eras" by
1910-1938 Pre-war era
1951-1967 Topps/Parkhurst years
1968-1989 Topps/OPC years
1990-Present Card boom

There are a few gaps between the pre-war and Topps, but I don't really find many of those, so those definitions work for me.. :p
 

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