When I see local ads on FB or CL that state “vintage” when the item is clearly newer, I usually chalk it up to people either not caring enough to use the proper terminology or simply aren’t educated or aware enough to express proper verbiage. To many people, the terms “vintage” or “antique” are interchangeable with terms like “retro” or “collectible” (kinda along the same lines as people who think all vintage bikes are Schwinns- I call this The Band-Aid Effect).
That said, there are lots of people who truly cannot tell the difference between something that is retro and made to look older (ie: the tin sign fad) and a real deal vintage item. I chalk this up to short attention spans and our throwaway society. People don’t know what anything old and well built even looks like anymore because everything is plastic and replaceable. We have to keep in mind that we lovers of antique items are kind of a niche population. There are plenty of other people who are quite aware of this though, and are more than willing to take full advantage of those with less knowledge. These are the people whom I think we’re dealing with here.
There are still others though. There’s a bike for sale local to me, a very good condition black ‘63 Schwinn Tiger, that has a price tag of $1,000. Sure, it’s a nice bike that has been parked in a basement for years after barely being ridden, and it’s got great original tires and near perfect chrome- but it’s still a single speed base model bike that was pumped out by the thousands. They don’t know what they have, they only know it’s a Schwinn and have dollar signs in their eyes. I can’t fault them, except for having not taken the time to actually research it. They just know they have a fancy lure and are hoping to land a big fish. This I attribute to laziness and greed, the most common thing we all run across.
This guy though… seems like kind of a combination of all of them with an extra dash of patience and pinch of stupid. If he waits long enough he may get what he wants, but in the meantime he’s got a small horse to move around and we get to laugh at him. Should we care enough to hate him? Maybe, but it’s a waste of time.
