I probably should have kept my mouth shut...

[dragonfly]

Nah, no reason to feel bad about it as long as you were friendly and not snarky or condescending. The oldest G3s are pushing 15 years old now; but in my mind G3s will always be the "new wave" of ponies. If they were kids they'd be getting their drivers licenses this year!  I can see why she might classify it as vintage. Giving her the benefit of the doubt here as she didn't jack up the price bc of its age.

[tulagirl]

The norm is that vintage is considered anything 20 years and older and an antique is consider 100 years old.  Old school preferred to call vintage anything 50 years and more.  The term is used very loosely today with most people not really understanding what it means.  In the antique collecting world they seem to accept the 20 year mark, but I am hearing another term called newly vintage for the decade of the 1980's.  Dealers are not even ready to consider some 80's stuff fully vintage yet in certain circles. 
My standard for the term vintage is 30 years or more right in the middle I guess. LOL  I do not consider G3 vintage at all.  It has a ways to go.  2.00 was not an unfair price for a G3, but when I think about the fact I have gotten say 5 G3's for 2.00 at the thrift, then it seems a bit high.

I think people just do not understand this term.  They think if its not being made anymore its vintage already.  Na its not.   They may sell, but perhaps they do not understand the market with which they sell in.  It is a high expectation of someone to know every detail about what they sell.  This is possible with some people but not all.   I am a very opinionated person (not saying you are ) and tend to do stuff like this. Lately, though, I have been working on just letting things go as some things really are not worth the effort lol.  I would not worry about it.  People don't know what they are doing sometimes.  To them they have something highly desired and valuable. ROFLOL  Not that it isn't, but you know what I mean.  Its like the term rare.  People use it very loosely too just to get a sale.

[prancingstag]

I was just at the flea market and the solitary pony I found was a G3 Applejack.  When I asked how much I got this reply, "$2, it's vintage."  Now I didn't especially feel like spending $2 on her but it wasn't an unreasonable sum.  It was calling her vintage that got me.  I replied, " More like 2000's rather than vintage.  Thanks." and then walked away.  I could hear her grumbling that she knew her toys as I left.


Ever find yourself saying something when you should have just shrugged and walked away?

I'm glad you didn't. I would have said something similar. 2000s is NOT vintage. All anyone has to do is look on the bottom of the damn toy.

Exactly. I'd have just turned it over to look at the hooves and said "2003, huh?"

[pyrodarknessanny]

yeah it has to be at least 20 years old to be called vintage...

if the pony was early 2000s then its getting close to that....  seams like a nit pick to me

[Sunset]

Hmm, upon trying to look up a definition of "vintage" it's interesting to see what a moving target it is.

 Those who are really hard core about it say that it isn't about age at all but about something being representative of the era that spawned it or of the era in which the "best" of that item was made.  I.e. This jukebox is vintage 1950's.

Some say that vintage is something over 50 years old.  Others say that it is something over 20-25 years old.  And then the usage seems to change depending on what type of thing you are talking about, furniture, fashion, cars, etc.

I also saw someone define it as something "old" with the potential to come back.

[brightberry]

I have a hard time accepting any pony is vintage.  It makes me feel old.   

  I probably would have said something.  Hopefully it wouldn’t come off as rude, but it would be hard not to say something especially if the seller was trying to command a higher price because of ”vintage”.  But maybe I’ll rethink that after hearing your story.   I think you’re ok though.  There really isn’t a right way to correct someone without the risk of offense.  But she would do better to listen to wisdom so she doesn’t sound so foolish in the future.  Other people are going to judge her the same way especially if the date is on it’s hoof.  You did her a favor, she just hasn’t realized it yet. 

[Leave a Whisper]

Part of me is saying that people don’t know the differences between gens so it had to be an honest mistake, the much less logical side is going “REALLY LADY I’m older than that thing!!”

Does this mean we can fetch high prices for being "vintage models?"

[LadyMoondancer]

I meeeean, she was wrong but personally I wouldn't be trying to torque off anyone offering a pony for $2.    What if she gets actual vintage G1s and prices them the same way, ha ha.

[Beldarna]

Maybe it got her thinking tho? People throw the words vintage around now for anything without knowing the true meaning. They have the same issues in the clothing insustry, they even brought it up in the news. I myself refuse to be seen as vintage!

[Teddy]

I had a lady in a shop refer to G2's as "vintage" just last year. I was appalled. I was like..."no, this came out in 1997, see here on the hoof?" I said it nicely of course, I just can't be rude to people, even when I really REALLY want to. lol! Anyway, she took it well and had thought it said 1987.

I guess if the rule is that anything more than 20 years old is now considered "vintage" though, I guess G2's are already? That just seems very wrong to me because they came out when I was in high school. That wasn't THAT long ago....was it? O.O

[Broken Irishwoman]

G3 may be 15 years old by now, and G2 21 years even, but they're still not the original My Little Ponies. Which, in my personal book, would mean "vintage".

I would be seriously annoyed too. Last year there was a lady at the fleamarket who had a table full of ponies, so within two seconds I had my claws full of ponies dangling by their tails.

...Until I heard what she asked for them.   Around €5. Each. Because they were "vintage". Because they were "hers" from "when she was a child" (the lady was definitely over 50 (possibly 60), so I highly doubt that). There was a really manky Sundance, a really manky Italy Peachy, Cherry Treats, Cotton Candy, lots of (newer) fakies and a lot of G3. I never leave G1 ponies behind, but I left with Cherry Treats and Cotton Candy only, because they were the only ones who were in okay shape. There's no way I'm going to pay  €5 each for "vintage" G3, fakies, and a Sundance with pen marks all over.

[Zapper]

I would jump for joy if I found a G3 AJ for 2$ 
G4 mania had people believe they could sell any pony in any condition for 15 bucks.

[tulagirl]

Hmm, upon trying to look up a definition of "vintage" it's interesting to see what a moving target it is.

 Those who are really hard core about it say that it isn't about age at all but about something being representative of the era that spawned it or of the era in which the "best" of that item was made.  I.e. This jukebox is vintage 1950's.

Some say that vintage is something over 50 years old.  Others say that it is something over 20-25 years old.  And then the usage seems to change depending on what type of thing you are talking about, furniture, fashion, cars, etc.

I also saw someone define it as something "old" with the potential to come back.

Yes and Vintage also means quality.  Something old, with quality and value.  It is amazing, but many words have both urban meanings and standard meanings.  That is what gets so challenging sometimes.  Another word that is thrown around loosely is the term Retro.  Many people have a different concept of these words.

I had a lady in a shop refer to G2's as "vintage" just last year. I was appalled. I was like..."no, this came out in 1997, see here on the hoof?" I said it nicely of course, I just can't be rude to people, even when I really REALLY want to. lol! Anyway, she took it well and had thought it said 1987.

I guess if the rule is that anything more than 20 years old is now considered "vintage" though, I guess G2's are already? That just seems very wrong to me because they came out when I was in high school. That wasn't THAT long ago....was it? O.O

Yea I don't feel that it was that long ago either and that is why many people follow the 50 year for Vintage.  The thing is its just something that people are not all in agreement on. 

Maybe it got her thinking tho? People throw the words vintage around now for anything without knowing the true meaning. They have the same issues in the clothing insustry, they even brought it up in the news. I myself refuse to be seen as vintage!

I have seen a lot of people refer to clothes by the decade rather than vintage lol.  Like you will hear them say, "this dress is 80's style."  I have even heard them describe clothes with other names like Mod,  Rockabilly and so on.  When it comes to clothing a lot of people like to wear older clothes but don't want to refer to them as vintage. Its funny.  And in the same decade you can have several different styles of fashion. Its enough to make your brain spin.

[Shatyr]

I've heard 50 for "vintage" and 25 for "newly vintage", which works but feels awkward. I consider the G1 and G2 to be vintage. I would consider G3 in the process of becoming vintage, but not there yet. And I would definitely side-eye any seller that used the term "vintage" as a reason for jacking up prices.

[Taffeta]

I think the fluid meaning of vintage is the most interesting factor of stuff like this. There are a lot of words which appear to be moving in their interpretation and this is definitely one of them. With the internet age and online auctions and collecting I think it probably had to happen. But I think that it can be abused.

If we are considering vintage to be original then yes, it should be only G1. But then are we considering vintage to be authentic, in which case G2 and G3 are also in the frame. Providing we are assuming vintage is no longer in production. On those terms, in a world in which people replace their phones after a couple of years, something lasting 20 years is realistically 'vintage' now I guess. But then for those of us who grew up while the digital revolution was happening and remember things like dial up internet and the introduction of the CD, I guess we still have some threads of the old meaning wrapped in with the new world we're involved in. (Sigh, now I sound old.).

I'm 36 now, I don't tend to think of things I grew up with as being that old really. But I remember going to Wondermint's exhibition in Dudley and there was this little girl of about nine telling her parents with all great authority that the G3 ponies were the "old ones". I looked at the G1 ponies and realised that to this kid, those ponies were like how I view world war 2 tin soldiers or dolls made of bakalite, like those my mother had as a child in the fifties. These are the fluid ideas we're dealing with, I guess.

But I would've paid $2 for G3 Applejack if she had been a pony I wanted to acquire. I actually don't think I care if people call something vintage if the price is ok. So maybe in that vein we need to put price and label into context. If vintage means original and authentic but not still in production, I guess maybe G3 can be seen in that light. At least in this current age in which we live.

Discussion has got really interesting