Modern antique

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Modern antique (an apparent oxymoron) can have various meanings. Since customs laws and dealers often stipulate an age of at least a hundred years for any item to be legitimately called an antique, the term is sometimes used to describe a collector's item that is technologically obsolete; for example, an older computer or retro toy.

An oxymoron is a rhetorical device that uses an ostensible self-contradiction to illustrate a rhetorical point or to reveal a paradox. A more general meaning of "contradiction in terms" is recorded by the OED for 1902..

Collectable object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector

A collectable is any object regarded as being of value or interest to a collector. There are numerous types of collectables and terms to denote those types. An antique is a collectable that is old. A curio is a small, usually fascinating or unusual item sought by collectors. A manufactured collectable is an item made specifically for people to collect.

This term is also used to describe new objects designed to appear much older than they are, as with reproductions of old devices and furniture with a distressed (lightly damaged or artificially worn) finish.

More rarely, modern antique may refer to an item from the modern era which is also old enough to qualify for the simple description antique.

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