| With cars and guitars we tend to think it terms of 25-30 years old. Mid-70s cars are certainly considered "collectible" and I hear "vintage".
I think it has nothing to do with whether it's still in production. Some could argue that Bach Strads are still much the same over the years. I'd say that the moves through different manufacturing facilities and different managements change the character of the horns. Selmer Paris has not moved in well over '50 years, yet you can see the character of their trumpets move away from their heritage and then move back closer to it as family members in management changed.
So, a nice arbitrary, moving date is the best way, in my estimation. For me, 30-years seems like a good demarcation point.
If you make "vintage" and "collectible" equivalent, then I'd say that the point would be when the market value starts rising. For instance, a mint Bach starts around $1800 these days and (forgetting inflation) will drop to around $900. At some point, it's likely to start growing in value again. If that's two years from now (say Bachs all start coming from China) then it's not "vintage" but it's "collectible".
In contrast, a Simba trumpet available for $160 today, will be worth, say $25 a year from now and may never increase in value again. Still, if in 2086 the Simba is still worth only $25, then those of us still alive would not likely complain if the seller called it "vintage."
Dave |