Young Blonde Girl Shows Off On The Antique Couch

2. "Any piece of furniture or decorative object or the like produced in a former period and valuable because of its beauty or rarity."
In the United States, the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act defined an antique as "works of art (except rugs and carpets made after the year 1700), collections in illustration of the progress of the arts, works in bronze, marble, terra cotta, parian, pottery or porcelain, artistic antiquities and objects of ornamental character or educational value which shall have been produced prior to the year 1830." 1830 was roughly the beginning of mass production in the US and 100 years older than 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
These definitions allow people to make a distinction between genuine antique pieces, vintage items, and collectible objects.
The alternative term antiquities commonly refers to the remains of ancient art and everyday items from antiquity, which themselves are often archaeological artifacts.