LTV and antiques

[Hammer_Sickle_Revolution]

One point I sometimes get is this:

"How does the Labour Theory of Value explain how antiques gain value with age? Locking it up in a storeroom requires no labour."

How would I go about answering this?

[mykittyhasaboner]

One point I sometimes get is this:

"How does the Labour Theory of Value explain how antiques gain value with age? Locking it up in a storeroom requires no labour."

How would I go about answering this?
You wouldn't because it's kind of a stupid question in my opinion. The value of antiques has nothing to do with the value of labor, production, distribution, commodities, or anything that actually matters in economics. If you really wanted to explain this, then I guess you could factor in that while locking something up in a storage room "requires no labor," that the production of the actual antique is what gives it it's value, not the fact that it has been locked away for decades. An antique sales person might sell the product according to it's condition, or for however much someone offers for a given product. Most antiques are sold at auctions anyways and don't have a real set value.

[Hammer_Sickle_Revolution]

You wouldn't because it's kind of a stupid question in my opinion. The value of antiques has nothing to do with the value of labor, production, distribution, commodities, or anything that actually matters in economics. If you really wanted to explain this, then I guess you could factor in that while locking something up in a storage room "requires no labor," that the production of the actual antique is what gives it it's value, not the fact that it has been locked away for decades. An antique sales person might sell the product according to it's condition, or for however much someone offers for a given product. Most antiques are sold at auctions anyways and don't have a real set value.

So could it be said that other than the purpose it was created for, the antique has no use value? A tea pot and an antique tea pot have the same use value?

[mykittyhasaboner]

So could it be said that other than the purpose it was created for, the antique has no use value? A tea pot and an antique tea pot have the same use value?

Well essentially yes they do have the same use-value. The only difference is one is much older, and may be sentimentally worth more to someone; but as far as economic value or use-value, they are the same. Other than the intent of an antique tea pot to hold tea, there's not much else except for it's age, condition, and what it might be worth to someone, to distinguish it from any regular tea pot's use value that you could buy from a store today. Again, this is why all this stuff as sold at auctions, instead of at a fixed price according to market value; since most antiques are bought and sold between collectors and other individuals, rather than enterprises or manufacturers.

[scarletghoul]

Antiques are bought as individual objects, not as commodities

[ZeroNowhere]

Antiques are generally not commodities, yeah.

[Nwoye]

Insofar as a commodity (in the marxist use of the word) is any product of human labor offered for general sale on a market, how is an antique not a commodity?

[spiney norman]

In volume 1 of Capital Marx points out that works of art (ie. things that could only have been created by that particular artist) do not take their value from the social labour needed to create them, only items that could have been made by anyone with the relevant training are subject to the labour theory of value. Since the work of art could only be created by one specific artist their values are entirely subjective.
I would say that, since it is not possible to produce a "new" antique the same principle would apply to their value. (Having said that I have only read capital once - I am not an expert.)

[Psy]

One point I sometimes get is this:

"How does the Labour Theory of Value explain how antiques gain value with age? Locking it up in a storeroom requires no labour."

How would I go about answering this?

You wouldn't use LTV to explain antiques as supply and demand becomes more influential in this case due to the lack of production when it comes to antiques. Antiques gain value through scarcity and the demand of collectors to own them.