Reference desk
A plainspoken U.S. data sheet for collectors, writers, and anyone curious about the life of an object after its first home.
Last updated October 7, 2026. Each figure links to its original source and reporting date.
Read the fine print
There is no single federal count for every antique, vintage, and secondhand sale. So this page keeps its scope tight: official U.S. measures for used-merchandise retail, furnishings, and glass. They are useful context for the objects collectors keep in circulation, not a price guide or a shortcut to provenance.
If you are researching a particular piece, start with its maker, material, condition, and documented history. Our vintage glassware identification guide can help you read the clues before you name the object.
The figures
The latest monthly reading reported $2.327 billion in sales. The federal series covers used merchandise stores, a category that includes antiques and secondhand goods, but it does not measure every online marketplace or private sale.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau monthly retail data, via the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, July 2026 ↗EPA counts items after primary use and reuse by secondary owners. This figure includes sofas, tables, chairs, mattresses, and other furnishings, which puts keeping usable pieces in circulation in useful context.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Durable Goods: Product-Specific Data, 2018 ↗EPA reported that 80.1% of this product sector was landfilled, while 19.5% was combusted with energy recovery. These are material-management figures, not a quality measure for any individual vintage piece.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Durable Goods: Product-Specific Data, 2018 ↗The EPA’s durable-goods glass category includes glass in appliances, furniture, consumer electronics, and other long-life goods. It is broader than collectible glassware, but it is a useful measure of the material context around keeping durable objects in use.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures, 2018 ↗EPA reported 720,000 tons recycled from 1.81 million tons generated. Bottles are not the same thing as vintage stemware or serving pieces, but the data is a useful reminder that glass has its own reuse and recovery story.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures, 2018 ↗EPA recorded 3.06 million tons recycled from 12.25 million tons of total glass generated. The figure combines durable goods and containers, so it should not be read as a measure of antique or vintage glassware alone.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures, 2018 ↗Method & sources
This reference uses primary U.S. government data where available. The monthly retail figure is published by the U.S. Census Bureau and presented by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Material figures come from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s most recent national facts-and-figures release, based on 2018 data.
Numbers are reported as their sources report them. The page distinguishes durable goods, furniture and furnishings, beverage containers, and total glass because they are not interchangeable categories. We will refresh this page when the underlying agencies release newer relevant figures.
Cite this page
CharmsAndTreasuresUS. “Vintage, Secondhand & Reuse Statistics.” Updated October 7, 2026. https://charmsandtreasuresus.com/vintage-reuse-statistics
For a specific number, link to its stable section above and include the original source named with it.