Words and Phrases - "antique"

The taxpayer purchased violins and violin bows, which had been fabricated between 1705 and 1844, for purchase prices aggregating $1.4 million. It also purchased (for $0.56 million) the "Sartory bow" in 2002, whose fabrication date was unknown other than that it had been anonymously estimated to be "about 1900." The taxpayer leased these items to a subsidiary, which provided them to performing musicians for promotional purposes. The taxpayer's capital cost allowance claims were denied on the basis that each instrument, although not "antique furniture," was "any other antique object, produced more than 100 years before [acquisition]."

The taxpayer unsuccessfully argued that Reg. 1102(1)(e)(iv) referred "to decorative objects and not objects that are used, as is the case with the musical instruments in question" (para. 25). Jorré J found (at para. 19) that "antique" merely referred to the "non-recent past" and that "the context of the provision does not suggest a limitation other than objects that are more than 100 years old" (para. 33); and noted (at para. 37) that, unlike the Budget papers, "antique object" rather than an "antique" was referred to.

The appeal was dismissed except with respect to the Sartory bow, which the Minister had not established to have been over 100 years old. Its tendency to appreciate over time was irrelevant (para. 24).