Nova | Antique (Minimal Wear)

The Nova | Antique (Minimal Wear) is a Classified shotgun skin built to look like a lacquered antique firearm, blending a wood-stock body with gold inlay along the receiver. Minimal Wear keeps nearly all of that heirloom shine while landing below Factory New on price.

Design

The look is pure display-cabinet firearm: a faux wood stock created with hydrographics, edged by dry-transfer gold inlay for a brown-and-brass finish that reads more like a collector's relic than a combat shotgun. Ancient designed it as a community submission, and it carries the fitting line "With age comes wisdom and stopping power."

Nova | Antique (Minimal Wear) Float and Wear

Within the finish's 0.00–0.30 float span, Minimal Wear occupies the second rung. Expect only faint wear on the sharpest edges; the wood grain still reads warm and the gold inlay holds its glow across the body. For most buyers it's close enough to the top grade that the difference is hard to spot in-game.

Nova | Antique Rarity

Rarity: Classified. That's the pink grade — one step beneath Covert and the second-highest of the standard weapon tiers, which makes it a genuinely uncommon case pull.

Nova | Antique Case and Collection

Part of The Phoenix Collection, the Antique comes out of the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case that arrived alongside Operation Phoenix in February 2014. Across the case the Classified tier unboxes at roughly 3.2% (a figure shared among the tier's skins), and since that case has left the active drop pool, supply is capped — the market is where nearly all copies surface today.

Nova | Antique Patterns

The Antique carries no random pattern variation: the wood-and-gold artwork sits identically on each copy, meaning there's nothing like a paint seed or "blue gem" to seek out. Wear and float are the only variables that set copies apart.

StatTrak & Souvenir

You can also find a StatTrak edition of this shotgun, which tacks on a confirmed-kill counter; it drops more rarely and costs more, and the counter is permanent — it never gets wiped through trades or sales. No Souvenir version was ever made, since Souvenir weapons are produced solely from Major-tournament packages and the Phoenix Collection has never been a Major drop.

Nova | Antique Price

Minimal Wear slots just under Factory New on the price ladder while looking almost identical, which makes it the value-minded route to the heirloom design. It stays a premium finish for the Nova without reaching the top-grade cost. Available to buy on Skin.Land with instant delivery and no hidden fees.

FAQ

How much wear shows at Minimal Wear?

Very little. A few faint marks may appear on the most exposed edges, but the wood grain stays warm and the gold inlay keeps its shine. At a normal viewing distance in-game, a Minimal Wear copy is tough to tell apart from Factory New, which is a big part of its appeal.

Is Minimal Wear the smart buy over Factory New?

For most players, yes. It costs less than Factory New but preserves nearly the whole heirloom look, brass detailing included. Choose Factory New only if you specifically want the highest grade on the shelf; otherwise Minimal Wear gives you the design for a friendlier price.

Can this Nova come with StatTrak?

Yes. A StatTrak version exists as a rarer, more expensive drop and adds a confirmed-kill tracker to the weapon. The count is permanent and never gets wiped when the skin is traded or sold. If you like tracking your frags, that's the variant to look for on the market.