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11:09 am
May 14, 2005
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I'm writing this month in my newsletter about my china. I want to hear your stories! Tell us about your china–what kind is it? Do you love it, hate it, use it? Where/when did you get it? How attached are you to it? And have you broken any of it yet? 
(If you aren't signed up for my newsletter, there's a link in the sidebar on my blog.)
11:26 am
December 28, 2008
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Noritake Canton, service for 12, no broken pieces. Seldom used. Stored carefully in quilted bags.
Dad bought this set in Japan while serving in Korea around 1952 because the pattern was like some slip covers Mom had, so he figured she liked the pattern. She did NOT like the pattern for china, thought it a bit extravagant, and left the entire set in it's original shipping crate. Except for one serving platter that was used occasionally during my childhood.
A few years ago, I ended up bringing the set home with me, carefully unpacked the set and stored the pieces. When Mom came to live with me, I got a few pieces out and discovered that there was no teapot, or coffee pot, for that matter. Replacements Ltd did not have the exact teapot either, but had one that was pretty close (close enough that you have to have the mismatch explained or you don't see it!)
Mom and I were able to have tea service from her china for our last birthday celebration together, using the almost right teapot.
11:46 am
October 17, 2008
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Mitake MTK1 pattern — lavender flowers, brown leaves, coupe
Dad bought this set in Japan, too, when he was there with the Navy in about 1960. The only piece that is broken is the gravy bowl that was broken when he shipped it back here to Grandma. When Grandma passed away (1981), she left this set to me. Mom carried it with her until I finally had a place of my own to set up the corner china cabinet also from Grandma with the china. I've had it with me for 10 years now! She had many sets of china and used each one for a different holiday. She used this one for Thanksgiving — so that's what I do. Every piece is used only on Thanksgiving day, and not a piece has broken!
I've also tried Replacements LTD to get the gravy bowl, and I get an email each month telling me they haven't received a replacement. They currently have 1 dinner plate and 1 dessert plate…..more than they had when I started my search!
11:47 am
February 8, 2009
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Oh Pete what a nice story, I have one too…but will post it tonight.
9:33 pm
February 8, 2009
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My parents engaged in 1951 and my father bought my mother a complete China.
Plates, cups, soup terrine, potato dish, vegetable, meat etc….you name it..it was there.
It was beautiful, but big..and I think my mother would have preferred the fancy fine china…and not the farmer style he gave her.
But I always loved it, the off white base..and the hand painted flowers on in.
When my parents moved to a senior place, they asked if there was something I wanted, they were talking about the furniture of course. I told them..not yet..but I would love to get your china..one day.
Well I didn't have to wait…next time I came to visit…it was waiting for me.
So that whole set..had to go in carry on..in the plane…and heavy it was.
Unfortunately 2 meat dishes were broken during the flight…but what ever is left…it is mine..I don't use it, but look at it often.
And one day I have a cabinet to show it off.
1:00 pm
April 14, 2009
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Hi Suzanne. I understand how you "feel". I am the keeper of "family photos".
I love beautiful china and wish someone had made me the keeper of the china. My grandparents were not inclined to have beautiful china. Silver is expensive and requires much care. My family was intrigued with things that were low maintenance and inexpensive. Very practical.
I had always dreamed of vintage china and decided to look on ebay. I was very surprised at the low prices of beautiful handpainted vintage china. Chevonia by Noritake was discontinued by 1948. The pattern is just plain beautiful. I decided to make it mine and started buying pieces here and there that were low priced. I saved them for special occaisions and holidays. It was important to me. I loved to set a beautiful table. No one noticed or commented. I thought it over and they sat in the china cabinet for the next five years. This year has been a very hard year for us and many other families. I decided a pretty table might bring cheer to others. I have a new job and had to work Thanksgiving evening. I baked all day on Wednesday and was up at 5am to put the turkey in the oven on Thursday. I invited family. Set the table beautifully. No one noticed.
The dishes had to be handwashed so they sat on the counter waiting for me to get the energy and have the time to wash them all and put them back in the china cabinet. I worked Thanksgiving night and was up at 5am the next day to work for Black Friday.
I think they will be staying in the china closet for many more years. Neither of my daughters seem interested in them. They are a bother. They cannot go in the dishwasher. Sad. I do understand, but it seems so sad to think they would not care if I prepared the food and put it on paper plates and served it on TV tables. I should be happy they are not interested in "material" things.
My New Years pledge this year will be to "simplify my life" and not worry about material things. Unclutter.
I love to cook and I love your recipes. 
1:27 pm
February 10, 2009
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That's a bittersweet story Cherblaze. 
I am not a huge fan of 'fine china' myself, though the whole dishwasher thing doesn't enter into it, we don't have one! I do try to use one of the plates for some bakery or something special now and then though. It's a pleasure to serve pie on it for no reason at all every now and then, or to put a pretty cake on when going someplace.
It's a risk I know, because they could wear uneavenly or get broken or lost, but I figure better to enjoy my mother's china even in small ways than to have it gather dust or sit in the dark.
2:37 pm
November 6, 2009
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I can relate to these posts.I bought a 12 place Tokyo Bone China service when a newly married husband ,stationed in Japan in 1949.It was only used for special occasions,and when I think of the effort and anguish taken to ensure its safety throughout a Service career ,being posted to a new place every three years.The packing and unpacking it entailed. Now sixty yeatrs later,only two pieces were broken last time I looked. Ive been a widower for nineteen years.Have no reason to unpack it again.no one to hand it onto and I expect it will stay in its packing case in the garage.and like a lot of items collected over a happy marriage.mean a lot to me,but little or nothing apart from curiosity to any one else. I shall enjoy them as and when,then I expect in time will be lot … in a auction.Sad but thats life.
4:46 pm
March 5, 2009
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I rarely buy myself anything but when my husband was in the service and we were newly married I did buy a 12 piece set of Noritake china. I love it. It's gold and black and I use it only on holidays and it too is kept stored. When my father-in-law passed away about 15 years ago we got their china – also pretty but not as elegant as mine – gold trim. Now that I make dinners for my grown family I take out the plainer china every sunday. Lucky for me my youngest daughter likes my china and my oldest daughter likes my fil's china. But I get to hear all the time that I keep using my one daughter's china lol. She is right because her father broke a small salad bowl and I broke a small bread plate. I also have some china (but not a complete set) that belonged to my mother-in- law. All very nice pieces (they lived in Japan for a while). I also just inherited a collection of tea cups and saucers that belonged to my husband's grandmother. I would love to display them but have nowhere to put them (sigh).
5:38 pm
February 10, 2009
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Hi~
My mother has some beautiful china. White plates, sliver trim, pink roses and gray leaves. One day I found a crate of the same pattern in a thrift shop and bought the whole crate for under $100.00. I have service for 12 and every bowl, gravy boat, teapot & service, platter you can imagine. My mother will leave hers to me someday and then I will have service for 22! I LOVE to use it but sadly, my family doesn't really seem to 'get it' so my enthusiasm is met with confusion about why I would use something that fancy for Christmas dinner! Grrrrr!!!
I also have my grandmothers cut crystal dish set which I suppose is a luncheon set as there is a spot on the plate for the punch cups! I use this for church teas occasionally but I do hold my breath lest something gets broken!
6:06 pm
June 11, 2009
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Hi I also have a 12 place setting china set, its been in my attic for 15years. We received it as a wedding gift 25 years ago and it is horrible.It has pheasants on it! My Grandmom's china was beautiful white with small flowers but my older sister got her bid in for it first 
. I still get to admire it though. If anyone likes Pheasants let me know I live in NC and would be happy to part with it.
7:37 pm
February 9, 2009
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Ahhhh, yes… the china that makes the china cupboard feel useful. Been there, doing that! Mine's Spode Buttercup ca. 1948 for 12 with about every serving dish you can imagine – used only on Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving… about 10 or more years ago, that is. For now, it's stacked neatly, awaiting a big farmhouse holiday table when we get our log home built in a couple of years. I can see it now; lovely red or green tablecloth, holly and evergreen decorations, festive ribbons and candles… a lovely feast, fit for a king, from the bounty of our farm… and me worrying to death that a dish might break from that perfectly matched set! Oh no!! Maybe it better stay in the cabinet in hopes that one of my nieces or grand nieces will fall in love with it's antique-ness one day (I have no children of my own to pass Mom's dishes on to, sadly).
Besides them smelling of Christmas candles and other wonderful smells from Mom's china cabinet (a most delightful bringer of sweet memories), I also recall them being an instrument of torture for small children. You see, like in your house Suzanne, the Spode HAD to be washed by hand. Since in our Swedish-American family, we opened presents on Christmas Eve after dinner before going to candlelight service at church, it always seemed like an eternity for them to be properly washed and dried and put away after dinner. I've only recently become the 'keeper of the china', since my Mom passed away last year. I've tried to use the 'have to wash the dishes first' routine on my step-children and their kids, but it didn't really have quite the punch needed when applied to stoneware. Maybe when I'm brave enough to let the 'kids' (they're all in their late 20's now!) handle the china – wait… maybe, then again not… I'd be sweating bullets, afraid that it might break… oh dear. what ever shall I do?! LOL! … maybe I'll just keep them in the cupboard and dream of elegant dinner parties and teas… and stick to the stoneware and Tupperware and Mason jars on the porch too!
Donna
12:52 pm
October 25, 2009
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My china is German and I bought it in the PX when we were stationed at Goose Bay Labrador. It is very pretty, white with a gold rim and large pink rosebuds…It was made by Rosenthal, and I think if I remember correctly it was called Moss Rose. We do use it because it spent too many years just sitting on a shelf. I don't exactly know the number but a few pieces have been broken. With all the moves I have made, I am surprised I have any of it left but there is enough to set a whole table as it was a set of 12.
1:33 pm
December 28, 2008
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We have some Rosenthal china as well. Also some Thomas. Both from depression era or earlier. They are just lovely. Somehow, I ended up wth a couple of dozen butter pat dishes…
2:37 pm
November 15, 2008
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I have a dishwasher and wash my dishes by hand. You're practically washing them before putting them in the dishwasher any way,and I just want to get it over with. 
2:57 pm
October 25, 2009
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I don't know if mine is actually called Moss Rose. That's what I remembered but I can't find it and the Moss Rose that shows up on all inquires is much different….
3:04 pm
December 28, 2008
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TxLady, if you are curious about the actual pattern name, you might do some research at replacements.com. There should be some number or name on the bottom to narrow your search some. If you go to replacements.com you can search by the first by the "R" then into "Rosenthall" and finally to the pattern number. It will give you a list of available pieces, and there are usually some pics of the pattern or china pieces. And you get an idea the value of your set.
4:44 pm
December 2, 2009
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What a lovely story about your mom's (or should I say Morgan's) china! I happen to be the "keeper" of my mother's china cabinet. My mother was very conservative in her dress and home decorations. Her "jewellery" was her China. Some of it was inherited from her mother and her mother-in-law and she treasured it all. She stored it in a beautiful leaded glass china cabinet that appears in almost all our family photos. When she and dad built their retirement home which was just two lots away from the old farm house, she literally followed the china cabinet (that was being carefully carried by my nephews while the rest of us were holding our breath until it arrived safely) to the new house. She never went back to the old house after that!
When mom passed away 7 years ago and dad moved into an assisted living home, their belongings were divided up amongst my 7 siblings and I. We had an antique dealer assess the value of the antiques including the beautiful cabinet. No one in our family wanted it or had room for it in their home so I was the lucky one that got to buy it. It fits perfectly into my home and my only daughter will inherit it someday! I now am able to display my collection of green depression glassware and my fine china (Royal Albert – Old Country Roses). I often use my 8 place setting for Sunday dinners and have not as yet broken any pieces.
I like you, Suzanne, never cared for fine china and my everyday set is earthen ware. It took me all of 10 minutes to pick it out a week before we got married (36 years ago) and only now is it starting to look dull and some pieces are chipped. I am slowly replacing the plates, salad plates, and mugs with handmade pottery pieces – I just love it! I have a plate rack in my kitchen cupboards which displays the pottery plates nicely and I use them every day. I love my pottery dishes more then fine china but I'm still happy to be the keeper of my mom's china cabinet! It's a beauty.
Thanks again, for you wonderful stories and pictures. I read your blog everyday and can identify with you on so many levels!
7:58 am
December 13, 2009
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My mother is leaving the china that my grandmother gave her to my sister (her youngest) even though my sister thinks that eating from paper and plastic is fine china. I remember it has some kind of blue trim. The china that was my paternal grandmother's is supposed to be given to my youngest sister who pawns everything she gets. It has a blue trim and flowers in the middle, it sits in the china cabinet that they have been in for years. This daughter who treasures those kind of items was left out.
My husband allowed me to start collecting transferware while in Germany. It has taken over the large china cabinet he bought me and I had lots of fun scouring flea markets for the pieces, I can even find it on Ebay. It may not come from a grandmother but it will have a story when I hand it down to both of my kids.
9:37 am
October 17, 2008
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Wonderful, josie! Start your own to hand down. Many generations later, there will be a story………
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