When my parents passed away, I contacted a company and had an estate sale at their home. They had several sets of china, I put my great aunt’s set I inherited with the sale. All were full sets in perfect condition, no one wanted them.
Could you (and other family members, if they are interested) hang one plate on the wall as decor. It could be a single hanging or in a group of other things you like.
The China could be a pleasant reminder of the past on a regular basis, rather than stay in a never opened box.
Then donate the rest.
Well…if you need hangers to display decorative plates, hit up a thrift shop. Very often the decorative plates come with the wall hanging things.
From my mother’s 12 sets of dishes…we kept one set. Plain white Royal Doulton porcelain dinnerware that we use for our everyday dishes.
In terms of decorative, I have one very small teacup and saucer…occupied Japan… that I remember my mom displaying someplace when I was a child. It’s on a bookshelf in my family room.
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My mother has two sets of china; one was quite expensive when purchased as it has gold edges. I have no interest in it as I have my own which I never use. We are just more casual and the holiday I host is Thanksgiving with 30 people; I never had enough china, so quit using it! The good china of mom’s is in my storage unit as both mom and my husband and I had downsized in the last 6 years. I actually don’t even like my china any more.
Neither of my kids want the china, but my DIL wanted mom’s old set. It is very plain white, with a bit of silver. She will never use the 16 cups and saucers, but might use the plates and bowls. My daughter did take mom’s crystal bar/wine glasses, but only wanted 6; there is 16 of everything from brandy sniffer, water glasses, ice tea, and every size wine and bar ware you would ever need! The rest is in my storage unit also.
As my aunt host the Jewish holidays, she has mom’s two sets of silver; at some point, my daughter or DIL may want some of it. Or, they could take my silver as it is more modern and they might like it better.
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I went to a fund raiser at my mother’s church, put on by the ladies’ auxiliary. It was a showing of wedding dresses through the years, and really really fun. They had the youth group modeling the dresses, and many of them were just tiny. Several had unique stories, like the Irish immigrant who sewed her dress herself from silk, or one family where 3 generations got married the same day, Dec 27, so winter dresses. There were cowboy style, huge hoop skirts, buttons all down the back.
Anyway, it was presented as a tea party and the Ladies brought their china tea sets or tea cups from their china sets. It was beautiful and they all proudly told us which sets were theirs.
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I wish I had inherited china. I collect it, and we use it. In our old house, I incorporated plates and bowls into our decor. Last summer, I gave our son’s favorite set (Wedgwood Edme) to him when he moved out, and he uses it as his everyday service. He’s a sentimental kid* and says he doesn’t want us to get rid of ANYthing, so he can decide what to keep and toss after we’re gone.
(*He’s also a weird kid. When we replaced the kitchen sink in our previous house, he saw the old sink in the garage and wailed, “What are you doing? That’s the sink of my youth–you can’t get rid of that!” The sink of his youth? He was about ten at the time. Sheesh.)
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+1 for spelling Wedgwood correctly. 
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My husband and I bought our Wedgwood china when we got married. I’m hoping my kids will want it, but now I’m feeling a little bummed that we just went with super plain with platinum trim. It’s not going to look cool on anyone’s wall, haha.
Here is a fun idea too. My daughter has had this since she was about 7 years old. It isn’t a family heirloom, but still cute.
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Thanks for the mention of Replacements.com. I just perused the site and found replacements pieces for my everyday dishes. No one will ever consider them a family heirloom, but I’m happy to have matching pieces once again.
There is a charity in our area that helps women and children affected by domestic violence. They have a shelter and are always taking stuff like dishes and other housewares. You could see if there is any charity like that near you…
This is my Wedgwood which is called Runnymede. I still really like the pattern and have bought additional plates on Replacements since it is not made any longer.
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I had a friend who recently cleaned out her mom’s place and of course her mom was an avid Hummel collector. No one in the family wanted them…so they hired a company who appraises everything and they held an estate sale and auction. Someone bought the hummels!
When my FIL passed away, my niece took his everyday dishes. They were basic plain white and still in good shape. She was just moving into her first apartment and didn’t have much in the way of kitchen stuff…so she was glad to get these dishes…
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When my mom died, I first offered anything to family, but they all lived so far away, most items would not justify shipping. China (and other items), primarily went to the sons & daughters of friends who were setting up their first household after college. They seemed delighted.
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I use my wedding china every week. The old stuff from parents, aunts, etc. went to any potential “heir” with a dry basement, and as the kids grew up, moved out, settled down, were always offered whatever they wanted (magnificent table linens, china, other household stuff). One cousin who never married got a gorgeous set which belonged to my mom which I know she loves since as she pointed out- “nobody tells you to register when you turn 40 so you can stop eating off mismatched Corelle”.
One of the “minimalist” grandkids who wanted nothing and would have been happy living in an empty garage ended up marrying a woman who loves “old stuff” and antiques- and so this grandson is surrounded by things from his grandparents house which he never wanted (but I think is secretly happy about!)
I know my friends have struggled with matching cut crystal sets. NOBODY wants Waterford glasses, high balls, shot glasses, etc. for 18-- storing those is really a pain. And those enormous punch bowls with the 18 or 24 cut crystal cups?
The table linens are hard to part with. My grandmothers knew how to iron those Irish linen cloths so beautifully-- you just can’t give a linen cloth to anyone under 50 because they want polyester which goes in the dryer. But the embroidery on those old cloths is something special…
Sorry for your loss- it’s hard to give away things you know meant something to people you care about.
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Anyone want Orrefors crystal. 12 water glasses. 12 wine glasses that are teeny. They are boxed up in our basement and I never liked them. I should try to sell them on eBay.
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I love some of the Orrefors bowls and vases. Although against my generally minimalist philosophy, I have a couple. And their bar glasses as nice as well.
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I still love my wedding china but only use it a few times a year. I don’t put it in the dishwasher so more of a pain to use. I still have my mom’s old set which we use somewhat more often and put in the dishwasher. It was not an expensive set, but is pretty and think one of the kid’s may want it for everyday at some point.
My Lenox china is still priced high on replacements or ebay. I have been wanting to get soup bowls for many years, but at $95 each not worth it. And they never had them at the factory store.
I also have Spode Christmas china. I don’t think anyone will want that! Excpet maybe for the mugs and dessert sized plates.
The crystal wine glasses are not well used, although the bar glasses are!
@thumper1 My crystal is Orrefors Prelude. I just ordered a champagne flute to replace one that we broke. I still love my crystal too and use it often.
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I wanted my MILs Spode Christmas. She gave it to another sister in law😡
My Orrefors is Rhapsody. It’s the Danish modern look…not cut glass. I didn’t choose it. My MIL (who gave the Spode to someone else) chose it. We had specifically said we didn’t want crystal for a wedding gift. If I had known we were going to get it anyway, I would have chosen a cut crystal. Oh well. Some of them still have the little stickers on them…never used.
