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Should I try to sell my fine china?

post #1 of 36
9/21/08 at 11:16pm
Thread Starter 
I have 8 place settings of china that I received as wedding gifts. I have been married for 6 years. The boxes have never been opened. The first 4 years we were married, we moved so frequently due to DH being in the military, that I kept the china at my mom's house in her basement so they wouldn't get destroyed. I have had them now in my own basement for 2 years without ever having an intention of using them. I looked them up and it is now selling for $160 per place setting. I keep thinking I should try to sell them but at the same time keep thinking, what if I really want to use them down the road?? Or what if I want to pass it on to one of my kids. But, then I think, if my mom passed china on to me, I still would probably never use it. I don't know. I have such conflicting thoughts about selling it.
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post #2 of 36
9/21/08 at 11:19pm
I would sell them and get something your family would really use.
post #3 of 36
9/22/08 at 12:05am
I recently went through this. My grandmother gifted us a large (around 100 pieces) of fine china for our wedding. That was 8yrs ago. I got some out about 3 yrs ago and used it on Christmas day but haven't since. My mum suggested I sell it if I wanted to. So I went through it, picked out several pieces to keep (gravy boat, large platter, milk jug and serving dish) and sold the rest to a local antique dealer. I would have got twice as much selling it online but couldn't face the wrapping, posting and risk of doing that. It would have been harder for me to let go if I hadn't of kept any, but this way I still get to enjoy my wedding present and we have recently spent the money on individual gifts for us and the kids (a special necklace pendant each).
post #4 of 36
9/22/08 at 12:06am
I would sell too.
Since you didn't mention anything in your post about who they were from, or if you had picked them out, I don't get the sense that you truly wanted them to begin with. Don't save them only to pass them on to your kids so that they can just save them too. If you won't use or display them now, then sell. Maybe use some of the money to buy some dishes you will truly use right now, so you don't feel too guilty about it.
Fine china is such a curious creature. I don't think most people really want it, yet we register for it for the wedding and we don't want to get rid of it, yet we want to pass it on to a relative, yet that relative secretly doesn't want it either. It's like the notorious fruit cake. :
post #5 of 36
9/22/08 at 9:00am
Quote:
Originally Posted by PaytonPlace View Post
I looked them up and it is now selling for $160 per place setting.
In a heartbeat.
post #6 of 36
9/22/08 at 9:37am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver's Mama View Post
I would sell too.
Since you didn't mention anything in your post about who they were from, or if you had picked them out, I don't get the sense that you truly wanted them to begin with. Don't save them only to pass them on to your kids so that they can just save them too. If you won't use or display them now, then sell. Maybe use some of the money to buy some dishes you will truly use right now, so you don't feel too guilty about it.
Fine china is such a curious creature. I don't think most people really want it, yet we register for it for the wedding and we don't want to get rid of it, yet we want to pass it on to a relative, yet that relative secretly doesn't want it either. It's like the notorious fruit cake. :
So true. LOL I did register for them. The biggest reasons I don't use them is 1) the idea of handwashing & drying 8 place settings and needing to carefully put them up is haunting 2) I have a 2 year old 3) to me, the whole idea of fine china seems really show-boaty, like "look at all this nice stuff I have" which is almost the exact opposite of my personality (totally not saying people that use china have that attitude, I just feel that way when I think about using it) 4) I don't have any place to display them (which I really wouldn't want to display anyway) or a place to store them besides their original boxes. But yet again, I still think what if in 10 years when my kids are older, I want to use them for special holiday meals or birthdays or anniversaries. And then I think, how silly to use special dishes just to eat food on??? LOL My brain is a trap!!!
post #7 of 36
9/22/08 at 9:46am
I use my china twice a year. I personally would never get rid of it. I love being able to pull out nice dishes. It makes the dinner feel special. My china is never displayed because the room just doesn't exist.
post #8 of 36
9/22/08 at 4:21pm
I'm in the same situation and planning to sell the china. It just takes up space and we have used it maybe 3 times in 7 years of marriage. We're just not fancy place settings kind of people. I have nice, plain white dishes that I use all the time and I can dress the table up for holidays, so the china just sits.
post #9 of 36
9/22/08 at 6:09pm
:
I didn't mention in my post that I am the guilty owner of fine china. The stuff I registered for is every-day stuff from crate n barrel, but my grandma insisted i take her fine china ("It's BONE china, dear.. the good stuff!"). She's still alive and well, so I'd feel too guilty getting rid of it. I have two small "floating shelves" in the dining area, and stood up a plate with a teacup in front of it on each shelf, and even though it's totally not my taste, it makes an interesting statement.
As for special days like birthdays and anniversaries, I bought one of those famed "red plates" that says today is your special day. Much easier to whip out one plate instead of 8 settings when celebration calls.
post #10 of 36
9/22/08 at 7:00pm
I would sell it, maybe keeping one representative piece (Did it come with any serving pieces? Sugar and creamer, maybe?) as a souvenir.

If you become a party-giving, fine-china-using kind of person in the future, you can buy new china. If your kids want china, well, they can buy new china. Yes, the day may come when one of your kids says, "Mo-oooom! You _sold_ your _china_?" They'll live.

Crayfish
post #11 of 36
9/22/08 at 7:06pm
I agree, if you're not using it or displaying it, go ahead and sell it. This is exactly why we registered for everyday dishes that could be dressed up with a fancy table setting. Go ahead and buy something that your famly can use!

Take care,
El
post #12 of 36
9/25/08 at 11:11pm
I inherited my Grandmother's china and kept it in a box for a year. Then I decided that I was going to put it in my cabinent and use it. And I am so glad that I did! I use it at least 4 nights a week now, sometimes more. So I say either use it or sell it. I wouldn't keep it if you aren't getting use out of it.
post #13 of 36
9/25/08 at 11:47pm
If you really like it, and can honestly see yourself using it regularly when your kids are older, keep it. If it would never get used even then... sell it! You can buy some really nice serving dishs or something with some of the money, so the spirit will be there.
I have some china from my grandmother and if it was worth anything I'd sell it, but it's not worth much so i'm hanging onto it hoping we will use it some day.
post #14 of 36
9/26/08 at 4:11am
I would sell it. I kinda regret registering for china in the first place, though I do think our set is beautiful. But it is used so rarely, it seems silly to have it. To make occasions special, you can always use candles, fresh flowers, fancy napkins, etc.
post #15 of 36
9/26/08 at 4:41am
I think if you are not using and it is still in the box unopened, you should sell it.
I have 12 piece place setting with all the extras that our wedding party got for us. Before we had kids we used it so much, but now we only use it maybe once a year. I don't know if I could get rid of it just yet. I hope to be clutter free and have a social life again where I would use it...right now it sits, collecting dust, in our china cabinet in our unused dining room. {{{sigh}}} Now, the really really hard part is that I don't really looooove it like I did when we picked it. My tastes have definitely changed in the past 10 years.
post #16 of 36
9/27/08 at 1:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oliver's Mama View Post
As for special days like birthdays and anniversaries, I bought one of those famed "red plates" that says today is your special day. Much easier to whip out one plate instead of 8 settings when celebration calls.
I grew up with that red plate! We loved that plate as kids. Now I want to go find one for my house...

As for the china, I would probably sell it if I were you. I personally love china, but if you aren't ever going to use it, it's just going to collect dust. I can't wait until my mom passes her china down to us, but I have memories of it because she uses it. If she never used it I probably wouldn't care too much about it. Just something to think about...
post #17 of 36
9/27/08 at 2:20am
The fine china we have does require some planning for me to use, but we do make a point to get it out. We host holiday meals here once a year and use the dishes to make special days seem more special- anniversaries, birthdays, etc.
post #18 of 36
9/28/08 at 11:40pm
I would sell it, especially at $160 per place setting.

We use ours, but my in-laws are talking about closing up their house and downsizing, so we're probably getting my MIL's antique china from her great-aunt. There's twelve place settings of it, plus serving dishes, and it's over 100 years old. I don't know if we need that many sets of 'good' dishes, much less have room to store all it, so we'd probably sell ours if it comes to that.
post #19 of 36
9/29/08 at 12:46am
I just sold off my china and silverware to replacements.com. granted I probably didn't get what it's "worth" but it's off my hands and out of the house--
Incidentally, one of the reasons I kept it so long was that it started as my grandmother's china, and silver my mom got for me with betty crocker coupons. Truth is I didn't really like either one, and when it dawned on me that my grandmother gave me the china in a box from the attic, she probably didn't use it either!
I end up having this internal struggle between the cultural piece, i.e., "good people have china and tablecloths and good silver and they bring it out for the good people when there is a good gathering" --that whole "for special" kind of thing--and my true hippie nature of seeing that as wasteful. But the honest truth is this: if someone is coming to my home for food and fun, and they're thinking, huh, this chick has no good stuff, then truthfully they're not my kind of people anyway-
post #20 of 36
9/29/08 at 1:56am
sell it: