<p>Oh well, searching for the pattern I vividloy remember has been fruitless, but Tiffany did have a lot of wonderful patterns. I particularly like these:</p>
<p>They are not similar to anything I currently own…would make a nice addition! Now I have to conquer the raging china lust and get some work done! :)</p>
<p>My sister and I went to see Saving Mr. Banks a few days ago. In one scene, Mrs. Travers orders a pot of tea at the bar of her hotel. When the bartender put the tray down in front of her, my sister and I simultaneously exclaimed “Edme!” (A favorite classic Wedgewood pattern. )</p>
<p>Love V & B. I still use Amapola every day, which I bought about 30 years ago, and it’s as lovely today (except for a few chipped mugs, which are ridiculously expensive to replace, if you can find them) as it was the day I bought it. I also have French Garden, which is also an everyday pattern. My mom is giving me her Basket soon, which was her everyday for the last 20 years, as she’s 85 as is trying to pare down. Something tells me that I’m going to have a hard time trying to bring my new minimalist attitude to my china collections, as I have formal china as well, and a bunch of small pieces of this and that that I’ve collected over the years.
Just don’t tell anyone on the “bag a week” threads. ;-)</p>
<p>If anyone of our posters lives near the Ellenton Outlets near Sarasota/St. Pete area, the V&B outlet is going out of business on Feb. 22. A few years ago I went to a going out of business sale at a V&B store I was able to save 80%!</p>
<p>I consider myself both a minimalist and a collector. How is that possible? I have purged and pared down to the objects that I actually use. I have adequate storage space for all china, silver, crystal, out of sight but easy to access. And I don’t think I have anything that isn’t used in the course of a year. Collections of antique porcelain count as art/decorating. They are on display and I feel minimalist as long as the collections don’t outgrow display space. At that point, we start deaccessioning. </p>
<p>alh, one can never go overboard when decorating with china ;)</p>
<p>Ladies, I am in love with my new dishes! They do not mind going through the dishwasher and look so cheerful on my granite-top table. I splurged and got matching soup plated and bread and butter plates when Bloomies had them on sale right before the new year.</p>
<p>Oh, moonchild, those Amapola mugs are outrageous! I’ll keep my eye out for a good deal. Some people have been listing pieces as “Amapolo”.
Thanks for the V & B tip, ECmother. I called them. Prices are currently 25-50% off, but they won’t take phone orders. I’m thinking a trip to Florida sounds pretty good right about now;).</p>
<p>I went to a large “antique mall”–a building where about fifty different antique dealers had rooms/cabinets/booths/etc.–a few days ago. There were many many sets of “grandma’s china” (somewhat old-fashioned fine china, much of it floral) in immaculate condition, for far cheaper than buying new sets. Looking at the sets, I got the sense that these were “the good china”–and now no one wanted the sets. I thought about buying some of the sets and setting them free, using them, putting them in the dishwasher, mixing them with other sets to create a free-wheeling huge set of mix-and-match floral china. </p>
<p>I find the tea cups especially sad. Who uses those dainty cups and their tiny saucers any more?</p>
<p>I volunteer at a charity thrift store. We get wonderful donations, many from homes of elderly who are either moving away, or who,have died. I’m going to guess we get at least one complete set of good china every couple of weeks. These are not quick movers. Young folks want new china. Older folks already have their good dishes. A service for 8 or 12 can be had, with serving pieces, for well less than $100. </p>
<p>Same thing with older wine glasses, and those little champagne glasses that look like sherbet cups. We can’t give them away. </p>
<p>It is sad to see someone’s beautiful china sit and collect dust. </p>
<p>And much of it would not make good everyday dinner wear.</p>
<p>We just had a gorgeous blue and white service for six of Laura Ashley dinner wear…not fancy at all. It was priced at $18. After a month it was reduced to $9. After another two weeks, it was $1. Finally someone bought it.</p>
<p>toledo- There are two Amapola mugs on ebay right now, one for 103.00 and one for 75.00. But the coffee cup and saucer are 5.50 together. ?? I guess the mugs are just that much more rare. Hard to believe people actually pay those mug prices. You can find gorgeous Baccarat crystal goblets for less than that, lol. I have six mugs, but two are lightly chipped. i use those two everyday, figuring that if I break a chipped one, it won’t break my heart.</p>
<p>I can’t believe I found a whole thread of people who like to talk dishes! I’ve clicked on or googled all the patterns in this thread and they’re all wonderful.</p>
<p>I mostly use white dishes because they mix and match so well and they show off the food. My inexpensive set has many scratches and grey marks and I would love to find a pattern that won’t do that. I would be willing to pay more if I could be guaranteed it wouldn’t happen.</p>
<p>I’m sure that’s the case at most thrift stores. Yesterday, I was searching the web for more V & B, when I ran across a Goodwill store in CA. They had china pieces for sale online. Hmmmm…identifying and trying to sell china for thrift stores might be a good volunteer job. Thanks for the idea thumper.</p>
<p>Toledo I can get the marks off with Barkeepers Friend but they come right back. I don’t want to have to do my dishes with Softscrub or Bk Friend if you know what I mean.</p>
<p>I know I’m VERY late to the dish party here, but I just read jkim’s comment about gray scratches on dishes. To back up a little – I inherited my grandmother’s china set, so when H & I were married, we registered for a set of everyday stoneware (Otargiri Petite Rose, no longer made). We’ve been using the dishes for 25+ years, but it’s only been in the past 5+ years that the gray scratches showed up. Yes they come off with either Barkeeper’s Friend of Bon Ami, but they come right back. What a pain to keep scrubbing them - which I usually only do if we’re having company.</p>
<p>SO, when we recently moved into our newly built 2nd home (we tore down the original house and rebuilt), which will ultimately become our permanent, retirement home, I decided to replace the Corelle set we’d been using with plain white. I naively thought, “plain white, how hard could it be?” I’ll spare you all the research I did, and what a lengthy process it turned into. BUT, i did read that stoneware tends to get the gray scratches. Porcelain and china do not scratch like that. I ended up getting white porcelain, mixing styles from a couple different sources to get what I wanted. Love the dishes!</p>
<p>I am sorry if this is a derailing, but does anyone know about crystal? It seems to me that Waterford doesn’t feel the same way it used to. The lines don’t feel as crisp and sharp, but rather they feel rounded. Is Waterford still hand cut?</p>
Now I have to conquer the raging china lust and get some work done! :)</p>
)</p>
I don’t have any idea what I want.</p>![http://images.replacements.com/images/images5/china/M/mikasa_imperial_lapis_dinner_plate_P0000059941S0040T2.jpg[/url]](http://images.replacements.com/images/images5/china/M/mikasa_imperial_lapis_dinner_plate_P0000059941S0040T2.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
