Thanks for sharing! Gorgeous! 
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You could try Facebook market place. Folks would pick it up…and that’s a plus!
My kids got me 12 full setting of Calamityware a couple of years ago as a Christmas gift. It replaced a mix and match set of red transfer ware I picked up at a flea market in Germany 20 years ago. That came from a pub that had closed. That stuff is in storage - it’s pretty much indestructible…as evidence by its survival for the 20 years of family life.
We have a 12 place setting of Lenox wedding china with a silver rim. I babied it for a number of years…convincing myself it must be hand washed. That cut down on the number of times it got used. During one visit with a German auntie I noticed the wedding china was on the table…daily. Her comment…well..the kids will just donate it or use it for “Polterabend’. A tradition where the night before the wedding people throw china at the homes of the bride and groom…it’s supposed to bring luck. So, I started using ours. And it goes in the D/W on a China/Crystal setting.
Had another German auntie who worked for Rosenthal and Thomas china companies. She had no kids and decided to gift us (my sister and I via our mom) all of her china. I have many sets of tea and coffee service. Including the coffee and tea cans. I’ll never use these. the 18 carat gold and cobalt blue set is in storage. I have been giving the other stuff to the grandkids to use for tea parties. They have done a good job of dispatching one set…and I’m about ready to give them the next one.
One trip down the Goodwill aisle shows me where most of this stuff winds up. So might as well use it.
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I hope all y’all are happy.
I now want to go out and buy some china!! 
Which brings me to my question: If you were deciding on a china pattern today, would you choose what you have or something different? What would you choose today?
And realizing that some didn’t choose for themselves - you simply inherited someone else’s choice - what would you have chosen for yourself?
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You sent me down a rabbit hole this morning ; )
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@Hoggirl -good question. If I had to do this over I would not have chosen any china. But if I HAD to, I would have chosen a very simple design, white plates with a silver rim.
My mother had a set of very pretty china when we were growing up. She said it had been her mother’s. It was used on major holidays, but I never saw it after my parents moved to a different house when my siblings and I were grown. No idea what happened to it.
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Beautiful! They are quite proud of it!
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I did not choose to have china and have no regrets. However what I could see myself doing is just picking up some basics - small and dinner plates, bowls - but no more than 2 the same pattern - in colors or prints or “plains” that really appeal to me. I don’t like matchy-matchy - I love having eclectic choices and making them work in a way that is not matchy but cohesive. Maybe they would be all white and blue - but different patterns. Or maybe all floral but different patterns.
This is the way I decorate.
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I grew up with Johnson Brothers Covered Bridge and Friendly Village as our everyday ware, so I didn’t consider it “china,” just “dishes,” but my friends thought we were fancy. When it was my turn to select a pattern, I wanted something outrageously pretty that I would be proud to serve the Queen should her carriage ever break down in front of my house, thus the Old Country Roses which is still my favorite pattern. No regrets.
As much as I love the china we have, and it’s all seen hard use over the years, I understand how the world of elegant entertaining has changed and why the generations after us have moved to the more practical. Our son and his wife wanted our creamy, plain Wedgewood and use it as their everyday ware, but I’m sure my OCR and Lenox will end up at @dietz199’s Goodwill store.
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Can we talk about silver? I have my parents and grandmothers … and never use it. Would love to find a reputable reseller!
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Normally with the holiday tablecloth I use white corelle plates or my mother’s simple china (subtle silver floral). But tonight for just the two of us I decided to use plates from the small set my husband and I purchased long ago for our “parent dinners” after kids asleep.
Silverware is from my employer quarter century gift choice. (My mother’s silver now is with my son and his wife - love that when I gave them the choice they wanted “what we used with grandma”)
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Try Replacements.com. They buy all sorts of things. They probably won’t give you the price you’d like, but they do buy it and make it easy for you. (You have to pay the shipping to them, however.)
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I did inquire about this several years ago. You have to pay shipping, then they xray and check out your pieces and any pieces they don’t buy you pay for return shipping. I decided it wasn’t worth it.
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Exactly…the costs of shipping are onerous for replacements if you want to sell them your old china. In addition, ignore the prices on their website…they only pay you pennies on the dollar.
Replacements is a fine enough place to get…replacements, if you happen to need a replacement. But paying round trip shipping to sell? No thanks.
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I kind of wonder why anyone would agree to that - better to donate them to Goodwill. Even the Lego people, IIRC, don’t make you pay for all that shipping.
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When I got married in 1987 we picked Wedgewood Amherst as our pattern, and I still have 10-12 place settings of that. I do like it, and think it’s pretty simple, but the platinum rim makes me not put it in the dishwasher.
BUT, maybe 10 years ago a friend of mine’s daughter picked Denby Azure Coast as her “nice dishes” (they didn’t want china), and I loved it so much I wound up buying her a couple of places settings, and us 12. I still love it, and it fits with our lifestyle more than the china. I find myself using it just as much as the china when I set a “fancy table” https://www.denbypottery.com/en-us/collections/azure-coast?srsltid=AfmBOooZEiWgtNOkSj0R2sdKNomdR9ixvs6iV7PmqwXjRnk4cAzRZDEK
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I still love both my china patterns. Sometimes we get flowers to match the ones in the Gorham Manhattan. Still training husband to place the Mikasa Serenity properly so the bamboo points up.
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My mother was adamant that I had to register for both china and crystal when I got married, that my relatives would want to give it to me and I would want to have it. Well, I’ve been married for 23 years, have a full set of both, and the only time either have been used was when I was staging my town house to sell it.
While my larger family does get together for big gatherings, they are never at my house, but my sister’s or my mother’s. I don’t have the table space for everyone, so I don’t host. Which means there is no real reason to break out the fancy stuff. And husband and I don’t use it, because with the platinum rim, it can’t go in the microwave, and I guess we heat things up in the microwave a lot?
My mom has four sets of china - her own wedding china, a Lenox Christmas pattern, and two other sets that are, I think, from a grandmother and a great aunt. My sister and I will each be getting two. So then I’ll have three sets of china, and nothing to do with it.
We have - Lenox Federal Platinum and it’s lovely and simple and could totally be used. I just… don’t.
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People, don’t be afraid to say “no” to China sets you don’t want! Or offer to take a serving piece you might use and offer the rest up to another family member or friend. If it’s not your thing, don’t let it become the thing that you peek at once a decade and wish it wasn’t taking room in your home!
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