@compmom : Tell us about your great grandmother’s tea set! I love stuff like that.
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Oh gee not selling on CC!!
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Why put it in the dw with “no stainless”?
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The shape of those tea cups is gorgeous! 
I think there are more and less formal tea sets in OCR pattern. Over the years, tea cup shapes change in that pattern, I have the Malvern tea cup shape primarily.
I love tea cups/saucers so when I find a pretty one, I might buy one or two sets and mix that into the rotation. I don’t want to admit how many tea cup/saucers I had at one point…I’ve been trying to thoughtfully declutter them (mostly giving them away to friends when they are admired while we are having tea).
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For the teacup fans: I saw this Christmas tree at a fancy restaurant last year and thought it would be great to recreate some day!
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I do use my China for special occasions. It’s actually from my parents’ marriage (they divorced and my mom gave it to me when I got married), and I absolutely love it. It’s very simple and elegant, and I’d love it even if its origins weren’t sentimental.
Every Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, or dinner party we host, I set a beautiful table with my inherited China and my also simple and elegant wedding crystal.
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How many of you are also googling all these patterns? I feel like it is 1981 and I’m back in the china department at Jordan Marsh in Boston. This is such a fun thread.
As for me - I have a full set of Royal Doulton Kingswood with many serving pieces and accessories. I still love the pattern but haven’t used it since the last century. It is all tucked away in the dining room with my sterling silver and Waterford crystal. It all seems so old ladyish. You all are motivating me to start using it because after all, I am now an old lady.
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I use my 1987 wedding present Royal Doulton china (can’t remember the pattern name) on Thanksgiving, Christmas and a few other times when I feel like making it an occasion. Same with the silver. Hand wash and put it away right afterward. I’m 99% sure none of my sons wants it so I should start using it a lot more often.
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I was ALSO in Jordan Marsh in 1981 picking out my Royal Doulton! And I remember a nice salesperson telling me I didn’t need a large platter right away (we were moving into a small apartment) and that “Royal Doulton never discontinues their patterns, you can buy it in a few years when you have more space and money” and of course, by the time we had space my pattern was gone.
Thank goodness for Ebay which has allowed me to fill in!
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My RD was discontinued in 2008
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Mine was discontinued in 1994. I do have a large platter though! 
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My good china from 40 year ago wedding is Gorham Manhattan with a 24K gold band. I have no idea how long ago it was discontinued. I still love the design; we have service for eight plus serving pieces and more. I occasionally get it out for Seders for the two of us; used it much more often back in Illinois when we’d periodically host the family. I might consider using it more often but it’s stored in china keepers and is a little bit of a pain to get out.
We also got everyday china - Mikasa Serenity - which I use more often for various occasions and as a backup to our everyday blue stoneware. Also service for eight with serving pieces.
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Because when you put stainless in the DW with silverplate or sterling, the silver will get pitted. If you put your silver in the dishwasher, it should be the only utensil IN the dishwashing cycle at the time.
I do handwash my knives because they have stainless blades.
@momofboiler1 is it OK if we talk about using crystal stemware also?
This should make you all chuckle. My mother had a ton of silverplated serving pieces. When I finally decided I never was going to use them and wanted to get rid of them, I did not want to take them to my charity thrift store because no one buys them. So I boxed up all the casseroles, pie plate holders, etc, and suggested my husband take them to the resale store at our landfill…which he did. Well…he tried to do. As he was walking in, the woman who runs the resale store politely pointed outdoors and said “metal recycling is where that goes”. They wouldn’t even take it at the dump resale store!
When we got married, my MIL asked me if we wanted crystal stemware or china. We told her we didn’t want either…so she got the stem ware. We have 12 water glasses and 12 wine glasses…Orrefors…a Danish modern pattern that I have never liked. Most of it has never been used.
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Yep, crystal is fine for discussion too!
I still have my wedding crystal - Red wine, white wine and champagne flutes. I love them but H thinks the red wine glasses are too small and not the right shape. We fight about the glassware every time we formally entertain. I’m gearing up the battle for our early xmas on Sunday ; )
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We have DH’s great-grandmother’s china – plain with a gold band. Every conceivable additional piece, plus 16 place settings. 90% of it stays in the storage box, but we do use the plates and the tureen on special occasions. She didn’t leave much to family, and he loves the connection to her but holy cow it takes up a ton of space.
I inherited a silver set from my great-great-grandfather’s first wife. It’s in a specially made box and all that; we never ever use it. My own mom had a silver set which we all have studiously avoided wanting, and she eventually just gave it away to somebody who likely melted it down. She never used it either, but her mother thought all proper girls had a silver set.
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Our Orrefors wine glasses, also vintage 1981, are the teeny size ones. The water goblets are actually the size of current wine glasses, but DH tells me they are the wrong shape.
We have Reidel wine glasses, and actually prefer the stemless ones.
No one will ever use our Orrefors. They are in padded boxes in our basement storage room. I want to sell them on eBay, but DH says we can’t sell them u til his mother dies. Why? I don’t know!
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This thread is inspiring me to move my parents silver out of its chest and into the china cabinet. The chest is heavy and it’s a PIA to get to. I have everything else readily accessible except the silver. I have my silver plated wedding silver but my parents’ was sterling and much nicer. I need to start using it!
I have a project for tomorrow!
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Post a photo of great great grandad’s silver and I bet someone will take it off your hands, courtesy of PayPal!
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wait, why? Other than the weight, that is
You never use it? Want the cash?