There’s an antiques/collectibles mall in Arundel that has a great selection of such things. I’m going to drive down there this coming week. Last time I was there I only barely resisted buying something for myself. 
I’ve looked on ebay, and there isn’t anything that I really like of that sort in a good price range.
Consolation, the pieces for these things will be VERY inflated at antiques stores…very. I woild check out some other types of resale stores also. We have Limoge, Haviland, and all sorts of Japanese brands at our shop…$3 for a teacup and saucer. I’m betting you will spend a LOT more than that at an antique store.
I have to say, we can’t give these away even for $3 and they often get marked down to $1.
Thumper1 - take few pics send to Consolation and charge her $10.
@thumper1, there is a big difference between the odd cup and saucer and a set of six or more in good condition. And great variations between sets. I’m very picky. But anyone who wants to send me a photo of grandma’s china, please feel free! @jym626
OP,
I wrote in one of the posts above that friends or relatives across the Pacific Ocean tend to give a more expensive present. Although I am not sure whether I am correct here, one person o seems to blog about the same. Since I am not supposed to provide a link to a blog, I include some info from that blog for your info. (The first part seems to be not directly related to gifting.)
Another point I would like to mention is that, from a typical westerner’s point of view, the parents over there could be regarded as being “overly zealous” to see (or even “make sure”) that their son/daughter would be married by a certain age. This is especially true for their daughter. If one partner believes that the other partner is still not committed to marriage within a couple (at most 3) of years, he or she may decide to pull the plug and back out of the relationship. (Actually, I heard that Indians, in both Asia and the US, are in general even more “efficient” in their courting. Two of my coworkers actually got married within a year after they had met their respective partner – and during most time in this year, they were in a long distance relationship.)
"If you’re about to meet your Chinese partner’s parents then your relationship is about to make a major leap. In general, Chinese people see this as the sign of a serious relationship, and often preparation for a marriage proposal. The parents will be judging you to see if you are a good enough person to become their in-law. It is a relatively formal occasion.
When you are at the door, address them using the terms ‘uncle’ and ‘auntie’, which is a standard term for strangers of their age in China. Don’t act too casually. Chinese tradition praises people who are prudent, modest, honest and even slightly introverted. People consider those with such characteristics trustworthy – an important attribute for parents protecting their children. So if you are visiting and want them to like you, don’t be too eager to make a big impression, and do act politely and prudently.
Gifts and meals
In China, the first meeting between potential in-laws is a formal occasion, so you should bring gifts which are expensive, thoughtful or otherwise special in some way. Popular gift choices are fresh fruits, nutritional products, tea, expensive liquor and so on.
Typically the first visit will take place in the family house. In such a case, the visitor does not need to pay. If the group is dining out, the boyfriend should be prepared to pay for the meal, to show generosity; the woman does not need to pay.
These attitudes and customs are generally the same across China, although in big cities people are less likely to cling on to traditions, and may be more open-minded, so such meetings may be somewhat easier."
Very interesting, MCAT2.
I’ve been looking on ebay. They are typically asking over $50 for anything I like at all. Most of the vintage Haviland stuff is too bland for me.
Well, after scouring all of the local antique an resale shops and spending untold hours on e-bay, I spent more hours painstakingly going through the listings of a few brands on Replacements.com–those people REALLY need an advanced search function!!-- and found some delightful Bernardaud teacups and saucers that were for some strange reason on sale for $7.99 each: 7 available, bought all of them. Free shipping. Since most of what I liked ranged from $50-150 per cup, this was a big break.
Hope she likes them!
Is it maybe possible that he is totally fine with receiving the gift, but he is worried about YOUR reaction to him accepting it, and is downplaying it for your benefit?
No, that is not possible. He is the one who brought up his issue with it.
Oh, and I just learned that she isn’t coming for Christmas after all. 
Has to visit relatives, apparently.
This reminds me of a couple of interesting stories that I heard of:
A (male) coworker was a single and said he almost dare not go home to visit his parents living in another continent. He said that if he visits, he will definitely be grilled by his parents and many other relatives on why he has not got married in his mid 30s. The pressure to take this “responsibility” in the timely manner is very high.
A (female) coworker who was just graduated from an MS program said her parents gave her a lot of pressure to find some suitable partner to marry whenever she was on call with her parents. She said to her parents that finding a suitable candidate for marriage is not as easy as finding something to buy in a store; it requires a lot of luck.
Family obligation: A daughter at 25-30 flied home for holiday. She came home at the right time to help her mother out. Her mother has a difficult MIL to deal with and this MIL would give her mother “troubles” but would never give this daughter (this MIL’s grandD) so this mother sent her daughter to fulfill the responsibility of visiting the MIL (even though it was the grand daughter who visited the grandma.) The poor daughter had to listen to her grandma’s bitter complaint about her own mother during the several hours while she was there. The funny thing is that the daughter lives almost 20 hours flight from where the grandma and the mother live and the mother lives less than an hour of drive from this grandma. (And the daughter was able to visit her country of origin for a week only during that holiday.) But the mother of this daughter appreciated what she did for her during her short stay at home. Heard that this year, the daughter could not fly home for holiday, but she needed to buy and mail gifts to many of her relatives to fulfill her role of being a good daughter, sibling, granddaughter to both sides of her parents, and likely several extended family members: uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces. It was like several weeks of shopping spree (and this daughter has not got married. If she has, the “work load” for preparing presents prior to and during holiday will likely be doubled if not tripled.)
OP, Do not imply that the family of your D’s GF would be like this because it seems her parents’s family is nothing like this.
"Her mother has a difficult MIL to deal with and this MIL would give her mother “troubles” but would never give this daughter (this MIL’s grandD) so this mother sent her daughter to fulfill the responsibility of visiting the MIL (even though it was the grand daughter who visited the grandma.) "
First off- there’s no responsibility to visit an unpleasant person. Second - if there were, and either my mother or MIL were unpleasant but I felt it was my responsibility to manage them, I would absolutely never shove that off on my daughter. That’s just wrong.
"The poor daughter had to listen to her grandma’s bitter complaint about her own mother during the several hours while she was there. "
Really? No, she doesn’t HAVE to. I had a recent conversation with my grandmother, who can be a piece of work at times, and she was accusing my mother of certain things (there’s no issue of dementia going on - she’s fully lucid). My mother has her faults, but these accusations were completely unfounded, not grounded in reality, very unfair things to say, and I told my grandmother that she was wrong to speak of my mother (her daughter) that way. So, no, mcat. There is absolutely no such thing as “HAVE TO.” It’s “CHOOSE TO.” There is no law that says that one has to sit and let elderly relatives say whatever they want and say nothing in return; it’s just a particular cultural value that one could accept or reject as they see fit.
"Heard that this year, the daughter could not fly home for holiday, but she needed to buy and mail gifts to many of her relatives to fulfill her role of being a good daughter, sibling, granddaughter to both sides of her parents, and likely several extended family members: uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces. "
Can’t all this be done online so it’s not THAT big of a deal?
Agree.
The daughter also told another story about her beloved mother: Her mother could not get along with her own DIL. The good thing is that whenever there are conflicts between this daughter’s mother and this mother’s DIL, this daughter’s brother always takes his wife’s side.
@Consolation – How did the teacups go over? Did your son’s girlfriend like them? Would love to know what pattern they were.
Seem like the main potential problem if the relationship becomes marriage is if the SO tends to spend beyond her means.
Do you mean Consolation’s son’s girlfriend? Where was it suggested that she spent beyond her means? I missed that.
OP, we have a similar sitch. Our S is dating an Asian girl and she bought him a gaming PC for Christmas! Her family is uber wealthy, however, in their case, they are NOT at all extravagant gifters (i.e. they gave him a box of chocolates for Christmas). They have him over to dine quite often and have him out to their beach house all summer, but Christmas and birthdays are just not big gift giving seasons for them. I think his gf just knew he really wanted a gaming PC, so she played Santa. Although my son must have less integrity than yours lol because he doesn’t seem to mind her extravagance
Well my son’s dating an Asian girl but she’s Asian-American and he’s more well-off than she is, lol. Dodged that bullet!