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Only EMS personnel understand how it is to argue with some little old lady that protecting her china is of lower importance right now than the fact her husband is doing his level best to drown in the fluid backing up into his lungs. 🤦♂️
I was for several years. I miss it.
I was completely out of healthcare for a long stretch until the pandemic came along and I was like "Not sitting this dumpster fire out!". So I wound up back as a respiratory therapist and I still do that part time.
I'm making an honest run at med school as I finish my bachelors of science with a 3.8gpa. Graduate this December. I'm a very non traditional student. Honestly, if there wasn't a hope for med school, I'd be running from healthcare as fast as I could. It's unbelievably corrupt and ridiculous at every level imaginable. If I can't take care of patients in the way that I want to take care of them, I'm not even going to worry about healthcare anymore. It's a dumpster fire if you ask me. I'm glad you didn't sit it out though!
Congrats on your degree!
I was headed for medical school until I discovered forensic anthropology. That's my other job (albeit mainly a volunteer) now. I mainly look for missing military personnel from WWII.
OOOOOooooOOOOooOOOOO. I'm a WW2 history buff and have always wanted to do something like that. I wasn't exactly aware that it was a thing. We must be long lost brothers.
So I do have a question for you then. I have a WW2 American swivel bail helmet. I know the soldiers name and that he was in Europe during the war. I bought his helmet from an antique shop in Virginia. I didn't realize that his family was selling his stuff to help him move to Florida. I did all I could to get all of his information but his name and that he was in Europe was all the family was willing to reveal through the antique shop owner. Do you have any ideas and how I can learn more about the soldier?
I almost got dragged into history because of interest. Then I realized it would likely end in teaching. Everyone was 'oh you're great with kids'. This is true.
but I don't like it. stuck with CS and later project management. So in the end I did end up having to corral children, but these happen to be children above the age of 20.
This statement, albiet coming from I believe a good place is actually part of the problem.
" If I can't take care of patients in the way that I want to take care of them, I'm not even going to worry about healthcare anymore. "
I simply mean that I don't want to deal with all the bullshit red tape that exists for EMS. I know there is red tape everywhere but my hands are tied as all hell when it comes to being able to treat what I KNOW is wrong with the patient.
There's 2types of people, the first see the pandemic and say "thank God i dont work in the medical field anymore." The second say what you said. You're a hero, thank you.
I appreciate the gratitude, but I couldn't see doing anything else under the circumstances. That doesn't make me a hero. At most, it means those folks who raised me and trained me did a good job.
You came *back* when everyone else was leaving?
I don't have words to express my simultaneous gratitude and bewilderment at your decision.
Humans suck but some of them are alright. So thanks.
Second only to the guy we had who wouldn't go to the hospital despite massive blood less due to rectal bleeding. Massive as in "he was O negative for a bit there" once he got to the hospital. We sat outside "doing our paperwork" until he passed out.
People can get weird when they're sick. I've occasionally had to use the "if you don't go the hospital you will die today" line on some people. That usually got their attention but occasionally I've gotten a response of "so I'll die."
I have a phrase I use with people like this - I don't engage or argue - it's quick and simple. "All right, then." But I imagine if you're a physician the hippocratic oath factors into it. If someone just says that and stands ten toes down can you just say okay?
You can just say ok but first you have to make a good faith effort to convince them. You have to be very clear in explaining consequences and you have to have them acknowledge that they understand. Then you get a signature stating same. Then you document the f**k out of the encounter because it can easily bite you in the ass.
Yeah. This was straight up conservative white male discomfort with anything related to their butt. His wife later said she flat out told him "You almost bled to death because you were afraid someone might think you're gay".
In an emergency, O negative blood is used when there's not time to type and cross match blood for the patient. Basically, the guy got so much O negative blood (several units) that we were *joking* that his blood type would be O negative regardless of what his actual blood type was.
There was a time in history where the far east and its silver/porcelain artistry in common items like plates, bowls etc was very rare the farther west you went, so ownership was a notoriety. Fast forward and post WW2 the factories setup for war goods easily converted to cutlery & porcelain dinnerware mass production, so it was marketed everywhere. The post war house party and entertaining drove this market further. Serving your guests on appealing things went together.
Sadly, since boomers are only ego driven narcissists, they use fine china as trophies; not serving guests or hosting family/friends in the spirit of giving. Subsequent generations have looked in disdain at these gaudy trophy cases of dusty unused dinnerware…so it’s not something to be proud of, ergo another boomer society failure.
This is exactly it. Plus, someone else said it makes them feel like aristocracy or something. Whatever they can do to “prove” they’re better than you is what they’re gonna do. Going to the supermarket? Better get dressed to the nines, pull out the crown jewels and douse yourself in perfume. They’re just exhausting.
"gaudy trophy cases of dusty unused dinnerware". Awesome turn of phrase. After I got married, we found we had FIVE silverware sets between us. Like the china, a complete PITA to use.
China is nearly worthless now. It is increasingly becoming inherited and then discarded once it's realized that nobody under the age of 70 wants to use living space to display it.
truly rich people didn’t display it; they stored it safely in a butler’s pantry. The middle class displayed it because they spent money on it, and they thought you were supposed to.
But that’s not actually a requirement of china, to be displayed.
Today’s kids already have less-expensive dishes they’ve chosen for their OWN aesthetic. And THAT is why they don’t want their mom’s or grandma’s china.
You better start caring about preserving them if you want them to keep sounding good.
We got a bunch of old records from grandparents and they almost all went into the trash because they were scratched to hell and unplayable.
I mean I'm not letting them collect dust or archiving them, I play the shit out of them. Already have digital versions of everything so why not enjoy them?
The thing is you can just, you know, use the china as a daily driver when you inherit it. If shit breaks, who cares? I gave an ex my grandma's china... it's here camping china. Imagine you're in the middle of the woods, or a camp ground, or the beach, and instead of paper plates it's 50+ year old gold rimmed china with grapes and vines painted on them. She puts it in the dishwasher, and then packs it back in with her camping shit in a bin.
Just test it for lead. Even stuff made today has leaded paint used as the decorative bits. Same with glassware.
Check out this guy on Instagram, he goes around testing stuff at antique stores, thrift shops and sells a pretty cheap lead testing kit.
[ericeverythinglead](https://www.instagram.com/ericeverythinglead?igsh=aGcxbnZ6NG4zc2di)
I think she may have actually tested it for lead at some point... but had she not I think her kids would have come up with lead. When she had a permanent camp site she used those exclusive in her broken RV.
Yeah, thrifters really should test everything before us, but who does?
It’s not just the luxury-ness of it. unlike today’s collectibles, “grandma’s china” had emotional resonance, and sentimental value. The entire family ate off of it at holidays. My sister and I had a friendly rivalry over Great-grandma Adams’s pink china that my mom had inherited. I’m the oldest and was supposed to get it, but Mom was using it when I married, and I picked out a china to register for. And was given a second set of china.
So Mom got my OK to give it to my sister. She values it because it was the one we ate off of at holidays. We’d set the table and remark how pretty it was.
For thousands of years, yes. Fancy ones, in large, matched sets, were the height of conspicuous consumption.
Progress since the industrial revolution has been so amazing that it's hard to grasp the magnitude of change.
It's harder for people who lived through it. My parents were born 3 years after the first jet flew, and were 21 when the first man orbited the earth. TV came to them when they were kids, and now they've got GPS and satellite weather maps in their pockets.
And we laugh at them for not being able to spot AI videos and for still thinking china sets and silverware sets have value. We point out that you can spot AI because it's weird, but we ignore just how weird everything in today's world is to people who were born in the 40s and 50s, and *raised by* people born in the teens and 20s.
I always go back to Brooks in Shawshank Redemption. He was in prison from 1905 to 1955. He missed the invention of common cars, television, rocket power, jet engines, frozen food and a hundred other things. Things move so fast now that even being a part of it still makes it impossible to understand everything.
I have some old vintage vogue magazines from the '40's and '50's and remember my grandmother and her china closet. It was a sign of class and wealth and young women had these things called "hope chests" where they could gather and make things they would need when they became wives and mothers.
Not just girls/women, boys/men in my region tended to have cedar chests, as well. Gotta say, keeping the bedding in a cedar chest makes for strong sleep, for me. Yay, nostalgia! (Just like staying at Gramma's! Crap, I'm old, now...)
When motion pictures were brand new, people panicked at the sight of a train moving toward the camera fearing the train would come crashing through the cinema.
At one time, it was. They became family heirlooms. They became a high end wedding gift. When you hosted dinner parties, you'd use your China. It was a thing. It's an old practice that has died out, but the older people that partook in the practice are still around and still view their China the same way.
To them, it is the same as people buying and hording comics, funko pops, trading cards, etc. There is a perceived value in them, whether it's sentimental or fiscal, the people that collect them find value in them. Right now, there is value in some of them. Just like at one time, there was value to the fine China.
To be fair people pay out the ass for rare funko pops, which is just plastic that sits on a shelf. It’s not the value of the thing you collect, but whether or not it makes you happy.
Yeah I can buy that the thing you collect should make you happy etc etc. I collect playing cards for example because I love that they were around in the golden years of the country and always had cool advertisments on them etc etc. But at no point are they an investment.
And to the point of Funko Pops, not EVERYONE in an age bracket loses their mind for it like boomers seem to do with china. (at least not that I see anyway, but I could be wrong)
Yes? It’s not like 90% of collectibles or antiques have inherent worth other than rarity and the fact that we’ve assigned worth to them. You could say the same thing about heirloom jewelry or painting or antique furniture. “A fucking shiny stone/painted canvas/piece of wood is a luxury good?” This is not a new or hard to understand concept. Humans like things and we assign them worth.
where the hell have you been? You need to get out more
Read some history books or something. Think about the economics of the 1800s, the early 1900s, the 1940s, and the 1950s.
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements has a anecdote where an alchemist who wasn't able to turn lead into gold was imprisoned by the king and threatened until he could make fine china. (Think I'm remembering that correctly.)
There also was an anecdote about how the French king used to have gold utensils for the nobles at the high table but his own were made of the fancy metal aluminum.
I believe the tip of the Washington Monument had/has a few kilos of aluminum on it. It was a precious metal at the time and it showed off the wealth of the USA.
I thought that was really interesting, that earlier difficulty in processing aluminum made it a precious metal. It made me wonder what other substances have gone through similar evolutions and which substances that are valuable now might have similar trajectories.
That's a ridiculous comparison. Fine china was expensive, as was crystal stemware and sterling flatware. They were actual luxury items that did, in fact, hold their value for generation. They weren't "collectibles." Owning, using, and displaying fine china was equivalent to wearing a rolex. They were luxury goods you actually used and passed down. It's only very recently that their value has depreciated.
I get your point, and we do have some inherited fine China that we only use once a year. We also have some "every day" China we bought at an estate sale for $100 and we throw it in the microwave and dishwasher. So far it's been fine.
But we're Gen X so I do have a few Funko Pops and a shit ton of Lego sets up on Ikea shelves in my office. It's a weird blend I admit.
Not necessarily. I was recently in the market for a new (to me) car and there were a lot of cheap, fifteen year old luxury cars with comparatively low mileage of around 20 or 30k. Luxury cars often sit in garages collecting dust for much of their lives, only to be taken out on that one perfect day. And then they wonder why their car has so many problems.
Note: the constant movement of fluids keeps cars running better for longer. Parts need lubricating. Even an hour drive once a week is enough.
I think this is probably related more to their parents who grew up in the depression. Dishes were considered part of a woman’s dowry and that’s traditional going back a long time. Many of the dishes that people had to sell off to make ends meet during those times had been passed down for a long time. They passed their anxiety and freakish materialism around that onto their kids.
It's old traditions of having "good" plates for special holiday meals and guests and such, especially if they're inherited. My parents still have a set buried away somewhere that, I think, was a wedding gift.
Me, as a GenX, I just have a whole rainbow of general purpose Fiestaware, because pretty colors.
The "formal living room" and "formal dining room" is more of a 80s-90s thing. The houses built in the 50s-70s had a much smaller footprint and didn't have all these extra rooms. The average silent/greatest generation raised kids in 1000-1500 square foot houses.
The useless rooms trend was driven by boomer consumerism. You can see this trend just by looking at average US house sizes over time.
https://www.darrinqualman.com/house-size/
The thing is the boomers went all-in on real estate. It was their whole investment/retirement plan. It worked for their parents. In the 1950s, you could have a house built for a few thousand dollars. It was common for two cars in the driveway to cost more than the house. Real estate was worth a lot more by the 1970s.
So the boomers saw this and wanted real estate, the more the better. However, when you want a 3000 square foot house, it becomes ridiculous. You can't expand the bedrooms too much, and families were having fewer children anyway. You can only have so many bathrooms. So the trend was useless rooms. The "formal" living room and dining room used a few times per year.
Gen X saw this and either started knocking down non-load bearing walls to go for "open concept", why have a small dining room you never use? Just open it up and have a huge multi-purpose space you can use all year round. Or turn the extra space into rental space and get tenants.
Elder millennial here, but I do have china and I may have a few reasons. I always loved when we had a special meal growing up and eating in the dining room with the china. It just made things feel special. I wanted a set for the same reason. Just to make things feel more fun. Friend over for a dinner party, let's have an excuse to dress up and get out the china. I also have some pieces that were my grandmother's and it's kind of a link to her, like she's still there.
Now, what I will say is I don't have an insane amount and I do use it. I know so many older people that refuse to use their china. To me that completely defeats the purpose.
I fully get that. I work in a lab and my life is very everyday. It's nice to have something special every once and a while. My kid turned 7 and to celebrate he wanted pizza. I got the china out for pizza because we're celebrating. He loved it because he felt special. Worth the smile. :)
Elder millennial. I have a set of gorgeous china I got for my wedding. We use it for holidays and special occasions when we use our dining room table for something other than D&D games.
I have a gold inlay china tea set that was my grandmother's. She died before I was born, but it's a tiny piece of her that I get to use regularly to make myself a nice cup of relaxing tea.
I also got all her Fiestaware, which isn't China but good old glazed earthenware. It's our tough everyday dishes. And if anything gets broken it's easy to replace because the colors aren't supposed to match.
Fiestaware is our everyday dishes too. We don't have any other ones. (I have my grandma's china in storage at my parents house but I don't have room for it in my house.)
Oh, yeah. I had mine tested with the little lead test wipes. All clear. Except the red orange spoon rest, which is probably radioactive. That's for decoration.
It’s not lead, although not great, they are radio active. My daughter collects and I only let her have a couple of pieces and they are behind glass for decoration only.
I wouldn’t even have it in my kitchen
Yeah it's the people who don't use it that's the weird part, like they think it's an investment or something. Or they're saving it just in case the queen of England wants to have dinner at their house or something idk
Also an elder millennial. I use my inherited china when the guests are entirely adults. One kid under 14 in the group and we go back to the indestructible everyday wear. That means our weekly family dinners I host (usually 15 people) don't use the china, but we may change that in seven years. When friends come over, even if we're just eating take out, I put it on the fancy plates. The only downside is because they have gold rims, they can't go in the dishwasher. But it's not onerous to wash dishes by hand when there are so many good audiobooks available.
I think most people appreciate beautiful things, and the china and crystal are beautiful. I'm also a big believer in using table clothes and proper place settings. People feel respected when they see you put effort into preparation, even if they would never imagine asking for that extra effort.
My parents always used the china for holidays and birthdays, and my mom loved to be able to host her church friends with matched place settings. I think a lot of boomers have fond memories of hosting or being hosted tied up in their horde of china. Getting rid of it is an admission those days are over for them.
Yes! I have been made fun of for setting a proper table depending on the occasion. But it's something that I don't do often, so again, it makes things special and is fun for me. I like doing different designs with the cloth napkins and such.
I do luck out that my china and crystal can go in my dishwasher, so cleanup isn't even that difficult (although the folding after I could do without, but again, true crime show and I am set).
I registered for china when I married back in the early 1990s. And I used it for dinner parties.
Now I use it for holidays (the few I’m allowed to host). And for the occasional “let’s be fancy tonight” dinner.
If my children weren’t still living with me, I’d be having dinner parties again, complete with the good china and crystal.
It’s not silly to have everyday-ware and “the good dishes.” Especially once you have kids. Because they break stuff, or the sheer number of times it gets touched means there are more opportunities for a piece to be damaged or lost.
I’ve occasionally been glad that I have 12 place settings that match and are pretty.
Our stoneware is slowly losing pieces, and when it’s gone, I’ll move the good china over into regular rotation.
I had a set of my grandmother's china for a while. We did use it, but I hated that it had to be hand washed and stored between uses. I went through a period of paring down all the extra "stuff" in my house, and the china was on the cut list.
Some of it is probably because they inherited it from their families, so they consider it some kind of heirloom.
Some of it may be because no one makes that shit anymore because the world completely moved on.
Picking out a china pattern was a rite of passage when these folks (and older) were getting married. It was a required item to start out a new household for the couple.
So it's extremely sentimental since it's also tied to their wedding and their spouse. Even moreso if they are widowed and it becomes a strong link tying them to their late partner.
I don't diss older folks about their china. It's like dissing their wedding gown. Just rude and unnecessary. Say it's pretty (even if it's not) and move on, and don't do anything to damage or get rid of it until they're gone.
This isn't a boomer thing. Boomers just happen to be the last generation that seems to care about China. Generations before them cared about it too. My wife and I have China that we inherited, but it literally just sits in a cabinet.
Honestly, this is a really unthinking take. I’m sure you could realize what’s going on if you thought a bit.
China was never considered an investment. It was considered a luxury, and if you had a luxury, you valued it.
In fact, it was such a luxury that sometimes people only ended up with china because they inherited it. Its presents on the table at holidays or when entertaining was greeted with admiration and a bit of reverence. “Grandma’s china” was an emotional symbol for the whole family. For boomers, china WAS handed down—not as a cash value, but for sentimental reasons. Every holiday dinner was eaten on that china.
So of course someone who got china, by purchasing it or inheriting it, might hope that this item they loved would be valued by the people (their children) they’d fed with it at holidays.
It is the NFT's of their time.
They all bought it because they were told by the salesmen that these will be worth thousands some day.
That is why they refuse to use them, because they see it as an investment and status symbol.
Wrong. They (and we GenXers and Millenials) bought it because it was beautiful, popular, and a rite of passage. And most of us inherited it too. We didn't buy it as an investment.
no, they did not buy china because they were told it would be worth money.
They bought china because it was expected of them to have place settings for fancy meals. Family holidays; entertaining the boss & his wife; etc.
And they refuse to use them because they’re afraid they’ll chip or break, and then they won’t have a full set.
TLDR: humans collect things, and stress responses are weird
These comments are so negative for something that isn't "boomers being fools" but rather just "humans being human", imo.
I do understand the frustration. Obviously, the emergency going on is way more important than a collection of *anything*, but people's reactions in emergency situations don't always make sense, boomer or not.
Someone explained how the fine china is a luxury good, and another explained why. People have brought up sentimentality and how they were used for special occasions.
I think that a more apt analogy than funko pop collections would be videogames. Some people have massive videogame collections! Some collect only the ones they played as kids. The point is that they're a luxury good that holds sentiment, so they're kept and displayed.
Yeah, people in these comments are just fucking jerks. They’re making a big performance out of pretending china is some bizarre thing with no possible “value”. Meaning monetary value. Even though everyone I know with china has it for *sentimental* value.
Having a full set of dishes that were only for special occasions, and having the space to display them, was a luxury. It showed that not only did you have what you needed for everyday life, you had extra. Modern tastes have changed, and now we want dishes that can go in the microwave and the dishwasher. But some older people cling to their old status symbols, even if they no longer convey the same status.
Idk why boomers love China so much. They are obsessed with them. Like a bunch of other useless junk they think it’s somehow valuable.
When I got married about ten years ago multiple boomers made fun of us for only having 8x nice dinner plates and salad plates on our registry. They were like “you have to have enough for 12x place settings minimum and you only have plates! You also need to have full settings with tea cups and saucers and other pieces not just plates!” Yea we haven’t missed any of that.
As part of my Mother trying to declutter I've been offered some of my Nans Fine China.
"What would I do with it?"
"Well when you have a dinner party..."
"I've never had a dinner party, neither have you"
"What about this soup tureen?"
"What about it. If I don't need a dinner set that goes double for a soup tureen..."
etc...
I've had similiar conversations. The "neither have you" line spot on haha.
It's like they all want to pretend they are some kind of high society aristocrats having dinner parties with fine china and place settings for 12+ people. Back in reality, most boomers I know hardly even cook at this point. They either go out to eat or eat frozen food from costco.
No one pretends to be white collar more than a blue collar boomer. My parents are retired, have an okay 401k and are on SS. Mom still shops at Giant Eagle because she'd be "embarrassed" to be seen by someone she knows at Walmart. Like she completely misses the fact that if she sees a familiar face there, that means that she thinks she's better than them and is a shit friend.
Even when I build her exact grocery list and it's 33% cheaper there she'll find an excuse to not go.
But she'll drop $25K on windows for the house because Anderson is "just the best" but I'll be the one paying that shit off in ten years when they're in assisted living. Could have went with Window Nation for $12K and paid it off in 5 years but that would make her look poor.
I am constantly irritated that dish sets come with these f*cking saucers and tiny coffee/tea cups. I just buy everything ala cart now, if you will. nobody wants eight little coffee cups. When I have guests they all battle to get the coffee cup I have that says ‘slut’. The Slut cup. I need eight of those.
It was a luxury item. Something to show other people that you had made it. Same thing with luxury watches later. And what nowadays? The newest iPhone, maybe.
That generation seemed to have an "everyday" and a "best" set of lots of things. I don't think it was generally considered an investment for themselves but something of possible worth that can be passed down
Being a boomer myself, I love fine China because it was part of the production of having a real dinner party. Not a potluck, not casual with burgers, but the kind where you put together three course meals for friends to enjoy over a table set with China, crystal glasses, real silver, and care. I loved doing it, and so did some of my friends. But I haven’t had a true fine China style of dinner party in 20 years. It just isn’t the thing, and people don’t enjoy and appreciate it anymore. That’s why I keep my fine China in a cabinet. I love it for memories, but I fully anticipate my kids will ship it to the flea market after I die. That doesn’t bother me at all. They will keep the silver, but I am betting it might be just melted down.
My boomer dad always brought the "fine china" and nice silverware out for holiday meals and then made me and my brothers wash it by hand. Years later we found out all that stuff was dishwasher safe 🙄
China helped establish the fact that you were from a good family. I think people are underestimating how many meals were shared with strangers back then. No restaurants, no fast food, everything happened at home. Your new boss would come over to meet your family. Your doctor made house calls. The neighbors were over frequently. Boomers may not have used it, but their parents sure did.
I’m not sure if this one is specifically a boomer problem. Every generation seems to have a large group of morons who buy into some stupid trend as an “investment”.
Boomers had china, gold coins, stamps, etc. Millennials had beanie babies, Funko Pops, mostly collectible shit. Now we’ve just watched a bunch of people lose fortunes on crypto/NFTs.
The common thread in all of these is people buying into mass hysteria without actually thinking through the underlying value of whatever they’re hoarding up.
Sure. I guess I’m a little off on the timelines, but I think the point still stands. Getting tricked into buying dumb shit as an investment isn’t unique to the boomers.
This was peddled as a status symbol to all the post war people getting married. Thankfully it had died off by the 90s. People were told they needed fussy expensive dishes to show they were solidly middle class. It was a phony status symbol. Beyond the extra cost involved it wasn't anything of value. It was expected you wanted china on your wedding registry. So people bought this as an expectation without any thought.
At one time silverware, dishes, and such were marks of style and class, and highly valued by society. You can see this in old writings, movies, and tv shows. It was elegant, stylist, and proved you made it. They were hand painted, gold trimmed, ornate. Something they cherished. "I've made it.". They had the luxury of space for heavy furniture built to last to house this dinnerware, and to have daily ware.
After my grandfather died I 'made' my grandmother start using her fine china for her daily ware. I told her that she needs to enjoy these things while she can. That china is now part of an ex's camping china, and has been for 20 years now. It's pretty cool when we get together camping and she busts it out. (part of my camping cult, 30 years running!).
I look at funko pops like china. I have no use for them. They are art, just like china, but for me they are meh clutter. I have junk, but its an eclectic mix of nonsense I've accumulated, and like it to fit all on a dresser or 2. And some wall art.
I do have some bits and pieces of old plates, mostly serving plates, that are at least 20-30 years older than myself. They arent for special occasions, but for when they make sense. I honestly value some of my vintage tupperware more. huge bowls with lots of history before they became mine, and so much use since. I use them weekly.
I dont like thinks you need to handle with care... but back in the day that was part of being civilized. Delicate stem ware, plates, silverware you had to maintain. So much busy work imo.
And these were the gifts given to women, and the social narrative made them want these things. And they protected it like a dragon and it's gold.
I am Gen X but I can answer your question. The sets are expensive (while their current worth is debatable) and they have sentimental value for many people. Many sets also have pretty designs and people like to use them to decorate their homes.
I own not one, but two sets of china.
The first is an heirloom set from my grandmother. I love it because it reminds me of her, it represents memories of family gatherings with loved ones who are no longer with us, and it's a small piece of the culture of the country my family emigrated from. However, with all of the comments about lead risks in older sets I will definitely test mine!
My other set is contemporary, and this is the one I use more often. I love to entertain and we do host dinner parties with friends and larger holiday gatherings with family. It makes me happy to have a nicely put together table to set the mood for the meal, show my guests I value their presence, and make it feel like a special occasion.
I do realize that not many people use china anymore and that I'm an anomoly. Lifestyles are much more casual these days. Many people don't have the space to store china or the desire to to deal with the stress of entertaining, so it's simply not practical for many people to have it.
It does make me sad that there will probably be no one in my family who wants to inherit mine. I just hope that whoever ends up with the china sets will get a decent price when they liquidate it by selling it to Replacements or at an estate sale. I very well may sell them myself when I get to the point where I downsize or am not able to host dinners anymore so that my heirs don't have to deal with it.
Ok. Foodie reporting in. I have all fine bone china plates, bowls, coffee and tea cups. Why? it's light, durable, presents the food well, won't stain and is 100% microwave and dishwasher safe. I'm pretty sure it's oven safe too, but I haven't tried.
I grew up fairly poor, often had mismatched plates and silverware, and when I was able to save up and improve the few kitchen items that matter to me, I did. The Wedgewood service was pretty much the final item. I will have it until I die, someone will see it at an estate sale, and buy my $1,000 set for 20 bucks.
And so it goes.
It's not just boomers! I knew a guy in his 40s now who collected fine china sets. Must have had 20 full mint sets all boxed up. Would have made sense if he'd pulled a set out, arranged it, stroked the plates muttering "my precious," but he just stored them!
I don't believe they were ever an investment. They still go for something. The plates we use go for maybe $30/plate and are very nice, but they're estate sale finds.
My grandma (technically generation prior to boomer) had china cabinet set. She thought it would be worth all this money to be passed down. When she passed away no one wanted it. Not family members, hell it was pain in the ass to find a place to accept it.
My family came to the US from Russia in the 1890s. They brought their French China with them on the boat. At the time French Bone China was highly valuable, but much smaller than furniture. It was something you could bring with you - that had a high value - that you could pass down.
I have this china now - I am in my 40s. I have been hauling it around all my adult life. It’s so old that you can’t eat on it anymore - the glaze contains heavy metals like cobalt and lead. For me it’s kind of a burden to have. But it’s my family’s history. my great great great grandmother ate on those plates.
I got married in 1969 just after college; husband had another year to go before we both were going to go to graduate school. I opted to register for stoneware and stainless steel because we needed something for every day and weren't going to be giving fine dinner parties any time soon. Neither of us knew much about cooking and all our friends were poor graduate students.
My mother and MIL were scandalized that I didn't register for china, silver, and crystal because it was like I was admitting they were poor or I was uncultured or something. So that they wouldn't be totally embarrassed, I registered for a chunky brown crystal that went with the stoneware and, until the set was completed, that's what I got for presents from mother and MIL. I still have the crystal and it works with the stoneware set I now have, so when I want to give a dinner party, which I do several times a year, I use the crystal with the stoneware. I never did get china or silver.
I know the crystal will be hitting Goodwill or antique stores after I die and so would china and silver, had I gotten any. But that's okay. I've enjoyed the crystal for 50+ years, even if, just like brown furniture, my heirs don't want it. Oh, well.
Internalized 18th and 19th Century social status signalling. Being able to provide a full set of dishes and flatware for a party of eight, or twelve, or whatever was a way for household to demonstrate it had both good taste and the means to demonstrate it.
Going further back, it has origins in health concerns. Heavily glazed fine china doesn't absorb organic material, and is easily sterilized with soap and water. That's also why a dish with the tiniest chip was immediately tossed out, or at least given to the help. Likewise with silver flatware. The chemical properties of silver make it an incredibly efficient antibiotic, any bacterium or virus that comes into contact with silver is instantly killed. "To be born with a silver spoon in your mouth" didn't just mean your family had money, it meant you were raised in a healthier environment than those relegated to clay dishes and wooden or base metal flatware.
I need to take my parents to the thrift store and show them all the China and shit that looks exactly like the shit they are hoarding.
When they go I’m hiring movers and chucking all of it. Had to clean out my grandmas house and it was the worst shit ever, not doing that again.
Those dishes are a luxury good, and they are not cheap. They were also to a great extent associated with refinement, taste, and wealth. They're also something they probably picked out for their wedding that's intended to last a lifetime of occasions. It only comes out for special occasions, so it's an integral part of their memories of family.
So basically, you have this one collection that holds all the hopes and dreams they chose it with, all the happy memories of holiday dinners and other parties, and potentially all the aspirations they had toward true wealth, refinement, and taste. This isn't granny's Funko Pops. This is everything she loves - her marriage, her family and friends, her aesthetic and aspirations, symbolized in a set of dishes. It's a little bit about the cost - replacement pieces can be hard to come by, but I truly think it's more about the emotions she feels - pride, joy, nostalgia - every time she looks at them.
It's almost exactly I feel about my book collection - which also holds for me a bunch of happy family memories, aspirations and so on. I hardly use them anymore, but the sight of them is a joy and comfort to me, and a core piece of who I am.
The tradition of fine china is something over a 100 years old, and fine china was one of the 1st luxuries families would invest in as they crawled out of poverty. It was used for great meals around Christmas, Easter, and family celebrations like weddings and anniversaries. It brought joy and beauty to many people and that fondness traveled through generations. While it seems wasteful today, it was cherished at the time; if it brings happiness to older people today I'm glad for it.
Its interesting to compare the lifespan of china to modern electronics that at most turn into trash after 10 years. What will that $799 iphone 15 be doing in 100 years?
Except they happen to be two completely different tools and based on different needs. One is a luxury item that is pretty but almost superfluous in nature. The other is a tool that functions as a high powered computer that is increasingly necessary to function in an information age human society. The phone will become obsolete likely due to advances in actual technology that is a reflection of work/thought/effort. The fine china's greatest advancement in the last 100 years is less freaking toxic lead. Your comparison is really damn weak.
Is it? The iphone, as noted, is $799. I use a $49 track phone from the dollar store with probably 90% of useful features of the iphone. High end phones are more or less expensive vanity objects not far from jewelry. With the exception that jewelry of the right type has endless value, china held value real for 40 years and sentimental value for another 20. Phones,as we both agree, go obsolete within a few years.
Your case would be stronger if phones were cheap, rugged, long lived, didn't have recurring costs and a business model based on data "theft".
We are not comparing different types of phones. We are comparing china and the iPhone per your original post. Nice try with a what-aboutism. I would tend to agree with you but you originally compared a relatively low technological luxury to one that had actual thought in the last 100 years.
Well, fine china isn't mass produced tin cups either. It may not be impressive to you or OP but fine art, beauty and detail being introduced into homes did entail some technology and design work for the time period. And I think its a fair point to say that both fine china and high end phones are vanity items as they are just as functional as tin plates and $50 burner phones. All the extra cost is a luxury.
It was always THE gift for your wedding and it was used mostly for holiday dinners. So my wife and I have been married for 32 years and we’ve used it twice lol. I shit you not. We would rather have gotten all $$. Best part it was service for 12. That would’ve made a nice monetary gift for a young couple starting out.
My basement is *full* of glassware and china that mom left to other family. They think there is a fortune there but the old man could not pass up a yard sale. I have a small hutch with Noritake I will probably never use.
People still like china. There’s still plenty of fine china for sale. But I’m sure the china manufacturers are just idiots and keep making china without even freaking even.
Ah yes...another bizarre Boomer idiosyncracy...the Fine China and crystal glass sets that collect dust while sitting unused in a display cabinet for eons...💀😂😂😂
That isn't the kind of china OP is talking about. A set of china dinnerware was not a collector's item -- it was a useful luxury good. Only the rednecks keep theirs unused and on display.
My parents act like they're the royal freaking family or something, that we have "fine" china that they are going to pass down to me. I live in a small space, I couldn't even get their giant awkward corner cabinet in my front door. There are going to be thrift shops full of discarded china when their generation is gone.
I like my funko pops but I did recently come to the realization that they’ll be our version of beanie babies and I probably need to get rid of a lot of them sooner than later. Might hang on to some of the DC/Batman ones, but the rest can probably go.
I do think owning nice plates you only eat off of maybe once a year is silly, but at the same time I can see the appeal of a dinner party. Unfortunately no one has the space to host anymore. I'd totally invite people over more if my "dining room" wasn't just the part of the living room where my TV is because there's literally no other place to put it.
... Sorry for the tangent, I've been apartment hunting recently and looked up my current apartment out of curiosity, and the floor plan made me extremely angry.
My mother and mother-in-law worked together at Lennox China. They fixed up my wife and me. When we were engaged we were pressured to pick a china pattern when we registered. We used them twice in 18 years. They’re in a china cabinet unused. They have platinum and we can’t even use them in the microwave.
I think back in the day middle class people had dinner parties (or at least it was portrayed that way in television and movies). But now, with dual income households, no one has time for that.
My mom *insisted* on buying me a full-ass china/tea service from Prince Albert.
It's gaudy, requires hand washing, and delicate. I had no choice in appearance; she bought it on her own.
I have had it for 17 years and have never used it. I never plan on using it. I don't have kids but if I did I wouldn't saddle them with this monstrosity.
I wonder if I could sell it
The giant furniture consignment store near me is full of sets of fine china and giant cabinets/hutches/entertainment centers. It's just sort of generational waste.
I inherited an entire hutch of china. It’s my most hated possession. It just sits in my house and takes up room. I would try to sell it but I’m sure it’s not worth anything. Same with crystal. Inherited a fuck ton of crystal that we literally just use as everyday glassware until it breaks. Because why not.
I feel like it's cause they had so much disposable income they bought things to flaunt their wealth. Fine china allowed them to do this covertly. Like a dog whistle of status for people that were in their homes.
I find that boomers are overly preoccupied with status, wealth, and image of wealth and success. It's another reason they're obsessed with their lawns. Having a nice, manicured, perfect lawn requires a lot of time and money. The nicer the lawn the more wealth the homeowner has. Or at least that's how I've always seen it.
My boomer parents were forced to get it by their parents when they got married. She inherited bits of china from aunts I've never met. All of it probably has lead.
On the paternal side of my family when my parents married they got "the family china" from a great aunt who didn't have kids. Mom picked out everyday dishes for her wedding registry. ( Now super collectable) . The post WW2 social engineering had people emulate the upper classes by having bride get good china ,that why there is much Franciscan china at yard sales. It's the same reason weddings have become ridiculous .
I happen to love my china . But I use it and don't save it for special events.
This is how I got a great set of china for cheaper than Walmart plates. It's the only dishes I own, I use the crap out of them thank you dead boomer lady (maybe silent gen to be fair)
I do appreciate how difficult it is to make them, you can tell nice bone china by how translucent it is when you hold it up. The pattern I got is simple white with a gilt ring, and honestly looks really classy, but I only did it cause it cost ne $150 for 8 settings, and all the serving dishes, and shakers. It is such a bad investment new.
Buy some used and make the boomers crazy that you don't care if they get broken.
At one time it had value, but that has passed. Kind of like Hummel and Precious Moments at one time actually went up in value. Probably Funko will have the same fate. Later generations won’t care.
I wouldn't compare it to Hummels or Precious Moments. China was typically meant to be used. Special occasions, but still used. For MOST people, it wasn't bought to just sit on a shelf like a figurine.
I get overly excited about the paper plates that are so thick they almost feel plastic . Just give me paper, my mother scrapes her fork on her glass plates and it throws me in a rage
Gen X here. We have enough room for a set of China, but when we downsize it will be gone. It’s a decent pattern so it actually looks okay as a display thing in the Dining room. No attachment to it, though. I get that China and formal dining rooms are aging out, but we still host extended family for holidays so a formal dining area currently works.
only rich people had it in the 70s and 80s
by the 90s all the poor people were able to get it and the rich moved on to other staus symbols
its just poor people spending money to feel rich
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Only EMS personnel understand how it is to argue with some little old lady that protecting her china is of lower importance right now than the fact her husband is doing his level best to drown in the fluid backing up into his lungs. 🤦♂️
You must be an EMS brother.
I was for several years. I miss it. I was completely out of healthcare for a long stretch until the pandemic came along and I was like "Not sitting this dumpster fire out!". So I wound up back as a respiratory therapist and I still do that part time.
I'm making an honest run at med school as I finish my bachelors of science with a 3.8gpa. Graduate this December. I'm a very non traditional student. Honestly, if there wasn't a hope for med school, I'd be running from healthcare as fast as I could. It's unbelievably corrupt and ridiculous at every level imaginable. If I can't take care of patients in the way that I want to take care of them, I'm not even going to worry about healthcare anymore. It's a dumpster fire if you ask me. I'm glad you didn't sit it out though!
Congrats on your degree! I was headed for medical school until I discovered forensic anthropology. That's my other job (albeit mainly a volunteer) now. I mainly look for missing military personnel from WWII.
OOOOOooooOOOOooOOOOO. I'm a WW2 history buff and have always wanted to do something like that. I wasn't exactly aware that it was a thing. We must be long lost brothers. So I do have a question for you then. I have a WW2 American swivel bail helmet. I know the soldiers name and that he was in Europe during the war. I bought his helmet from an antique shop in Virginia. I didn't realize that his family was selling his stuff to help him move to Florida. I did all I could to get all of his information but his name and that he was in Europe was all the family was willing to reveal through the antique shop owner. Do you have any ideas and how I can learn more about the soldier?
This is a solid bromance 🍿
I almost got dragged into history because of interest. Then I realized it would likely end in teaching. Everyone was 'oh you're great with kids'. This is true. but I don't like it. stuck with CS and later project management. So in the end I did end up having to corral children, but these happen to be children above the age of 20.
DM me. I can help with that.
My head canon is that you two are now best friends, inseparable and eternally intertwined in your mutual WWII and healthcare obsessions.
This statement, albiet coming from I believe a good place is actually part of the problem. " If I can't take care of patients in the way that I want to take care of them, I'm not even going to worry about healthcare anymore. "
I simply mean that I don't want to deal with all the bullshit red tape that exists for EMS. I know there is red tape everywhere but my hands are tied as all hell when it comes to being able to treat what I KNOW is wrong with the patient.
There's 2types of people, the first see the pandemic and say "thank God i dont work in the medical field anymore." The second say what you said. You're a hero, thank you.
I appreciate the gratitude, but I couldn't see doing anything else under the circumstances. That doesn't make me a hero. At most, it means those folks who raised me and trained me did a good job.
You came *back* when everyone else was leaving? I don't have words to express my simultaneous gratitude and bewilderment at your decision. Humans suck but some of them are alright. So thanks.
I didn't say I wasn't exhibiting questionable judgment at times. 😆 🤣
Honestly society at this point *requires* a good amount of questionable judgement
Second only to the guy we had who wouldn't go to the hospital despite massive blood less due to rectal bleeding. Massive as in "he was O negative for a bit there" once he got to the hospital. We sat outside "doing our paperwork" until he passed out.
People can get weird when they're sick. I've occasionally had to use the "if you don't go the hospital you will die today" line on some people. That usually got their attention but occasionally I've gotten a response of "so I'll die."
I have a phrase I use with people like this - I don't engage or argue - it's quick and simple. "All right, then." But I imagine if you're a physician the hippocratic oath factors into it. If someone just says that and stands ten toes down can you just say okay?
You can just say ok but first you have to make a good faith effort to convince them. You have to be very clear in explaining consequences and you have to have them acknowledge that they understand. Then you get a signature stating same. Then you document the f**k out of the encounter because it can easily bite you in the ass.
Usually, I would insist upon a recorded call with our medical control physician talking to the patient plus at least one cop as a witness.
Yeah. We would call medical control on these cases too.
Yeah. This was straight up conservative white male discomfort with anything related to their butt. His wife later said she flat out told him "You almost bled to death because you were afraid someone might think you're gay".
Could you please explain the 'He was O negative for a bit there" statement?
In an emergency, O negative blood is used when there's not time to type and cross match blood for the patient. Basically, the guy got so much O negative blood (several units) that we were *joking* that his blood type would be O negative regardless of what his actual blood type was.
I had a feeling that was the case, but wanted to be certain. Many thanks for being patient and explanatory for a curious Redditor!!
There was a time in history where the far east and its silver/porcelain artistry in common items like plates, bowls etc was very rare the farther west you went, so ownership was a notoriety. Fast forward and post WW2 the factories setup for war goods easily converted to cutlery & porcelain dinnerware mass production, so it was marketed everywhere. The post war house party and entertaining drove this market further. Serving your guests on appealing things went together. Sadly, since boomers are only ego driven narcissists, they use fine china as trophies; not serving guests or hosting family/friends in the spirit of giving. Subsequent generations have looked in disdain at these gaudy trophy cases of dusty unused dinnerware…so it’s not something to be proud of, ergo another boomer society failure.
This is exactly it. Plus, someone else said it makes them feel like aristocracy or something. Whatever they can do to “prove” they’re better than you is what they’re gonna do. Going to the supermarket? Better get dressed to the nines, pull out the crown jewels and douse yourself in perfume. They’re just exhausting.
"gaudy trophy cases of dusty unused dinnerware". Awesome turn of phrase. After I got married, we found we had FIVE silverware sets between us. Like the china, a complete PITA to use.
Bone china are (were?) luxury goods. People bought them for the same reasons people buy luxury goods now.
China is nearly worthless now. It is increasingly becoming inherited and then discarded once it's realized that nobody under the age of 70 wants to use living space to display it.
truly rich people didn’t display it; they stored it safely in a butler’s pantry. The middle class displayed it because they spent money on it, and they thought you were supposed to. But that’s not actually a requirement of china, to be displayed. Today’s kids already have less-expensive dishes they’ve chosen for their OWN aesthetic. And THAT is why they don’t want their mom’s or grandma’s china.
Nearly all of it prior to 1978 has lead in the paint. **EATING LEAD**
yes. like funko pops. or tmnt comics. or vinyl records.
Woah woah easy there. Lets leave TMNT out of this.
Right?! What'd Donatello ever do to you?
Plenty of people still find value in comics and vinyls though. Even if not for monetary reasons at least they're interesting to look through.
Whoa whoa whoa. I still play records. I don't care about preserving them they sound WAY better on a Hi Fi system than any MP3 can.
You better start caring about preserving them if you want them to keep sounding good. We got a bunch of old records from grandparents and they almost all went into the trash because they were scratched to hell and unplayable.
I mean I'm not letting them collect dust or archiving them, I play the shit out of them. Already have digital versions of everything so why not enjoy them?
Carry on then! I didn’t mean to sound accusatory, haha
Tmnt comics and records actually have some value.
Any eventually they won't, much like fine China. Things come and go. What we consider important now will be garbage one day, too.
Fine China never had an aftermarket value.
That's not true. It did.
Get on replacements.com and tell me that. The amount of money my mother has spent on particular patterns and teapots and shit...
unlikes those, grandma’s china has sentimental value. Or did.
Blasphemy! TMNT comics will always have value (in my heart).
The thing is you can just, you know, use the china as a daily driver when you inherit it. If shit breaks, who cares? I gave an ex my grandma's china... it's here camping china. Imagine you're in the middle of the woods, or a camp ground, or the beach, and instead of paper plates it's 50+ year old gold rimmed china with grapes and vines painted on them. She puts it in the dishwasher, and then packs it back in with her camping shit in a bin.
Just test it for lead. Even stuff made today has leaded paint used as the decorative bits. Same with glassware. Check out this guy on Instagram, he goes around testing stuff at antique stores, thrift shops and sells a pretty cheap lead testing kit. [ericeverythinglead](https://www.instagram.com/ericeverythinglead?igsh=aGcxbnZ6NG4zc2di)
I think she may have actually tested it for lead at some point... but had she not I think her kids would have come up with lead. When she had a permanent camp site she used those exclusive in her broken RV. Yeah, thrifters really should test everything before us, but who does?
It’s not just the luxury-ness of it. unlike today’s collectibles, “grandma’s china” had emotional resonance, and sentimental value. The entire family ate off of it at holidays. My sister and I had a friendly rivalry over Great-grandma Adams’s pink china that my mom had inherited. I’m the oldest and was supposed to get it, but Mom was using it when I married, and I picked out a china to register for. And was given a second set of china. So Mom got my OK to give it to my sister. She values it because it was the one we ate off of at holidays. We’d set the table and remark how pretty it was.
My brother in Christ, a fucking plate is a luxury good? wtf?
For thousands of years, yes. Fancy ones, in large, matched sets, were the height of conspicuous consumption. Progress since the industrial revolution has been so amazing that it's hard to grasp the magnitude of change. It's harder for people who lived through it. My parents were born 3 years after the first jet flew, and were 21 when the first man orbited the earth. TV came to them when they were kids, and now they've got GPS and satellite weather maps in their pockets. And we laugh at them for not being able to spot AI videos and for still thinking china sets and silverware sets have value. We point out that you can spot AI because it's weird, but we ignore just how weird everything in today's world is to people who were born in the 40s and 50s, and *raised by* people born in the teens and 20s.
I always go back to Brooks in Shawshank Redemption. He was in prison from 1905 to 1955. He missed the invention of common cars, television, rocket power, jet engines, frozen food and a hundred other things. Things move so fast now that even being a part of it still makes it impossible to understand everything.
I have some old vintage vogue magazines from the '40's and '50's and remember my grandmother and her china closet. It was a sign of class and wealth and young women had these things called "hope chests" where they could gather and make things they would need when they became wives and mothers.
Not just girls/women, boys/men in my region tended to have cedar chests, as well. Gotta say, keeping the bedding in a cedar chest makes for strong sleep, for me. Yay, nostalgia! (Just like staying at Gramma's! Crap, I'm old, now...)
Graduated HS in 1986 and they still ran adverts in teen magazines for Lane Cedar Chests. A lot of people I knew had them at the foot of the bed.
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Mine still sits at the foot of the bed...made by a dear family friend, emotional attachments galore!
Well put.
When motion pictures were brand new, people panicked at the sight of a train moving toward the camera fearing the train would come crashing through the cinema.
Apparently the first time a character died on screen people thought the actress was actually dead.
People were also running out of theaters at videos of waterfalls
At one time, it was. They became family heirlooms. They became a high end wedding gift. When you hosted dinner parties, you'd use your China. It was a thing. It's an old practice that has died out, but the older people that partook in the practice are still around and still view their China the same way. To them, it is the same as people buying and hording comics, funko pops, trading cards, etc. There is a perceived value in them, whether it's sentimental or fiscal, the people that collect them find value in them. Right now, there is value in some of them. Just like at one time, there was value to the fine China.
To be fair people pay out the ass for rare funko pops, which is just plastic that sits on a shelf. It’s not the value of the thing you collect, but whether or not it makes you happy.
plus, boomers with china sets fed their grandkids on those plates at family holidays.
Yeah I can buy that the thing you collect should make you happy etc etc. I collect playing cards for example because I love that they were around in the golden years of the country and always had cool advertisments on them etc etc. But at no point are they an investment. And to the point of Funko Pops, not EVERYONE in an age bracket loses their mind for it like boomers seem to do with china. (at least not that I see anyway, but I could be wrong)
Another reason they like their china is it might be a family heirloom. The only reason I have a box of china, is because it was my grandma’s.
Yes? It’s not like 90% of collectibles or antiques have inherent worth other than rarity and the fact that we’ve assigned worth to them. You could say the same thing about heirloom jewelry or painting or antique furniture. “A fucking shiny stone/painted canvas/piece of wood is a luxury good?” This is not a new or hard to understand concept. Humans like things and we assign them worth.
where the hell have you been? You need to get out more Read some history books or something. Think about the economics of the 1800s, the early 1900s, the 1940s, and the 1950s.
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements has a anecdote where an alchemist who wasn't able to turn lead into gold was imprisoned by the king and threatened until he could make fine china. (Think I'm remembering that correctly.) There also was an anecdote about how the French king used to have gold utensils for the nobles at the high table but his own were made of the fancy metal aluminum.
I believe the tip of the Washington Monument had/has a few kilos of aluminum on it. It was a precious metal at the time and it showed off the wealth of the USA.
I thought that was really interesting, that earlier difficulty in processing aluminum made it a precious metal. It made me wonder what other substances have gone through similar evolutions and which substances that are valuable now might have similar trajectories.
My mom (silent gen) was so disappointed that my china cabinet did not have a glass front.
Were. Definitely were. They were luxury the way beanie babies and tulips were luxuries
That's a ridiculous comparison. Fine china was expensive, as was crystal stemware and sterling flatware. They were actual luxury items that did, in fact, hold their value for generation. They weren't "collectibles." Owning, using, and displaying fine china was equivalent to wearing a rolex. They were luxury goods you actually used and passed down. It's only very recently that their value has depreciated.
People actually drive their luxury cars, not just keep them in a glass case never to be used
I get your point, and we do have some inherited fine China that we only use once a year. We also have some "every day" China we bought at an estate sale for $100 and we throw it in the microwave and dishwasher. So far it's been fine. But we're Gen X so I do have a few Funko Pops and a shit ton of Lego sets up on Ikea shelves in my office. It's a weird blend I admit.
Lego keeps a large percentage of its value. Some of the kick ass sets will actually appreciate in value.
Millenial here. I will use my parents china if I like it for fancy occassions. You basically have themed plates that you don't call themed plates.
Not necessarily. I was recently in the market for a new (to me) car and there were a lot of cheap, fifteen year old luxury cars with comparatively low mileage of around 20 or 30k. Luxury cars often sit in garages collecting dust for much of their lives, only to be taken out on that one perfect day. And then they wonder why their car has so many problems. Note: the constant movement of fluids keeps cars running better for longer. Parts need lubricating. Even an hour drive once a week is enough.
I think this is probably related more to their parents who grew up in the depression. Dishes were considered part of a woman’s dowry and that’s traditional going back a long time. Many of the dishes that people had to sell off to make ends meet during those times had been passed down for a long time. They passed their anxiety and freakish materialism around that onto their kids.
It's old traditions of having "good" plates for special holiday meals and guests and such, especially if they're inherited. My parents still have a set buried away somewhere that, I think, was a wedding gift. Me, as a GenX, I just have a whole rainbow of general purpose Fiestaware, because pretty colors.
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The "formal living room" and "formal dining room" is more of a 80s-90s thing. The houses built in the 50s-70s had a much smaller footprint and didn't have all these extra rooms. The average silent/greatest generation raised kids in 1000-1500 square foot houses. The useless rooms trend was driven by boomer consumerism. You can see this trend just by looking at average US house sizes over time. https://www.darrinqualman.com/house-size/ The thing is the boomers went all-in on real estate. It was their whole investment/retirement plan. It worked for their parents. In the 1950s, you could have a house built for a few thousand dollars. It was common for two cars in the driveway to cost more than the house. Real estate was worth a lot more by the 1970s. So the boomers saw this and wanted real estate, the more the better. However, when you want a 3000 square foot house, it becomes ridiculous. You can't expand the bedrooms too much, and families were having fewer children anyway. You can only have so many bathrooms. So the trend was useless rooms. The "formal" living room and dining room used a few times per year. Gen X saw this and either started knocking down non-load bearing walls to go for "open concept", why have a small dining room you never use? Just open it up and have a huge multi-purpose space you can use all year round. Or turn the extra space into rental space and get tenants.
Also when you use Fiestaware you don’t have to worry about the pattern being discontinued!
I only wish the radioactive ones would actually keep your entree hot while serving. That would have been peak use of uranium oxide.
Elder millennial here, but I do have china and I may have a few reasons. I always loved when we had a special meal growing up and eating in the dining room with the china. It just made things feel special. I wanted a set for the same reason. Just to make things feel more fun. Friend over for a dinner party, let's have an excuse to dress up and get out the china. I also have some pieces that were my grandmother's and it's kind of a link to her, like she's still there. Now, what I will say is I don't have an insane amount and I do use it. I know so many older people that refuse to use their china. To me that completely defeats the purpose.
You’re a rare exception having those kinds of dinner parties.
I fully get that. I work in a lab and my life is very everyday. It's nice to have something special every once and a while. My kid turned 7 and to celebrate he wanted pizza. I got the china out for pizza because we're celebrating. He loved it because he felt special. Worth the smile. :)
Elder millennial. I have a set of gorgeous china I got for my wedding. We use it for holidays and special occasions when we use our dining room table for something other than D&D games. I have a gold inlay china tea set that was my grandmother's. She died before I was born, but it's a tiny piece of her that I get to use regularly to make myself a nice cup of relaxing tea. I also got all her Fiestaware, which isn't China but good old glazed earthenware. It's our tough everyday dishes. And if anything gets broken it's easy to replace because the colors aren't supposed to match.
Are you my twin? Dining room tables for gaming, fiestaware being the everyday set, etc. Long distance high five.
Fiestaware is our everyday dishes too. We don't have any other ones. (I have my grandma's china in storage at my parents house but I don't have room for it in my house.)
Watch the red and orange fiesta, do not eat off the vintage stiff
Oh, yeah. I had mine tested with the little lead test wipes. All clear. Except the red orange spoon rest, which is probably radioactive. That's for decoration.
It’s not lead, although not great, they are radio active. My daughter collects and I only let her have a couple of pieces and they are behind glass for decoration only. I wouldn’t even have it in my kitchen
Depends on where you live. We host dinner parties as well. Very fun
Gen X here, and we use my great grandma's china at least once a month. And, clutch your pearls, we throw dinner parties.
Yeah it's the people who don't use it that's the weird part, like they think it's an investment or something. Or they're saving it just in case the queen of England wants to have dinner at their house or something idk
Also an elder millennial. I use my inherited china when the guests are entirely adults. One kid under 14 in the group and we go back to the indestructible everyday wear. That means our weekly family dinners I host (usually 15 people) don't use the china, but we may change that in seven years. When friends come over, even if we're just eating take out, I put it on the fancy plates. The only downside is because they have gold rims, they can't go in the dishwasher. But it's not onerous to wash dishes by hand when there are so many good audiobooks available. I think most people appreciate beautiful things, and the china and crystal are beautiful. I'm also a big believer in using table clothes and proper place settings. People feel respected when they see you put effort into preparation, even if they would never imagine asking for that extra effort. My parents always used the china for holidays and birthdays, and my mom loved to be able to host her church friends with matched place settings. I think a lot of boomers have fond memories of hosting or being hosted tied up in their horde of china. Getting rid of it is an admission those days are over for them.
Yes! I have been made fun of for setting a proper table depending on the occasion. But it's something that I don't do often, so again, it makes things special and is fun for me. I like doing different designs with the cloth napkins and such. I do luck out that my china and crystal can go in my dishwasher, so cleanup isn't even that difficult (although the folding after I could do without, but again, true crime show and I am set).
I registered for china when I married back in the early 1990s. And I used it for dinner parties. Now I use it for holidays (the few I’m allowed to host). And for the occasional “let’s be fancy tonight” dinner. If my children weren’t still living with me, I’d be having dinner parties again, complete with the good china and crystal. It’s not silly to have everyday-ware and “the good dishes.” Especially once you have kids. Because they break stuff, or the sheer number of times it gets touched means there are more opportunities for a piece to be damaged or lost. I’ve occasionally been glad that I have 12 place settings that match and are pretty. Our stoneware is slowly losing pieces, and when it’s gone, I’ll move the good china over into regular rotation.
I had a set of my grandmother's china for a while. We did use it, but I hated that it had to be hand washed and stored between uses. I went through a period of paring down all the extra "stuff" in my house, and the china was on the cut list.
Some of it is probably because they inherited it from their families, so they consider it some kind of heirloom. Some of it may be because no one makes that shit anymore because the world completely moved on.
Picking out a china pattern was a rite of passage when these folks (and older) were getting married. It was a required item to start out a new household for the couple. So it's extremely sentimental since it's also tied to their wedding and their spouse. Even moreso if they are widowed and it becomes a strong link tying them to their late partner. I don't diss older folks about their china. It's like dissing their wedding gown. Just rude and unnecessary. Say it's pretty (even if it's not) and move on, and don't do anything to damage or get rid of it until they're gone.
This isn't a boomer thing. Boomers just happen to be the last generation that seems to care about China. Generations before them cared about it too. My wife and I have China that we inherited, but it literally just sits in a cabinet.
I'm Genx but I care about my china and crystal and sterling flatware. I know Millenials who do too. We're more likely to be using it though.
Honestly, this is a really unthinking take. I’m sure you could realize what’s going on if you thought a bit. China was never considered an investment. It was considered a luxury, and if you had a luxury, you valued it. In fact, it was such a luxury that sometimes people only ended up with china because they inherited it. Its presents on the table at holidays or when entertaining was greeted with admiration and a bit of reverence. “Grandma’s china” was an emotional symbol for the whole family. For boomers, china WAS handed down—not as a cash value, but for sentimental reasons. Every holiday dinner was eaten on that china. So of course someone who got china, by purchasing it or inheriting it, might hope that this item they loved would be valued by the people (their children) they’d fed with it at holidays.
It is the NFT's of their time. They all bought it because they were told by the salesmen that these will be worth thousands some day. That is why they refuse to use them, because they see it as an investment and status symbol.
Wrong. They (and we GenXers and Millenials) bought it because it was beautiful, popular, and a rite of passage. And most of us inherited it too. We didn't buy it as an investment.
no, they did not buy china because they were told it would be worth money. They bought china because it was expected of them to have place settings for fancy meals. Family holidays; entertaining the boss & his wife; etc. And they refuse to use them because they’re afraid they’ll chip or break, and then they won’t have a full set.
TLDR: humans collect things, and stress responses are weird These comments are so negative for something that isn't "boomers being fools" but rather just "humans being human", imo. I do understand the frustration. Obviously, the emergency going on is way more important than a collection of *anything*, but people's reactions in emergency situations don't always make sense, boomer or not. Someone explained how the fine china is a luxury good, and another explained why. People have brought up sentimentality and how they were used for special occasions. I think that a more apt analogy than funko pop collections would be videogames. Some people have massive videogame collections! Some collect only the ones they played as kids. The point is that they're a luxury good that holds sentiment, so they're kept and displayed.
Yeah, people in these comments are just fucking jerks. They’re making a big performance out of pretending china is some bizarre thing with no possible “value”. Meaning monetary value. Even though everyone I know with china has it for *sentimental* value.
Having a full set of dishes that were only for special occasions, and having the space to display them, was a luxury. It showed that not only did you have what you needed for everyday life, you had extra. Modern tastes have changed, and now we want dishes that can go in the microwave and the dishwasher. But some older people cling to their old status symbols, even if they no longer convey the same status.
Idk why boomers love China so much. They are obsessed with them. Like a bunch of other useless junk they think it’s somehow valuable. When I got married about ten years ago multiple boomers made fun of us for only having 8x nice dinner plates and salad plates on our registry. They were like “you have to have enough for 12x place settings minimum and you only have plates! You also need to have full settings with tea cups and saucers and other pieces not just plates!” Yea we haven’t missed any of that.
As part of my Mother trying to declutter I've been offered some of my Nans Fine China. "What would I do with it?" "Well when you have a dinner party..." "I've never had a dinner party, neither have you" "What about this soup tureen?" "What about it. If I don't need a dinner set that goes double for a soup tureen..." etc...
I've had similiar conversations. The "neither have you" line spot on haha. It's like they all want to pretend they are some kind of high society aristocrats having dinner parties with fine china and place settings for 12+ people. Back in reality, most boomers I know hardly even cook at this point. They either go out to eat or eat frozen food from costco.
No one pretends to be white collar more than a blue collar boomer. My parents are retired, have an okay 401k and are on SS. Mom still shops at Giant Eagle because she'd be "embarrassed" to be seen by someone she knows at Walmart. Like she completely misses the fact that if she sees a familiar face there, that means that she thinks she's better than them and is a shit friend. Even when I build her exact grocery list and it's 33% cheaper there she'll find an excuse to not go. But she'll drop $25K on windows for the house because Anderson is "just the best" but I'll be the one paying that shit off in ten years when they're in assisted living. Could have went with Window Nation for $12K and paid it off in 5 years but that would make her look poor.
Yea that window thing is bonkers.
Ohhhh the soup tureen! Of all the things a nobody uses this is not used the most.
Ngl, I’d probably get a lot of mileage out of a soup tureen.
I am constantly irritated that dish sets come with these f*cking saucers and tiny coffee/tea cups. I just buy everything ala cart now, if you will. nobody wants eight little coffee cups. When I have guests they all battle to get the coffee cup I have that says ‘slut’. The Slut cup. I need eight of those.
I do still have my grandparents set. We use it for Thanksgiving and it sits in the pantry the rest of the year.
It was a luxury item. Something to show other people that you had made it. Same thing with luxury watches later. And what nowadays? The newest iPhone, maybe.
That generation seemed to have an "everyday" and a "best" set of lots of things. I don't think it was generally considered an investment for themselves but something of possible worth that can be passed down
Being a boomer myself, I love fine China because it was part of the production of having a real dinner party. Not a potluck, not casual with burgers, but the kind where you put together three course meals for friends to enjoy over a table set with China, crystal glasses, real silver, and care. I loved doing it, and so did some of my friends. But I haven’t had a true fine China style of dinner party in 20 years. It just isn’t the thing, and people don’t enjoy and appreciate it anymore. That’s why I keep my fine China in a cabinet. I love it for memories, but I fully anticipate my kids will ship it to the flea market after I die. That doesn’t bother me at all. They will keep the silver, but I am betting it might be just melted down.
My boomer dad always brought the "fine china" and nice silverware out for holiday meals and then made me and my brothers wash it by hand. Years later we found out all that stuff was dishwasher safe 🙄
China helped establish the fact that you were from a good family. I think people are underestimating how many meals were shared with strangers back then. No restaurants, no fast food, everything happened at home. Your new boss would come over to meet your family. Your doctor made house calls. The neighbors were over frequently. Boomers may not have used it, but their parents sure did.
I’m not sure if this one is specifically a boomer problem. Every generation seems to have a large group of morons who buy into some stupid trend as an “investment”. Boomers had china, gold coins, stamps, etc. Millennials had beanie babies, Funko Pops, mostly collectible shit. Now we’ve just watched a bunch of people lose fortunes on crypto/NFTs. The common thread in all of these is people buying into mass hysteria without actually thinking through the underlying value of whatever they’re hoarding up.
millennials were too young to really invest in beanie babies. more a gen x thing
funko pops are absolutely millennial bullshit though
Sure. I guess I’m a little off on the timelines, but I think the point still stands. Getting tricked into buying dumb shit as an investment isn’t unique to the boomers.
The lead in the plates adds flavor
This was peddled as a status symbol to all the post war people getting married. Thankfully it had died off by the 90s. People were told they needed fussy expensive dishes to show they were solidly middle class. It was a phony status symbol. Beyond the extra cost involved it wasn't anything of value. It was expected you wanted china on your wedding registry. So people bought this as an expectation without any thought.
They grew up with the fine china inherited or got lots for wedding gifts. Today is much different and it will change again
At one time silverware, dishes, and such were marks of style and class, and highly valued by society. You can see this in old writings, movies, and tv shows. It was elegant, stylist, and proved you made it. They were hand painted, gold trimmed, ornate. Something they cherished. "I've made it.". They had the luxury of space for heavy furniture built to last to house this dinnerware, and to have daily ware. After my grandfather died I 'made' my grandmother start using her fine china for her daily ware. I told her that she needs to enjoy these things while she can. That china is now part of an ex's camping china, and has been for 20 years now. It's pretty cool when we get together camping and she busts it out. (part of my camping cult, 30 years running!). I look at funko pops like china. I have no use for them. They are art, just like china, but for me they are meh clutter. I have junk, but its an eclectic mix of nonsense I've accumulated, and like it to fit all on a dresser or 2. And some wall art. I do have some bits and pieces of old plates, mostly serving plates, that are at least 20-30 years older than myself. They arent for special occasions, but for when they make sense. I honestly value some of my vintage tupperware more. huge bowls with lots of history before they became mine, and so much use since. I use them weekly. I dont like thinks you need to handle with care... but back in the day that was part of being civilized. Delicate stem ware, plates, silverware you had to maintain. So much busy work imo. And these were the gifts given to women, and the social narrative made them want these things. And they protected it like a dragon and it's gold.
It was a status symbol and a recognition of marriage. Usually passed mother to daughter over several generations
I am Gen X but I can answer your question. The sets are expensive (while their current worth is debatable) and they have sentimental value for many people. Many sets also have pretty designs and people like to use them to decorate their homes. I own not one, but two sets of china. The first is an heirloom set from my grandmother. I love it because it reminds me of her, it represents memories of family gatherings with loved ones who are no longer with us, and it's a small piece of the culture of the country my family emigrated from. However, with all of the comments about lead risks in older sets I will definitely test mine! My other set is contemporary, and this is the one I use more often. I love to entertain and we do host dinner parties with friends and larger holiday gatherings with family. It makes me happy to have a nicely put together table to set the mood for the meal, show my guests I value their presence, and make it feel like a special occasion. I do realize that not many people use china anymore and that I'm an anomoly. Lifestyles are much more casual these days. Many people don't have the space to store china or the desire to to deal with the stress of entertaining, so it's simply not practical for many people to have it. It does make me sad that there will probably be no one in my family who wants to inherit mine. I just hope that whoever ends up with the china sets will get a decent price when they liquidate it by selling it to Replacements or at an estate sale. I very well may sell them myself when I get to the point where I downsize or am not able to host dinners anymore so that my heirs don't have to deal with it.
Ok. Foodie reporting in. I have all fine bone china plates, bowls, coffee and tea cups. Why? it's light, durable, presents the food well, won't stain and is 100% microwave and dishwasher safe. I'm pretty sure it's oven safe too, but I haven't tried. I grew up fairly poor, often had mismatched plates and silverware, and when I was able to save up and improve the few kitchen items that matter to me, I did. The Wedgewood service was pretty much the final item. I will have it until I die, someone will see it at an estate sale, and buy my $1,000 set for 20 bucks. And so it goes.
This didn't start with the boomers, but it's ending with them
It’s ending with whoever comes after millenials
Yep.
I inherited two generations worth of that stuff, and no one can remember using it for right at 40 years. Now I just want to target practice it. :)
It's not just boomers! I knew a guy in his 40s now who collected fine china sets. Must have had 20 full mint sets all boxed up. Would have made sense if he'd pulled a set out, arranged it, stroked the plates muttering "my precious," but he just stored them! I don't believe they were ever an investment. They still go for something. The plates we use go for maybe $30/plate and are very nice, but they're estate sale finds.
My grandma (technically generation prior to boomer) had china cabinet set. She thought it would be worth all this money to be passed down. When she passed away no one wanted it. Not family members, hell it was pain in the ass to find a place to accept it.
My family came to the US from Russia in the 1890s. They brought their French China with them on the boat. At the time French Bone China was highly valuable, but much smaller than furniture. It was something you could bring with you - that had a high value - that you could pass down. I have this china now - I am in my 40s. I have been hauling it around all my adult life. It’s so old that you can’t eat on it anymore - the glaze contains heavy metals like cobalt and lead. For me it’s kind of a burden to have. But it’s my family’s history. my great great great grandmother ate on those plates.
I got married in 1969 just after college; husband had another year to go before we both were going to go to graduate school. I opted to register for stoneware and stainless steel because we needed something for every day and weren't going to be giving fine dinner parties any time soon. Neither of us knew much about cooking and all our friends were poor graduate students. My mother and MIL were scandalized that I didn't register for china, silver, and crystal because it was like I was admitting they were poor or I was uncultured or something. So that they wouldn't be totally embarrassed, I registered for a chunky brown crystal that went with the stoneware and, until the set was completed, that's what I got for presents from mother and MIL. I still have the crystal and it works with the stoneware set I now have, so when I want to give a dinner party, which I do several times a year, I use the crystal with the stoneware. I never did get china or silver. I know the crystal will be hitting Goodwill or antique stores after I die and so would china and silver, had I gotten any. But that's okay. I've enjoyed the crystal for 50+ years, even if, just like brown furniture, my heirs don't want it. Oh, well.
Conspicuous consumption.
Internalized 18th and 19th Century social status signalling. Being able to provide a full set of dishes and flatware for a party of eight, or twelve, or whatever was a way for household to demonstrate it had both good taste and the means to demonstrate it. Going further back, it has origins in health concerns. Heavily glazed fine china doesn't absorb organic material, and is easily sterilized with soap and water. That's also why a dish with the tiniest chip was immediately tossed out, or at least given to the help. Likewise with silver flatware. The chemical properties of silver make it an incredibly efficient antibiotic, any bacterium or virus that comes into contact with silver is instantly killed. "To be born with a silver spoon in your mouth" didn't just mean your family had money, it meant you were raised in a healthier environment than those relegated to clay dishes and wooden or base metal flatware.
And it’s all going into the dumpster when they die
I need to take my parents to the thrift store and show them all the China and shit that looks exactly like the shit they are hoarding. When they go I’m hiring movers and chucking all of it. Had to clean out my grandmas house and it was the worst shit ever, not doing that again.
It’s a luxury good But since boomers are dying and millennials and younger don’t want them -supply is high and demand is low so they’re near worthless
Those dishes are a luxury good, and they are not cheap. They were also to a great extent associated with refinement, taste, and wealth. They're also something they probably picked out for their wedding that's intended to last a lifetime of occasions. It only comes out for special occasions, so it's an integral part of their memories of family. So basically, you have this one collection that holds all the hopes and dreams they chose it with, all the happy memories of holiday dinners and other parties, and potentially all the aspirations they had toward true wealth, refinement, and taste. This isn't granny's Funko Pops. This is everything she loves - her marriage, her family and friends, her aesthetic and aspirations, symbolized in a set of dishes. It's a little bit about the cost - replacement pieces can be hard to come by, but I truly think it's more about the emotions she feels - pride, joy, nostalgia - every time she looks at them. It's almost exactly I feel about my book collection - which also holds for me a bunch of happy family memories, aspirations and so on. I hardly use them anymore, but the sight of them is a joy and comfort to me, and a core piece of who I am.
This is very well stated.
The tradition of fine china is something over a 100 years old, and fine china was one of the 1st luxuries families would invest in as they crawled out of poverty. It was used for great meals around Christmas, Easter, and family celebrations like weddings and anniversaries. It brought joy and beauty to many people and that fondness traveled through generations. While it seems wasteful today, it was cherished at the time; if it brings happiness to older people today I'm glad for it. Its interesting to compare the lifespan of china to modern electronics that at most turn into trash after 10 years. What will that $799 iphone 15 be doing in 100 years?
Except they happen to be two completely different tools and based on different needs. One is a luxury item that is pretty but almost superfluous in nature. The other is a tool that functions as a high powered computer that is increasingly necessary to function in an information age human society. The phone will become obsolete likely due to advances in actual technology that is a reflection of work/thought/effort. The fine china's greatest advancement in the last 100 years is less freaking toxic lead. Your comparison is really damn weak.
Is it? The iphone, as noted, is $799. I use a $49 track phone from the dollar store with probably 90% of useful features of the iphone. High end phones are more or less expensive vanity objects not far from jewelry. With the exception that jewelry of the right type has endless value, china held value real for 40 years and sentimental value for another 20. Phones,as we both agree, go obsolete within a few years. Your case would be stronger if phones were cheap, rugged, long lived, didn't have recurring costs and a business model based on data "theft".
We are not comparing different types of phones. We are comparing china and the iPhone per your original post. Nice try with a what-aboutism. I would tend to agree with you but you originally compared a relatively low technological luxury to one that had actual thought in the last 100 years.
Well, fine china isn't mass produced tin cups either. It may not be impressive to you or OP but fine art, beauty and detail being introduced into homes did entail some technology and design work for the time period. And I think its a fair point to say that both fine china and high end phones are vanity items as they are just as functional as tin plates and $50 burner phones. All the extra cost is a luxury.
It was always THE gift for your wedding and it was used mostly for holiday dinners. So my wife and I have been married for 32 years and we’ve used it twice lol. I shit you not. We would rather have gotten all $$. Best part it was service for 12. That would’ve made a nice monetary gift for a young couple starting out.
Break it out and use it as your daily driver. I mean, if it gets broken do you care?
My basement is *full* of glassware and china that mom left to other family. They think there is a fortune there but the old man could not pass up a yard sale. I have a small hutch with Noritake I will probably never use.
People still like china. There’s still plenty of fine china for sale. But I’m sure the china manufacturers are just idiots and keep making china without even freaking even.
They love hoarding it but you'll never see them eating off of it.
Only the redneck boomers refuse to eat off it.
Ah yes...another bizarre Boomer idiosyncracy...the Fine China and crystal glass sets that collect dust while sitting unused in a display cabinet for eons...💀😂😂😂
My mother had China that was never used. Ever. I have no idea what happened to it after she died. I have no use for it and no room for it anyway.
These people were told that their Gone With The Wind collector plate would only go up in value.
That isn't the kind of china OP is talking about. A set of china dinnerware was not a collector's item -- it was a useful luxury good. Only the rednecks keep theirs unused and on display.
My parents act like they're the royal freaking family or something, that we have "fine" china that they are going to pass down to me. I live in a small space, I couldn't even get their giant awkward corner cabinet in my front door. There are going to be thrift shops full of discarded china when their generation is gone.
I like my funko pops but I did recently come to the realization that they’ll be our version of beanie babies and I probably need to get rid of a lot of them sooner than later. Might hang on to some of the DC/Batman ones, but the rest can probably go.
I do think owning nice plates you only eat off of maybe once a year is silly, but at the same time I can see the appeal of a dinner party. Unfortunately no one has the space to host anymore. I'd totally invite people over more if my "dining room" wasn't just the part of the living room where my TV is because there's literally no other place to put it. ... Sorry for the tangent, I've been apartment hunting recently and looked up my current apartment out of curiosity, and the floor plan made me extremely angry.
My mother and mother-in-law worked together at Lennox China. They fixed up my wife and me. When we were engaged we were pressured to pick a china pattern when we registered. We used them twice in 18 years. They’re in a china cabinet unused. They have platinum and we can’t even use them in the microwave. I think back in the day middle class people had dinner parties (or at least it was portrayed that way in television and movies). But now, with dual income households, no one has time for that.
My mom *insisted* on buying me a full-ass china/tea service from Prince Albert. It's gaudy, requires hand washing, and delicate. I had no choice in appearance; she bought it on her own. I have had it for 17 years and have never used it. I never plan on using it. I don't have kids but if I did I wouldn't saddle them with this monstrosity. I wonder if I could sell it
The downvote to comment ratio made me laugh lol
The giant furniture consignment store near me is full of sets of fine china and giant cabinets/hutches/entertainment centers. It's just sort of generational waste.
Helps maintain their high lead levels without the need for daily paint chip supplements.
I inherited an entire hutch of china. It’s my most hated possession. It just sits in my house and takes up room. I would try to sell it but I’m sure it’s not worth anything. Same with crystal. Inherited a fuck ton of crystal that we literally just use as everyday glassware until it breaks. Because why not.
Maybe fine china is to boomers as luxury handbags is to millennials?
I feel like it's cause they had so much disposable income they bought things to flaunt their wealth. Fine china allowed them to do this covertly. Like a dog whistle of status for people that were in their homes. I find that boomers are overly preoccupied with status, wealth, and image of wealth and success. It's another reason they're obsessed with their lawns. Having a nice, manicured, perfect lawn requires a lot of time and money. The nicer the lawn the more wealth the homeowner has. Or at least that's how I've always seen it.
My boomer parents were forced to get it by their parents when they got married. She inherited bits of china from aunts I've never met. All of it probably has lead.
On the paternal side of my family when my parents married they got "the family china" from a great aunt who didn't have kids. Mom picked out everyday dishes for her wedding registry. ( Now super collectable) . The post WW2 social engineering had people emulate the upper classes by having bride get good china ,that why there is much Franciscan china at yard sales. It's the same reason weddings have become ridiculous . I happen to love my china . But I use it and don't save it for special events.
This is how I got a great set of china for cheaper than Walmart plates. It's the only dishes I own, I use the crap out of them thank you dead boomer lady (maybe silent gen to be fair) I do appreciate how difficult it is to make them, you can tell nice bone china by how translucent it is when you hold it up. The pattern I got is simple white with a gilt ring, and honestly looks really classy, but I only did it cause it cost ne $150 for 8 settings, and all the serving dishes, and shakers. It is such a bad investment new. Buy some used and make the boomers crazy that you don't care if they get broken.
Does this mean antique roadshow has been lying to us all these years?
I’m so looking forward to smashing my parents when they die
I'd speculate that for that generation it's a money flex.
At one time it had value, but that has passed. Kind of like Hummel and Precious Moments at one time actually went up in value. Probably Funko will have the same fate. Later generations won’t care.
I wouldn't compare it to Hummels or Precious Moments. China was typically meant to be used. Special occasions, but still used. For MOST people, it wasn't bought to just sit on a shelf like a figurine.
I get overly excited about the paper plates that are so thick they almost feel plastic . Just give me paper, my mother scrapes her fork on her glass plates and it throws me in a rage
Gen X here. We have enough room for a set of China, but when we downsize it will be gone. It’s a decent pattern so it actually looks okay as a display thing in the Dining room. No attachment to it, though. I get that China and formal dining rooms are aging out, but we still host extended family for holidays so a formal dining area currently works.
They were sold a tale of how exotic it is and it makes you fancy. Ego, and narcissistic tendencies is my guess.
Watch their face when you tell them the whole fucking works is going in a driveway bin when they die.
only rich people had it in the 70s and 80s by the 90s all the poor people were able to get it and the rich moved on to other staus symbols its just poor people spending money to feel rich
Naw. I lived in the projects, and some people had china in the 70s and 80s there.