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I know this is an odd question but our house is small (1000 square feet) and we are really cramped for space. I am the proud recipient of my great-grandmother's Noritake fine china set, I imagine it's over 100 years old. It is in good condition and it has all of it's pieces. The problem is, we don't have a dining room so we NEVER use it. We only have a small booth in our kitchen, that's it. Since we have no dining room, we don't have a china cabinet to hold all of these dishes. The set resides in our linen closet. I know that's a crazy place for it, but I want to make sure it doesn't break. We've been in this house for ten years and with the current housing market, I don't think we'll move anytime soon....
To make a long story short, do you think I should sell this china set? No one else in my family wants it (I'm the only daughter) and it takes up so much space. I love the sentiment of owning this china but will I ever use it? To be honest, I don't really care for the pattern-I'm more of a casual-mod sort of a girl. There is also a full set of silverware to go with it. I am married and we didn't register for china because we already had this set and we're not formal entertainers.
I know this is an odd question but our house is small (1000 square feet) and we are really cramped for space. I am the proud recipient of my great-grandmother's Noritake fine china set, I imagine it's over 100 years old. It is in good condition and it has all of it's pieces. The problem is, we don't have a dining room so we NEVER use it. We only have a small booth in our kitchen, that's it. Since we have no dining room, we don't have a china cabinet to hold all of these dishes. The set resides in our linen closet. I know that's a crazy place for it, but I want to make sure it doesn't break. We've been in this house for ten years and with the current housing market, I don't think we'll move anytime soon....
To make a long story short, do you think I should sell this china set? No one else in my family wants it (I'm the only daughter) and it takes up so much space. I love the sentiment of owning this china but will I ever use it? To be honest, I don't really care for the pattern-I'm more of a casual-mod sort of a girl. There is also a full set of silverware to go with it. I am married and we didn't register for china because we already had this set and we're not formal entertainers.
Please advise on what I should do!
I would do whatever I thought my great-grandmother would want me to do. Funny, my wife just recieved a beautiful set of china from her recently deceased great-aunt, and the other day she was trying to decide if she wanted to put it on display in the china cabinet in the dining room or keep her great-grandmother's set in there. Long story short, I may soon be forced to purchase another china cabinet.
Do what you want to do with it, not what anyone else thinks you should.
My opinion, though I tend to be a hopeless packrat and get sentimental about way too many material things- I'd keep the china partly because it's sentimental and partly because it might have monetary value, might increase the older it gets, especially being a complete set. Do you have anyone to pass it down to one day? Keep it in the family, that's neat, IMO.
Now my husband, he's one who never gets attached to any material things, considers everything replacable. Honestly if our house burned down he would miss very few things. He'd say if you have such a small house and never use the china and wouldn't miss it, get rid of it.
This is why I say do what you want to, not what anyone else thinks you should. You could probably get some good money for it on Ebay or Craigslist. Or, you could have a very nice and complete set of china as an heirloom to keep.
I meant to add, I'd consider the china to be of more sentimental value because it's your great-grandmother's. If it was just some old, complete set of china it wouldn't mean much but I personally would hold onto anything I had from a great grandmother, but then, I have 2 daughters to pass things down to one day.
I think it's really special to have something from your great-grandmother. But if you truly don't have the space for it and don't really care to keep it, you could always sell it. Don't feel guilty if you don't want it- a set of china takes up a good amount of space in a small house.
I think it is a personal decision. Some people are very sentimental about these things and others not. If you think 10 or 20 years down the road you will regret selling it or would one day like to leave it to your possible future daughter I would keep it.
I can relate to your dilema. I have two sets of old Noritake (similar looking which I use together) from my grandmother (b. 1886). It's nothing I would have chosen for myself. I do use it on the rare occasions when I have a lot of people (I have 18 place settings).
I am downsizing and would like to not drag it along behind me, but a few things keep me from doing so...
1. I do have a granddaughter who I can maybe pawn it off on someday.
2. It would bring very little money..the old Noritake is very common.
3. In a strange way, when I use it I always think of and wonder about the people who used it before. Like, who were the people at the table? What did they talk about? It's a connection to those who came before that is comforting to me.
This being said, if you'd feel relief to be rid of it, go ahead. If you'd feel bad getting rid of it, then why not just use it?
Did you have a special bond with your great-grandmother, where you need the china to remember that, or did you just get the china handed down to you because you where "the next in line"? Personally, if you never use it, it's somewhat in the way and could potentially get damaged anyway, and there's no special bond that drive you to keep it, I'd sell it and move on. Of course, that's coming from a cold, unsentimental man, so take it for what it's worth......lol.
I'm a very sentimental person, my house is full of antiques from them. I even have some divided depression ware plates that belonged to my Father's Mother, no great value but we use them everyday.
I love to have things like this from the past. I also have fine china and silver but I was raised where we used them on special occasions.
I personally would keep them. If you don't have room for them to be put out now, then I would pack them up well and store them. The problem with something this sentimental, once you sell them, they are gone. You might just have a child who wants to own something like that.
I enjoy setting the table on special occasions with my china and silver. Its sort of like a ritual.
Littledog, for some reason I get the impression that you are almost "asking for permission" to get rid of it. i.e. "I really don't want it, but it WAS my great-grandmother's, so if I sell it am I doing a bad, unsentimental thing?". I've had similar feelings in the past about objects and felt a little bit guilty about wanting let go of some things. Ultimately, I've let go and honestly never looked back. Nothing wrong with that. So if you really just want to declutter and get rid of the china - Go for it!
I do have my grandmother's china....BUT I do use it at least once a year and I really enjoy it when I do. Hers was antique when she bought it, so I have no idea, really, of how old it is or how valuable. I keep it because I enjoy using it on special occasions (even though I am, at heart, a casual person). I keep it put away, out of sight, and haul it our when the occasion arises....of course I do have a lot more storage space than you do, so it really isn't in my way or anything.
I've carried around "heirlooms" for years. I finally realized they no longer belong to ancestors, but to me. I sold most things that I had boxed up in the attic. Not only is it liberating, the money can be used to buy what I need. I hope when my stuff is passed to someone, they will not feel forced to keep it forever.
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