More porcelain pictures for you

[wiseheart]

The first one is Grandma's coffee set - sadly, incomplete. We only have the 5 cups and 4 saucers left. Too bad, I love the pattern:



The second one is a real family heirloom: a tea set that once belonged to my great-great-grandmother, from my maternal grandfather's side, also known in family history as Grandma Schmitz. I wonder, how many cups and saucers there originally had been - we have 13 cups and 8 cups left. The slightly blackened silver teaspoons are from Grandma, too.



So this is the last of the china photographs. Next will be the dinner service(s), should we ever face the challenge to take them out for a good washing and set the table properly. One of them is a wonderfully simple one, with just a thin gold pattern on the edges, but the other one is really elaborate, and has wine and liquor glasses etched with the same pattern as the china. Of course, only two from the latter have survived World War 2 and several moves, but they are still amazing.

/as always, click to enlarge/

Comments

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

The lids on the set above look 30's, but the pattern later? Hard to know as I don't know the styles of Hungarian china!

The one below looks "late Victorian" :D

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I really don't have a clue. They aren't any known brand, in fact, while we found some marks on the bottoms, nothing recognizable. But they are pretty, and that's enough for me.

The above set might very well come from the 30s, as Grandma married in 1927, and it is from her early years as a housewife.

[spikesgirl58.livejournal.com]

Those are lovely. The design upon the second one is so delicate.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Although I'm not a china person myself, I like that one very much, too. The outlines are so elegant and not over-decorated.

[akane42me.livejournal.com]

What beautiful treasures.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sometimes I think it's insane that we practically never use them. They weren't meant to collect dust in the cupboard. But as we hardly ever have any visitors...

[akane42me.livejournal.com]

I have dishes from my mom and my M-I-L. We use them on Thanksgiving. I love getting them down from the high cupboards and thinking of days gone by.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

We definitely should do that more often. Even though we don't have Thanksgiving.

[elwenlj.livejournal.com]

I like the first one best as well. Our family couldn't afford tea services...we're more of the Bell Gamgee strata of society than the Bilbo Baggins...but I do have a tea service (minus tea pot) that belonged to my great grandma. It's not an expensive one, but it's pretty and a link to the past...even though my great grandma was not the nicest of ladies.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Oh, we weren't particularly wealthy, either. All Grandma's stuff was either inherited from Grandpa's side (whose parents had a pub in Brasov) or given as wedding gifts. Mum could only get her own service for a reasonable price through some colleagues with connections, and because china was not so insanely expensive 30-40 years ago as it is now. I still prefer Grandma's stuff, though, even if it isn't any known brand.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

I particularly like the coffee set. Sadly I have very little family china.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I wonder how my grandparents and Mum managed to save all this stuff through deportation, immigration and several movings. Must have been real passion for them.

[mirasaui.livejournal.com]

Your china sets are so lovely! I've never cared so much for brand, just whether or not I love the pattern. But, I do have a passion for china and porcelain. In addition to that from my Mom, I have several dinner sets plus a dessert collection of reticulated German porcelain plates inherited from my great aunt. We use inexpensive porcelain plates for everyday. I don't use a dishwasher and like the feel of porcelain in the wash water and on the table as opposed to iron, stoneware, or plastic, plus the care and upkeep is easy as long as pieces are not dropped.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

We don't have a dishwasher, either; and you are right: the feel of porcelain is something really unique. Besides, stoneware breaks, too, when you drop it. ;))