This beautiful china belonged to my mother.  When she moved to an assisted living facility I packed it up and stored it for my nephew.

I had no idea if he would want it or not, but perhaps one day he would value it?  It was a longshot, I knew, but I had to save the china just in case.

Sets of unwanted china litter consignment stores.  Really, you can’t give this stuff away…or so I’ve been told many times.  I have four sets of my own and I love using the plates on Thanksgiving.  But I don’t kid myself that anyone is hoping to inherit them.

Fast forward a few years, when my nephew’s parents assured me that the china would make a great gift for my soon-to-be-married nephew and his lovely fiancé.  Oh, the joy!  Last weekend I started the unpacking-scrubbing-stacking-counting process.   This china had never lived in a house with a dishwasher, so I washed it very carefully in the sink.

Because there were pieces missing (my mother bought the set from her landlady back in the 1940’s) I searched the internet for pieces to add.

“Replacements.com” referred to the pattern as “BAV137”, but had nothing available.  Neither did Etsy or Ebay, but I will keep looking.  It’s very old, possibly from 1898-1903. Or 1898-1923.

I know china is a thing of the past, like wedding goblets and cloth diapers, but I think it’s still special.

Do you?