Do you replace precious items broken or lost?

Calendargirl

Dare I suggest that in time to come, dinner services will make a come back and be all the rage?

It only needs some popular ‘influencer’ or trendy tv chef to decide they are the ‘in’ thing, and off we go.

I also think that ‘open plan’ rooms will have their day, and dining rooms will make a comeback.

The dinner services will be in demand then.

🍽️

My gran had a load of brooches; it was her thing. Nothing of value, but now they are "mid-century costume jewllery" and fashionable.
My mum had a McIntosh dining suite. In 2015 I sold one of 2 dressers and a coffee table - auctioneer gave me a whole £8 - the remaining dresser would sell for between £400 and £1,000. Things go around, so if you have room in your loft, or better still your children's loft, perhaps worth keeping

my husband was in the royal navy when we got married, he sent me a very delicate coffee set from Singapore, I kept it in those glass display cabinets, from the 1960's,I don't know how it happened but the glass shelf slipped and the cups fell and broke. I sat at the table with a tube of superglue and stuck them together...58 years later I still have them.

MT62

Thanks for the tip. What a good idea to mend a broken dish.
It’s just the bottom of the vase that is affected, otherwise it looks fine.
I sit it on a coaster so that it doesn’t scratch the sill.
I love it because it’s gold & blue, crackle glass & casts a beautiful pattern on the wall when the sun shines.

That’s to Coll

Thanks for the tip. What a good idea to mend a broken dish.
It’s just the bottom of the vase that is affected, otherwise it looks fine.
I sit it on a coaster so that it doesn’t scratch the sill.
I love it because it’s gold & blue, crackle glass & casts a beautiful pattern on the wall when the sun shines.

I blame dishwasher for demise of precious china. Also a lot of things were gilded and that did not agree with microwaves. Then there is the prevalance of mugs over cups and saucers which is the follow on from use of teabags and demise of teapots.

Not usually. Perhaps if item was acquired recently I may, as with being recent it may have been acquired for a purpose but not if old.

Moving house and have to downsize - lots of stuff to get rid of. Crockery kept for best and rarely used - at the end of the day it’s only stuff! Losing sentimental jewellery etc is sad and can never be replaced- but that’s life I suppose, we have to draw a line and move on

Sadly, I lost my engagement ring on holiday about 7 years ago. I was absolutely heartbroken as I hadn't noticed I wasn't wearing it and had no idea exactly when it disappeared. I suspect it was whilst I was in the sea. The annoying thing is that I knew it was a bit loose and was intending to take it to the jeweller to be made smaller when we got back. I did get another ring and deliberately chose one completely different to my engagement ring which of course I could never replace. The new one is just a ring, I'm not sentimentally attached to it. On another note, we had house sitters recently who broke 2 Emma Bridgwater mugs and then lied about it and tried to hismde the evidence. Both had been presents and I was very attached to them. I did buy 2 new ones but totally different designs - again, I couldn't really replace 2 gifts. Just to say - we've had a number of housesitters over the years and, til the last pair, we'd always had lovely people. They were something else!

BlueSapphire

A few years back late DH bought me some beautiful diamond stud ear-rings, and a few months after he died I lost one - I was heartbroken and searched high and low to no avail.
Eventually I claimed on my house insurance and it was replaced with an identical match.

About a year later DGD2 was playing here and found it - stuck between the carpet and the skirting board! I let the insurance company know (as you should do,) and they said to keep it as a spare.

I have also smashed a few of my lovely Dartington wine glasses, always replaced them, and also broke a Danish glass dessert bowl, which is irreplaceable, being over 50 years old and no longer made. We.thought they were extravagant and expensive when we bought them, paying £16 for the set of 4 in about 1973!

What is the make of your dessert bowl Blue Sapphire?
I have all my wedding presents and never broken any. Glasses, crockery, cutlery bowls it is all Danish. We have lived in most of our lives so not really used any of it much. Now I am trying to get rid of it in particular my Atlanti Holmegaard glasses. I am selling hem on Vinted and only have the 50ml and 25ml sizes left. The rest have gone. I have just kept 6 of each of the wine and beer glasses. We had 24 of each originally. I live on my own now and never enteVinted although you only get peanuts for it all. The only thing I have replaced is my wedding ring which went down he drain. The insurance company had one done for me in Hatton garden as that too was Danish design and 24 carrot Gold. Sadly it is not identically but nice. However the sentimental value has totally gone as you will understand.

A few years back late DH bought me some beautiful diamond stud ear-rings, and a few months after he died I lost one - I was heartbroken and searched high and low to no avail.
Eventually I claimed on my house insurance and it was replaced with an identical match.

About a year later DGD2 was playing here and found it - stuck between the carpet and the skirting board! I let the insurance company know (as you should do,) and they said to keep it as a spare.

I have also smashed a few of my lovely Dartington wine glasses, always replaced them, and also broke a Danish glass dessert bowl, which is irreplaceable, being over 50 years old and no longer made. We.thought they were extravagant and expensive when we bought them, paying £16 for the set of 4 in about 1973!

MT62

I had a vase bought for me my now deceased sister.
I caught it whilst closing the curtains, it fell & the bottom smashed. I was really upset so phoned the shop up in Iron bridge to see if they had a replacement- no!
So still, it sits on the window sill.
I can’t bare to part with it.

MT62. have you thought of this traditional way of repair?
Then the break becomes part of the history of the piece.
You can have it done or buy a kit and do it yourself.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/326qTYw26156P9k92v8zr3C/broken-a-pot-copy-the-japanese-and-fix-it-with-gold

I put some things away over Christmas to put out decorations. One of them was a Swarovski butterfly given to me by one of my children.
Somehow when I took it out of the box after Christmas it was broken. I could try to fix it but it is quite fragile and in several pieces so I looked on eBay and there are some for sale and not very expensive. I think I might just buy one.

I had a vase bought for me my now deceased sister.
I caught it whilst closing the curtains, it fell & the bottom smashed. I was really upset so phoned the shop up in Iron bridge to see if they had a replacement- no!
So still, it sits on the window sill.
I can’t bare to part with it.

petra

Grannynannywanny
I’ve been sorting donations in a charity shop for 10 years. We have to dump these tea/ dinner services all the time. We don’t enjoy doing it but there’s only so much room to show them.
Added to that we have to pay for our skip to be emptied.

My mother loved the Wedgwood china that she used for most of her married life. Before she died she asked me to be sure to sell it. Sadly I couldn't as all the replacement china dealers told me that there was no demand for it, but some pieces went to her local WI, some to a local clubroom, and the rest to a charity shop.
We once had a burglary and I tried to buy a replacement necklace but it was not nearly such good quality as the original and I eventually sold it and bought something entirely different. I think that if we were ever to be robbed again I'd buy completly different things.

I've lost so many things after my family passed away 10 years ago due to fact I did not have enough room to bring them home. Now if I break or lose anything I feel well detached and move on.

I use all my crockery etc and don’t replace it like - for -like when the inevitable breakages happen. I look around for a practical replacement if necessary.

Why? Because we cleared my MiL’s house of mountains of crockery and trinkets.
My mum has lots of ornaments, each one precious to her and each has its own story attached.
I take the view that they are her memories and stories of her friends, not mine, so no sentiment attached.

I agree Calendar girl, I love to see my dining table room set with my china bought 30 years ago.
I am not too much in favour of the big open plan.

Maremia

Apart from the dishwasher problem, some of the lovely old crockery has gold embellishments, and so can't be used in a microwave.

My modern best china dinner service has a silver rim.
I dud realise that when I picked it.

Apart from the dishwasher problem, some of the lovely old crockery has gold embellishments, and so can't be used in a microwave.

Exactly Allira
Well loved.

NotSpaghetti

I am putting nearly all my china in the dishwasher now and have moved some of it into the kitchen for everyday use... I'd rather use it and have the pattern wash off than never see it.

I admit, I don't use the gravy boat a lot - or my enormous chargers!

My parents gave us a dinner and tea service, not as a wedding gift but afterwards because Mum realised that we hadn't been given a dinner service as a wedding gift.
I did put them in the dishwasher after we had one and yes, the pattern came off and eventually many bits got broken but it was well used and loved over all those years.

I am putting nearly all my china in the dishwasher now and have moved some of it into the kitchen for everyday use... I'd rather use it and have the pattern wash off than never see it.

I admit, I don't use the gravy boat a lot - or my enormous chargers!

Primrose53

When I was still at school in the early 70s I worked weekends and holidays in a gift shop. We stocked the full range of Toni Raymond pottery which was based in Torquay, Devon.

I bought a couple of tiny bits like a mint sauce jug and a door plaque for my bedroom. The designs were bright and cheerful with black lettering saying what they were for eg Celery, Beetroot, Spring Onions. Many years later I noticed a jug was cracked so I bought another at a car boot sale and then got rather addicted and bought loads more. It is now quite collectable.

😲

Oh, I sent my pickled onion jar to the charity shop!
I hope someone bought it and loves it.

People do not buy china from charity shops unless they are dishwasher friendly
This is why.

When I was still at school in the early 70s I worked weekends and holidays in a gift shop. We stocked the full range of Toni Raymond pottery which was based in Torquay, Devon.

I bought a couple of tiny bits like a mint sauce jug and a door plaque for my bedroom. The designs were bright and cheerful with black lettering saying what they were for eg Celery, Beetroot, Spring Onions. Many years later I noticed a jug was cracked so I bought another at a car boot sale and then got rather addicted and bought loads more. It is now quite collectable.