Vintage Thingie Thursday: New Service Pieces for My Old Set of China

It's a wise husband who will buy his wife such fine china that she won't trust him to wash the dishes. –Unknown

Last spring, I inherited my Grandma's china. I was really excited to have something so special that belonged to her. I received service for eight {minus one cereal bowl} plus an oval serving platter and an oval serving dish. In general, I'm not much of a fan of vintage or antique for me because when I find something I like, I want to have the whole set and not just one piece. Collecting vintage often means that you can only find a few pieces and the missing ones are irreplaceable.

When I got my china set, I poked around eBay a bit and Googled to see what I could find. I came across Replacements, Ltd., whose motto is, We replace the irreplaceable!® I was so excited because they had pieces for my china set which was discontinued about 32 years ago. When I made out my Christmas list, I made sure to include a few pieces that I was keen on getting and guess what? My mom totally came through! She got me a a second oval serving dish and a round serving dish as well. I was really excited about that.

My birthday is three weeks after Christmas. There are pros and cons to that. One of the pros is that if I didn't get everything I wanted for Christmas, I can always ask for it for my birthday. And once again, my mom really made my birthday. She got me the gravy boat I've been coveting from the moment I found out there was one that matched my set. I absolutely love it! She ordered it a week before my birthday and it just got here this week. Obviously they thought the label said slow boat instead of gravy boat because it took three weeks to get here.

It was totally worth the wait. I'm all weak in the knees for this adorable little gravy boat. There are little divots on either end of the bowl to rest the spoon in the rim, and the underplate is attached for ease in transportation. The best part is that it is all shiny and new. I would never guess that it was made in the late 60's {or even the late 70's; the pattern came out in 1962 and was discontinued in 1978. I'd guess my Grandma's set was purchased around 1965, but there is no telling exactly when these 'new' pieces were manufactured}. I haven't put it away yet because it makes me happy to walk by and see it on the kitchen counter. We're having mashed potatoes and gravy on Sunday so we can use it. I'm really excited.

And now I've got my eye on the butter dish and salt and pepper shakers. Too bad Christmas and my next birthday are so far away .

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