When on holiday a few weeks ago we visited the Waterford Crystal factory and the group chatted about it later, in the bar. I commented that I have a lot of Stuart Cyrstal, OK, not as nice as Waterford but still lovely. I have had it 40 years, well most of it, but doubt whether it has been used 40 times, in fact some of it has never been used.

A couple of people said to just use it, if it breaks then it breaks. I am fairly sure that when I die my daughter will give it to a charity shop, she won't want it.

So by the side of me I have a glass of wine, in a fine crystal wine glass! It does taste nice from it I have to admit, it is so much nicer than drinking from cheap pressed glass.

Come on, own up, who else eats and drinks from old stuff and keeps the nice stuff in the cupboard. I did get some Wedgewood china out years ago and none has broken yet and I put it in the dishwasher.

I put everything away when my children were young, but you are right! It is time to get it out and use it.

No point in having lovely things just sitting around, collecting dust and waiting for you to die, so they can go to a new home and sit around, collecting dust...

I'm just too clumsy to use decent glassware or crockery. My stuff comes from market barrows and pound shops, because I know I'll break it sooner or later.

Hi Sue:

I have quite a few pieces of Waterford, Wedgwood, Baccarat and others that mean a great deal to me; most were purchased on trips that I have wonderful memories of. They are more than just plates, vases, decanters and so on; they are cherished memories that mean the world to me. Not to anyone else.

So I now use them frequently and with each bite and sip I smile with the warm memories they bring.

That is excellent advice Rich.

I had most of my belongings in a storage unit for almost 10 years. Two years ago, when hubby and I bought a new house the storage locker was emptied and I had all my "stuff" around me again. I have quite a few antiques, loads of crystal, and lots of china. When everything was put in it's place the new rule of the house became, "if you see it and want to use it, by all means do so". I don't care if it's my great-grandmothers china or my crystal wine goblets....please make use of it. There's no use for it to be sitting in cupboards hidden away or locked in the china cabinet to be brought out maybe only once or twice a year. If it gets broken, it gets broken. It's just stuff.

When I was setting up one room in the new house, I had a bunch of china cups and saucers that I laid out on a large, low table, then covered it with a sheet to keep from getting dusty while I worked in the room. Just as I covered it and turned away, I heard an awful crashing and clattering noise. I turned to see poor ClaraSue (my 12 year old Shar-pei mix for those that don't know) scrambling like mad to get off the table. She had thought that I was making up a bed for her and jumped on the table (it was a low one, remember?) and when she landed on all the china, it slid around and crashed into each other, then on to the floor in shatters. I felt awful for a moment about the broken pieces but then became more worried for my aging pup. She wasn't cut anywhere but many cups and plates were broken so I had to throw them out. Family members and friends were amazed that I didn't get mad at Clara for breaking up the china. Like I said, it's just stuff and ClaraSue has given me more pleasure and company in the last 12 years than any glass pieces could.

When my step-children came for Christmas this last year, I told them the rule to use what they want and the heck with it if it gets broke. My step-daughter had a great time every evening going through the china cabinet looking for a goblet or plate to drink out of or eat off of. It gave me pleasure to know that they were being used and no, nothing got broke. But if it did....oh, well.

I agree. People forget that all this stuff was originally made to be used. It's only worth money if you actually get round to selling it. A glass of wine tastes nicer out of a good crystal goblet. Flowers look so much better in a nice cut glass vase. Use it, enjoy it. The craftsmen of those times put effort into making beautiful cutlery, glassware, tableware, because they knew that those who bought it would enjoy using it.

I learnt from my mother and would never ever hoard anything! When we moved her out of her home into a retirement centre it took weeks to pack up everything, not to mention the dust! Would you believe that she had 18 eggs in the freezer and everything one of them was as dry as a bone, that's how long they had been there for lol

Sorry that should have read in the *fridge*

I know exactly what you mean. 20 years after she died I still have not had to buy a new tea towel, hand or bath towel. We're still using up the ones my mother in law hoarded. Not to mention the 10 dinner services and 6 tea services and very large Edwardian sideboard crammed full of glassware. We did give some to charity shops and sell two of the dinner services, but I have enough to last out my lifetime and probably a couple of other lifetimes as well.

Ditto both of those. Aafter recently moving Mum into a retirement village I (and my sisters) have all inherited lots more 'stuff'. Most of which I'm taking off to get valued/sold.

However, I came to the same conclusion a few weeks ago about using it all, including my extensive collection of Royal Albert. If it gets broken it will be hard to replace since that particular pattern hasn't been made for years. When my trivia club meets at my place next month, guess what we'll be eating our afternoon tea off?

When Mum died we gave her special dinner/tea service to her next door neighbour who had been very good to her, I have a china teaset of hers which I will never use.

My daughter likes the clean stark plain crystal glasses, she wouldn't want my cut crystal.

Doesn't crystal have lead in it? If it does, wouldn't occasional use be safer healthwise than daily use? Weren't heavily leaded paints and colored glazes used on a lot of (what we now call antique but then was high style and much used) pottery pieces as well? I think that helped lead (oops, as in astray) to many antiques being collected for beauty and not use. Just worried that you're safe and not exposing a generation that doesn't know about lead poisoning to its dangers.

There is advice about not storing liquids for long periods such as we used to in years gone by.

So, no wine left in crystal decanters or other liquors in fancy jugs. What about eating off highly decorated plates and bowls (Delft, Majolica, Wedgewood, Commemoratives plates, etc.) and drinking hot beverages out of decorated tea services? There's also fancy Pewter flatware and drinking cups that contain some lead in the alloy. Best not to eat or drink at all! If you don't get Mad Cow, you might get Mad Hatter.

Most people don't eat off collectables or old china, too precious.

Many years ago I got up early for a sale! I bought a set of 6 red wine glasses and 6 champagne flutes. I used them once. I waited until the next morning to wash up. I was stone cold sober and being ever so careful but I gently bumped a flute on the tap and it broke.. That was the day I decided I wouldn't spend a relative fortune on expensive glasses etc. I'm happy with nice but not extravagant. No tears before bed time that way. A friend of mine has a lovely set of Villeroy and Boch dinnerware including coffee mugs she received as a wedding present. She loves the pattern. I'm terrified and so careful when she gives me one of her beloved mugs. You can't buy the pattern here in Oz any more so I'd have to import the replacement if I broke one!

"I'm terrified and so careful when she gives me one of her beloved mugs"


You made me think of poor Elizabeth, Hyacinth Bucket's neighbour in "Keeping Up Appearances".

I am naturally clumsy, and tile floors aren't very forgiving, so over the years I have replaced a lot of glass items for Tupperware or metal (e.g. storage containers). When it comes to wine glasses, I buy them from the charity shop or at garage sales. When you've only paid $2 for them, it doesn't break your heart when you break them, as I frequently do (even when I am sober - LOL).

I have tile in the kitchen and dining room and granite counter tops. So far I've been lucky in that so far only one wine glass has been broken and it was just a cheap one.

To heck with the glasses! How much vino was lost?

LOL, mehaul. No wine was lost that day.

Sheesh Mehaul you took the question right out of my mouth

MotherGoose, I immediately thought of Elizabeth as well!

Aside from specialty items like teapots, ladles, tureens, etc - unless you can find a private buyer who is just looking for one of this or that, you're probably not going to sell any of it for very much money. A lot of auction houses don't take stuff if it isn't a "complete set" (as in place settings). My aunt left me several pieces of Limoges, which, to be sure is irreplacable and was expensive at some point, but it wasn't complete, not to mention it was in a pattern I wouldn't have chosen for myself.

For 20 years it sat in a box until the day I got tired of moving that box lol. I didn't feel like dragging the stuff all over to various markets, so just put a (free) ad in our local "bargain finder" type publication and some nice young woman came by the house and said that her great-grandmother had had the pattern and had willed her what she had left of it. She was so obviously excited over the possibility of finally having a (combined) complete set that I gave the whole lot for nothing.

So, I agree with others that sometimes the real value is a sentimental one. Or perhaps one of aesthetics (as in, sure an e-reader is a pretty cool gadget, but hard cover books have a "personality" and a certain history/beauty that can't be duplicated by an electronic object).

I'm currently using a Czech black crystal cocktail glass to hold my toothbrush and toothpaste : )

I'm not Hyacinth enough to care about Royal Dalton or Wedgwood.

I just tip that box of wine over my mouth. And I refuse to get up to get a paper cup every time I want a sip.

Who am I kidding? I drink bourbon. Straight. I use a brandy snifter I've had for eons. If it breaks, hell, I'll go get another. Here in the states, any ole "antique dealer" (euphemism for "junk shop") has a large array of them.

Haha.