Is grandma's crystal coming back in style?

I don’t own crystal, but I do have some lovely porcelain cups and saucers, and some beautiful little salt dishes. I wondered why my niece perked her ears up when I said something about them. Lol.

I collected the pink Adam pattern and have most of a set or had until I did my mother's house sale.  I put a few pieces in the estate sale.  They didn't bring much.  I should probably have sold them on Ebay but there were many things I could have said that about.  I'm not really using pink in my decor anymore but I still like my pieces. I've kept the salad plates and serving pieces, things I can mix in with my china.  

My crystal is very delicate, 1980's Mikasa. I wish I'd picked a different, more practical pattern. It's pretty but I don't see it ever being something people would really collect.  I use the wine glasses sometimes but never the water goblets.  

I have one that looks great on the entry table so I had DH put his keys/wallet/glasses in there to keep them contained. Unfortunately, it’s too small for that purpose now so back to the display it goes! 



Completely agree with this! When we were just married we’d use it in the weekends for our fish sticks and Mac n cheese or if we were being fancy our jarred spaghetti…and sweet tea in the crystal. We do use our china for special occasions, yes. But during the pandemic we started using it more and more just because. Or we’d celebrate more “minor” things. Growing up Granma always played everything “just so” and did little touches like parsley on the plate…the paper plate in wicker holder that was ho,doing our sandwiches and chips. And she kept her silver salt & pepper shaker for every day use on the kitchen table. I have them now displayed in a prominent location in our cabinet.

We mixed and matched our salad plate on our registry when we got married in 1995. (And 2 years later my sister and her husband registered for the full settings of the salad plate we ordered without realizing it!) But you can’t really tell since they look like the go together. But we have slowly started buying a few pieces from other collections, just 2 pieces one for each of us. However, I have no decorating sense that would help me do the above even though I’d love too! We have cream/black & gold and I’d love to be able to incorporate color in the coordinating china pieces, not just glass chargers.

My formal china (from our 2000 wedding registry) is also Lenox Solitaire (ivory with platinum trim).

I go antiquing and treasure hunting as we call it a lot. And people are buying it. I heard a lady say her daughter was using them to have drinks in.

And why not. They are fun and decorative. In much abundance at value villages

Yes it’s back, but I’m not sure it’s back in a way that it’ll make you money per se. It’s back in a I'm going to reclaim my ancestors stuff and use it everyday instead of buying new stuff kind of way. It’s the new reduce reuse recycle. My 20 somethings are thrifters and mix&matchers. Crystal & glass goes with ceramic or China who cares, doesn’t matter as long as it looks pretty, there are no rules anymore. They do not understand why it’s sat for years in cabinets & boxes unused. They are not saving it. If they want it they most likely want to use it. That’s the point I think. The hunt, the find, the bargain, the rescue of it. They are rescuing the stuff we either rejected or were ‘afraid’ to use.

My youngest sibling is all about the recycling part—all their stuff is “second hand” repurposed and it’s awesome.

I have another sibling who doesn’t care and others who are super sentimental—have it on display, and then me a mix of what I love that is “new” mixed with pieces that are old.

My mom has a huge collection of her pattern of silver flatware and she uses it regularly and just tosses it in the diswasher. Her theory is that if only lasts 50 years that way, it was at least used for 50 years instead of tucked away and pulled out for the Queen's visit. Her initial set was from my great grandmother so it is definitely over 50 years old now!

I’m old (53) and I love Fenton hobnail and cake plates. I bet I’d drool over yours!