It all started with this. . .
My mother in-law is an amazing host. Every time she has a party she always has the cutest favors. This adorable tea cup was one of those favors. She found them at the DI, a thrift store. She grew some wheat grass in them, and had one at each place setting.
I immediately fell in love with the idea of having fine china. When I got married we didn't register for china (who knows why?!). I mentioned to my mother in-law that I would love to start looking at thrift stores for fine china. I didn't want them to match at all, the more eclectic the better. This was in April, in December to my surprise and delight I opened my Christmas present from her and fell in love.
She spent 9 months combing thrift stores in search of fine china. I now had a place settings for 8. Each place setting has a matching dinner plate, salad plate, saucer and tea cup. Some of the sets even have a matching bowl, or an extra plate.
Even though they match within each place setting, all of the settings are totally different. To top it off she also bought me 8 water goblets, 8 wine glasses, and 8 sherbet cups, all of which are real crystal.
I couldn't believe she had done that for me! At the risk of sounding tacky, I asked her how much she ended up spending on the whole lot. I researched the china and found the price for each item if I had paid full price. I was able to find all of the patterns except one, if anyone knows what pattern this is I would LOVE to know!!
For the main dinner plate she spent $1 on each one. For the other salad plates, bowls and dessert plates, she spent $.50 each. The saucers and tea cups were also each $.50. When you add this up it equals $22.50!! I couldn't believe it. After all of my research, the estimated (due to the one mystery place setting) total is around $275.
I wasn't able to identify the crystal glasses, but I did research how much it would be to buy a similar set. To average out the prices I am going to say around $10. This would mean that all of the crystal would cost around $240. My mother in-law paid $1 for the water goblets and $.50 for the wine glasses and sherbet cups. Add this all together and you get $16!
Now I have a whole set of shabby chic dishes worth over $500 for less than $50! I am definitely going to keep building my collection. Even though it takes a lot of time and searching I think it is worth it, who wouldn't want these awesome dishes for that price!
I am sure there are a million little things that I missed. I wanted to at least get a few things down while I had a chance.
