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It’s exquisitely delicate and disturbingly heavy — weighed down by the passage of time and bygone traditions.
I didn’t see my grandma’s collection of bone china and silverware until I was an adult, living in my own house with my own substantial collection of dishes and cutlery.
It arrived in a cardboard box delivered by my parents during a push to declutter. The box had been living in their basement unopened for years and now it was my turn to take on the plates, gravy boat and teacups given to my grandma Ada on her wedding day. And like my parents, I saw the heirlooms as more of a burden than a gift.
For a long time, my grandma Ada’s Aynsley China set lived in storage. (Eva Wasney / Winnipeg Free Press)
At one point my dad tried to sell the collection to a local antique dealer, but after pulling out the first piece the shopkeeper told him not to bother. This kind of fine china is ubiquitous and seemingly unwanted. I see piles of it every time I visit a thrift store.
Fashions have certainly changed over the years, but I think the lore of special occasion plateware is doing more to hasten its demise. I doubt my grandma used her china much, perhaps save for holiday meals or entertaining VIP guests. It was probably kept hidden away in a dining room cabinet — too precious for everyday use.
Honestly, that was my thinking too until recently. The white dishes with scalloped edges, a bright green ring and gold accents are stacked unceremoniously in my liquor cabinet. The box of silverware is currently acting as a stand for my computer monitor.
Grandma’s silverware (and novelty spoon) collection. (Eva Wasney / Winnipeg Free Press)
It feels wrong to mix these meaningful pieces in with my chipped IKEA plates and miscellaneous cutlery. Isn’t it uncouth to eat a bagel off fancy porcelain made by the legendary Aynsley China company in Staffordshire, England during the turn of the 20th century? (I’m not actually sure when my “Wendover” line was produced, if there are any china sleuths out there I would be interested in finding out).
My attitude has shifted recently after reading this article, Stop Worrying and Start Using Your Fancy China, and chatting with my sister-in-law. She recently inherited twice as much china from a late great-aunt in Toronto and is resolved to using it regularly. We ate our belated Christmas dinner on the plates and it felt perfectly unfussy.
The delicate porcelain plates currently live in a dining room cabinet full of booze bottles and board games. (Eva Wasney / Winnipeg Free Press)
I haven’t made the leap to eating all my meals on bone china yet, but I want to. What’s the point of keeping nice things if we never use them as intended?
As author Jaya Saxena writes in the article above: “When you make every meal an occasion, you don’t need to wait for one.”
Eventually, I’ll move the grandma’s collection into my kitchen cabinets, so I can think of Ada everytime I sit down to eat. And I’ll have to christen the routine with buttered toast and marmalade, for good measure.
Eva Wasney, arts reporter
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