and when you die your stuff is worth nothing.

filled with clothes that were saved for a day that never came!

Waterford (carefully - but they used it!)

anyway a treasured item is that which you... treasure, not an item you're told you should treasure. least that's the way I live.

and had it shipped to the US, along with the less formal set she bought in Europe (and many other things she bought there).

After 3 children and many adulteries by her husband as they approached divorce, much, maybe all, of the china was still in the original bits of paper that had shrouded it when she bought it. It probably still is, even though they divorced many years ago.

she had a lovely set of china from her wedding. wouldn't bring it out "just for this." ended up selling it for her cult.
i was really offended that i wasn't considered worthy of eating on her china! oh well. on the other hand, my mother who really loved china, went through all she ever had because she insisted on "enjoying" it on a daily basis and with 4 rambunctious children it never had a chance. with the same philosophy, the only really nice set of dishes I've ever owned are down to several plates (i replaced some a few years ago) and one large bowl. but they're used. and i enjoy them.

websites. Imagine, teacups made of glass that are almost 100 years old--and that were never considered "good china" even when new. Movie theaters gave it away to get people to spend their scarce depression era coins on seeing some films. Other vendors gave them away, too, sometimes with their logo on the plate or mug.

There were reproductions of Depression glass dinnerware issued, especially in 1976, for the bicentennial, but the pattern I fell in love with was not among the patterns re-issued, unfortunately for me. I'd gladly pick up the reproductions since it's the look I love, not the age and I am collecting for my own use, not for resale value.

Still, I think it's very pretty and symbolizes (to me, anyway) American manufacturing helping America come out of a Depression .

If it were not for shipping and handling costs, the set that I am assembling would cost me less than even a moderately nice set today.

Don't take offense at her not thinking her holiday dinner with you merited her good china. Remember, she didn't merit a holiday dinner on her good china either. And she obviously classes human beings--and to their faces, too. Both those things tell me she has no class.

the thread just made me remember it.
i used to have a friend who collected depression glass - the only time i recall seeing it was in her home. the process of collecting is part of the fun.

squirreling away an object instead of enjoying it!

Rents many storage spaces. And she is totally in denial. Claims she spends "very little." She is not wealthy, either, though her former in laws were quite generous about the honeymoon.

Sure, its worth nothing to some stranger but its worth everything to me.

mostly because I thought these items would forever be priced out of my reach! I can't wait to display my roses in the vase I bought!

for 25 years.
So many folks my age and older are passing away, moving to assisted living or down sizing, so there are a ton of things for sale. The younger generation are not into the same things. Lots of stuff, glass, victorian furniture and collectables are flooding the market with fewer and fewer buyers. On the other hand, all the things that were thrown in the scrap pile and burn piles 30 years ago are hot now because of the repurposing craze. Old shutters, industrial type tables and lamps and rusty cast iron. If you have mid-century items and art-deco or space age type stuff, you are in luck today. I like to focus on old men's items, the stuff grandpa loved and do well with these items.

Beanie babies are still worthless. All those plates and coins sold to fools from ads in Parade magazine are worthless.

What becomes valuable is that random thing most people threw away.

Then 30 years later they want it back.

Yeah. Most everyone else threw it away too.

You will pay dearly. lol

It's the very rare collectible that appreciates enough to warrant the aggravation of 50 years of packing it and moving it from home to home or storing it, plus the original cost in today's dollars.

things that are rare. Things that were or are common, but most got tossed away. Like an old Captan Crunch box sold on ebay for a couple hundred bucks. Old items that are still in the box or unwrapped like a bar of soap a bottle of cheap cologne from decades ago can be hot items now.

There was an estate sale up the block from me several years ago and the previous owner, who had passed away, had an ginormous collection of "mint" unopened beanie babies. It was her pride and joy. I think they were sold for about 5cents each in bulk.

Use everything and enjoy it.

all know, is its own excuse for being.

alone using them.

In the days when there was a dining room set (and therefore a china closet with a display area) in even rental apartments and/or curio cabinets, things could at least be on display all the time, whether anyone thought to stop to admire them or not.

Thing is, I have bought Waterford and Belleck online for very little. And with the original stickers still on the items. One set of 12 Belleck salt cellars was even offered online with a note from a woman who, according to the note, was 83 at the time she wrote the note a number of years ago--and the note said that she had inherited the salt cellars when she was 10.

These are only the first couple of hits I found when I searched "used socks" on ebay.

There is a weirdo for everything...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pre-owned-womens-socks-/251564471063?pt=US_Womens_Socks&hash=item3a92693317

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Womans-Worn-Ankle-High-Fluffy-Socks-8-11-/201102954548?pt=US_Womens_Socks&hash=item2ed2ab9034

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mens-used-Fila-white-gym-socks-/221467960286?pt=US_Men_s_Socks&hash=item339084e3de

There's an oddball lid for every weird pot, apparently.

WARNING WARNING NSFW NSFW!!! Don't click on this YOUTUBE link if images of vending machines that sell porn and underwear are disturbing to you! FAIR WARNING!!!!

Mass movement of stuff from one person's attic to another person's attic.

37 years ago, I was introduced to a charming Serbian immigrant, then living in California. I had heard he built the most amazing 12 string guitars ever. The first time I got the chance, I went out to visit him in his studio in Escondido. I played one of his 12 string guitars and was just transported to another dimension. I had no idea sounds like that could come from my hands.

I bought two of them right there, and ordered several more from the man over the years, each one different (wood, cutaway/non, neck length for lower tunings, etc.). His name is Božo Podunavac, and he is well over 80 now. His instruments command way more than he used to charge for them 35 years ago. I guess you could call my guitars a "collection." I play them all, take good care of them, and when I'm gone, SOME future guitarists will get the chance to make their own beautiful music on them.

One thing of which I am fairly confident--my guitars will NOT be available on eBay!!

that's the way to enjoy beautiful objects!

Buying a Stradivari violin to display in a glass case is perverse. I see no wrong in spending a few million (if you have it) to either play it yourself (if you're that good) or else lend it to someone who can .

I recently saw a device that vibrates the strings constantly to help "age" and instrument. I don't know how well that works but the reviews were quite favorable. Personally I will just play, not well, but hopefully as my guitars sound better part of it will be my ability is better.

Use it, care for it and pass it on when you can no longer do either.

I collect old made in the USA Pyrex, Corning, and Anchor Hocking cookware. Love the stuff and use it, always have an eye out at garage sales and the thrift store.

They go for about what they did new, often far less even taking inflation into account. The quality of the older linen is amazing. I bought a gorgeous stamped tablecloth several years ago on ebay. Belgian linen, probably from the 1930's. Practically museum quality and I probably paid no more than twenty dollars for it.