"Too good to use..."

• Oct 16, 2013

• #21

Zombie_61

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Talbot said:

Good depression era attitude - 'Save it for best'.

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This is very similar to a saying my wife's elder relatives had: "Save it for good." This was their way of saying, "Take care of it', "Keep it in like-new condition", and/or "Save it for special occasions," i.e., an item that was used rarely, like saving fine china for special guests. Both of her parents, and other relatives of their generation, emmigrated from Italy to the U.S., and many of them were born just prior to, or during, the Great Depression.

Conversely, my Mom and Dad were born in 1915 and 1913 (respectively), but were born in the U.S. and had no such sayings or notions that I can recall; if they bought something, they took care of it, but they used it.

 

• Oct 16, 2013

• #22

Tomasso

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Zombie_61 said:

like saving fine china for special guests.

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That may be something different. More a sign of respect and status of the guest than actually attempting to limit the use for safe keeping.Something done by heads of state and royal houses.

 

• Oct 16, 2013

• #23

rue

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I only use my great grandmother's china and silverware for special occasions, but I still use it.

 

• Oct 16, 2013

• #24

LizzieMaine

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It was very common in working-class families to save the "wedding silver" for Thanksgiving and Christmas and other rare, festive occasions, and use cheap Woolworth's tableware the rest of the time. Many chests of "wedding silver" were hidden away and never used at all.

 

• Oct 16, 2013

• #25

gtdean48

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When we got married, my wife picked out an "every day" pattern for both dishes & silverware & a "good china" pattern. We got full serving sets of both of up to 12. She has built the every day stuff to 16. I have never seen or used the good china stuff in the past 20 years. Since moving over 16 years ago, it is still in the moving boxes...I guess it is something you are supposed to have...

 

• Oct 16, 2013

• #26

rue

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LizzieMaine said:

It was very common in working-class families to save the "wedding silver" for Thanksgiving and Christmas and other rare, festive occasions, and use cheap Woolworth's tableware the rest of the time. Many chests of "wedding silver" were hidden away and never used at all.

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That would describe my great grandparents. Great grandma bought it from all of her friends during the great depression to help them out, but I'm not sure she ever used it. I know my mother had never seen it until she inherited it.

 

• Oct 16, 2013

• #27

Talbot

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I'll bet there are a lot of low mileage fish knives out there.

 

• Oct 18, 2013

• #28

O

O2BSwank

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I think that the term "too good to use" really means that the owner is more interested in preserving the item in a "like new condition" instead of allowing it to acquire the patina of use. This seems like a more investment oriented attitude. I think a lot of people like to preserve their best items for display purposes. Sometimes vintage items will wear rapidly due to their age, the materials will have degraded structurally even though the cosmetics will still appear very new.

 

• Oct 18, 2013

• #29

newsman

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rue said:

I only use my great grandmother's china and silverware for special occasions, but I still use it.

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And I'm sure she would like to know you remember her when you use the silverware.

 

• Oct 18, 2013

• #30

rue

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newsman said:

And I'm sure she would like to know you remember her when you use the silverware.

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• Oct 18, 2013

• #31

Shangas

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One has to wonder how much family silver is actually real silver (as in Sterling, or something along those lines). And how much has that prestigious hallmark of "EPNS".

 

• Oct 18, 2013

• #32

PHIL1959

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i have a box of 1930's handrolled handkerchieves that are just to good to be taken out of the box and used!

 

• Oct 18, 2013

• #33

V.C. Brunswick

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I have tons of my parents' "good" dinnerware and glassware. They must have gotten it when they were married but for as long as I could remember we never used them at all. Now I use it fairly often, particularly a set of drinking glasses with their initials on it.

 

• Oct 19, 2013

• #34

rue

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Shangas said:

One has to wonder how much family silver is actually real silver (as in Sterling, or something along those lines). And how much has that prestigious hallmark of "EPNS".

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I know mine is real, but I see what you mean.

 

• Oct 19, 2013

• #35

rue

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V.C. Brunswick said:

I have tons of my parents' "good" dinnerware and glassware. They must have gotten it when they were married but for as long as I could remember we never used them at all. Now I use it fairly often, particularly a set of drinking glasses with their initials on it.

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Good on you V.C.

 

• Oct 19, 2013

• #36

LizzieMaine

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Shangas said:

One has to wonder how much family silver is actually real silver (as in Sterling, or something along those lines). And how much has that prestigious hallmark of "EPNS".

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The vast majority of "silver" sold in the Era was plate. There were different grades of plate, containing varying amounts of actual silver, but it was still plate.

It was much more common to use silverplate dinnerware than stainless steel, which didn't really become popular for everyday use until the mid-fifties. Plate was so common in the Era it was often given away in boxes of soap powder.

 

• Oct 19, 2013

• #37

Baron Kurtz

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The value inherent in useable items is in their use. Otherwise they're just stuff hanging around.

This discussion reminds me of the leather-bound Shakespeare set in Abigail's Party that's "not for reading".

 

• Oct 20, 2013

• #38

Tomasso

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How about those thick clear plastic furniture covers you'd see in the 60s -70s. Didn't everybody have a relative with a living room full of that stuff.

 

• Oct 20, 2013

• #39

P

Pinhead

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A.C. Lyles said:

How about those thick clear plastic furniture covers you'd see in the 60s -70s. Didn't everybody have a relative with a living room full of that stuff.

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I had several friends, when I was a kid, and their house had a living room that was NEVER used. "Keeping up appearances", or something like that. Maybe when the Dad's boss came to dinner, once a year, it was used.

(Little did Mom know, that when we were in the house alone, we went straight to that room and lounged and rough-housed. Yeah, she probably knew.)

 

• Oct 20, 2013

• #40

scottyrocks

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A.C. Lyles said:

How about those thick clear plastic furniture covers you'd see in the 60s -70s. Didn't everybody have a relative with a living room full of that stuff.

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We had it. Horribly uncomfy.