I see so many full dinner services and tea sets in second-hand shops these days. They are beautiful and with so many settings (many are 12 – 24 full place settings). But times have changed. These massive dinner services are not dishwasher-proof, cannot be put in the microwave due to the gilt many of them are rimmed with, and people don’t entertain in the same way, with full place settings. Instead of full tea sets (tea pot, coffee pot, milk jug, sugar bowl, cream jug, cake plate, side plates, cups, saucers, sugar spoon, cake fork, linen napkins), most people just use a mug and a plate these days for a coffee or tea with friends or family at home.
When I was small, a young woman would have a trousseau chest/bottom drawer/hope chest/dowry chest to collect linens, silverware in anticipation of being married. Our Afrikaans neighbours started theirs when they were 16. My mother’s one looked like the photo above. I actually brought it to Sweden, with all my personal mementos in it.
My mother received her dinner service as a wedding gift and she embroidered so many doilies and napkins for her future home. In those days, space was cheap and things were expensive. Nowadays, space is expensive and things are cheap, so you just buy as you need and replace when necessary.
