Contact needed: Looking to sell older, higher quality china and crystal

[R_Cowgirl]

I have quite a bit of china and crystal stemware as well. Very cool pieces. Some more than 30 years old. I've had the same challenge in Phoenix. I discovered one thing you need to know. I don't know if all consignment stores do this, but be sure to ask. My Sister's Attic will put your stuff on sale there, but after a certain period of time, if they don't sell it, they just donate it to some charity. They don't return it to you since they have stores outside Phoenix and they might have shipped it to another location. So if you "consign" it with them, it may be the last time you see it, and what you get in return could be a receipt for a donation to a charity for taxes. Just be sure to read any contract you sign carefully and ask a lot of questions before you accept the terms.

I think I'll just hold onto my stuff for a little while until the economy sorts itself out. Maybe there will be a time when a generation appreciates fine wedgwood and saworsky crystal. The pendulum may eventually swing back to sanity!

[ExNooYawk2]

Originally Posted by R_Cowgirl

I have quite a bit of china and crystal stemware as well. Very cool pieces. Some more than 30 years old. I've had the same challenge in Phoenix. I discovered one thing you need to know. I don't know if all consignment stores do this, but be sure to ask. My Sister's Attic will put your stuff on sale there, but after a certain period of time, if they don't sell it, they just donate it to some charity. They don't return it to you since they have stores outside Phoenix and they might have shipped it to another location. So if you "consign" it with them, it may be the last time you see it, and what you get in return could be a receipt for a donation to a charity for taxes. Just be sure to read any contract you sign carefully and ask a lot of questions before you accept the terms.

I think I'll just hold onto my stuff for a little while until the economy sorts itself out. Maybe there will be a time when a generation appreciates fine wedgwood and saworsky crystal. The pendulum may eventually swing back to sanity!

Hi, there, R_Cowgirl, this is an old thread but I am curious as to what you did about your china and crystal issues. I have some gorgeous stuff that we don't use because of the dishwasher problem. We are too scared to use it because it might break, so it all sits in a cabinet, unused. There's got to be someone out there who isn't as chicken as we are, hah.

Anyway, thanks in advance.

[Jkgourmet]

Since I started the thread, I'll update it.

I ended up consigning most of the stuff with Camelback Consignment (I THINK that was their name), who sent me several emails within the first few months saying thay they had sold a few pieces and did I want a check. Yes, I want the check now, was my response. Everytime. Never received a single check.

I'm glad to say that I did take the possibly valuable colbalt china set with me. It looks lovely displayed in our china cabinet in our much used formal dining room in Raleigh.

Come to find that they shuttered the doors and ripped off lots of people, including me. The Distruct Attorney supposedly looked into it.

I consigned many small itens with My Sister's Attic - most of the Wedwood pieces. I'd happily done a lot of purchases and sales of clothes and accessories with them over the years, but I made a mistake giving them the small pieces of collectible china. So far as I know, they didn't sell any of it (which makes me wonder it they ever displayed it at all.) It's left a bad taste in my mouth about them.

The saddest part of the whole thing was that when we moved to Raleigh, I found out there is a far higher demand for this kind of stuff than what exists in Phoenix. I could have sold it relatively easily at an okay price if I had brought it with me. I should have listened to this advice and taken the risk of breakage.

OTOH, our good quality furniture, decorative stuff, and electronics sold easily, quickly and at good prices to the buyers of our old house and on Craigslist.

[R_Cowgirl]

Hi - I just saw this. I wound up keeping all my stuff. I explored a couple of consignment stores and also went to Replacements.com as an option. The latter will give you what seems to be a good price on your stuff, but you have to pay shipping to them. I would have wound up about even.

So - I kept it and from time to time I will give a few pieces as a wedding present to someone in the family. The rest is out on my tables and we are using them... Like Erma Bombeck said: use it before it is destroyed in storage or lost in the next move... Here's a link to a nice column about all that.

Bottom line, most of that stuff was probably a gift to you. Enjoy the gift, regift it, but don't expect to sell it. If you do, fine. If not, your heirs can figure it out.