One of my biggest vintage collecting passions is dishware. Since I (and the cats) break a lot stuff, it's always been hard to keep a full matching set of dishes, so sometime in the past 20 odd years I've been on my own, I stopped trying and set about collecting bits and pieces of mid-century stuff, mostly florals--usual the sort that are less ornate and fussy, but still pretty. (Steubenville and Taylor Smith Taylor are a couple of my favorite brands.) As time goes on and the stuff filtering into thrift stores changes into 70's-80's-90's cast offs, my favorites are harder to find, but ebay is still a good option. For awhile I kept finding TST's Bachelors Button pattern everywhere, and actually sold a good amount in the etsy shop having came across a sizeable set of teacups. My mother said they had been sold at grocery stores, piece by piece, in the late 60's, and that she had had this very pattern around the time she got married, but that my dad and I as toddler had made quick work of breaking every single one. This probably explains the weird near unbreakbale plates of my 80's childhood and the clunky, chunky 90's pottery still in those cupboards.
I have a few pieces of vintage pyrex that I spend my time trying not to break--including some lovely brown ones and a large green one. (Also a big brown one I use only for cat food.) I also love tiny jelly glass jars and we occasionally use them as shot glasses (go big or go home). They remind me of my great grandmother's kitchen. Otherwise, my dishes are mostly restaurant generic--white coffee mugs, which I break a lot of), some Pier 1 white plates I bought when I moved in, some random grey/blue noodle bowls I picked up at the Salvation Army. I have stemmed water goblets my sister bought me that I use for wine, and a set of simple cafe style glasses.
There is something about vintage things that carry a certain home-ness of the past in a way new sets from Target somehow do not. Which isn't to say everything does. In the china cabinet in my Dad's house is a set of china that belonged to my grandmother that reportedly he gifted her sometime in the 60's. It's definitely more of a fancy set, floral, but not audaciously so, but in that way kind of boring. When my step-grandfather died, they came to us and have sat for over 30 years in the corner china cabinet in the dining room, mostly collecting dust, but occasionally hauled out for Thanksgivings or Christmas meals through the decades then put carefully back. Since I have no recollection of associating with my grandmother (she is remembered more for her amazing salt & pepper shaker collection) They don't carry much charm for me. My mother, over the years kept trying to pawn them off on my both I and my sister to no avail. They actually look more contemporary than vintage in a sort of timeless generic way. Therefore, are mostly unappealing. On the other hand, I am still looking for some atomic thermal mugs my other grandmother over the years to no avail (as well as a replica of her atomic starburst clock that isn't ridiculously expensive given current trends.)
