Playing the Match Game

One of the greatest joys of collecting comes with using the items you own and love. Whether it's your grandmother's china service or a set you've painstakingly gathered piece by piece over the years, displaying those dishes on a table beautifully set for guests can be very rewarding.

Facing the possibility of breaking an heirloom treasure can also be a very scary proposition. Whether it's through use, cleaning, storage or moving, accidents can and do happen.

Shy of breaking down for a good cry, what can you do when one of your lovely pieces of china gets broken? Contacting a matching service is a great place to start when mending your broken set.

A good china replacement service will have hundreds of patterns and thousands of pieces of china in stock. Some are old patterns, some newer. They range from heirloom china to bridal registry patterns and even the nicer sets of dishes once distributed in grocery stores.

Some services keep a computerized inventory of your china pattern(s) on file and mail out lists of items they currently have in stock every few months. Even if you haven't recently broken or damaged a piece, it might be a good idea to get on one of these mailing lists.

Receiving a listing of available pieces makes it easier to add a few things you need to expand your place settings and add serving pieces. Passing the list along to someone who cares can make an excellent suggestion for an all-occasion gift idea, too.

Learning about additional specialty pieces through these lists makes them even more valuable. Different pieces were often distributed to various parts of the country when new. This makes it difficult to obtain a truly complete set without utilizing a matching service, especially for discontinued patterns.

Remember to provide as much information as possible when contacting china replacement specialists to obtain the best results.

Look on the back of a dinner plate or serving piece for the manufacturer, pattern name and sometimes even pattern number. When you call, simply give the service this information. In turn, they'll probably be able to tell you a little about the manufacturer, how long the pattern was in production, if it's still being produced and the pieces they currently have in stock.

One thing to keep in mind with patterns still in production, a matching service might not be the most economical route to take. Department store sale prices and outlet centers usually offer better discounts on these pieces.

For discontinued patterns, the china matching service is by far your best bet. Waiting to run across your china in an antique shop or offered by a resale merchant by chance may never happen unless it's an extremely common pattern you're seeking.

If none of your china pieces have a mark on the back, the best way to have the pattern identified is with a clear photograph, photocopy or drawing of the pattern noting the colors.

"When we see it, we frequently know it," said David Lackey, owner of a china matching service in Houston, in an Antiques Roadshow web interview.

Finding a china matching service can be as simple as picking up one of your favorite magazines, such as Southern Living or Victoria. Publications featuring collectibles and tableware are prime targets for china replacement advertising, according to Lackey. Your local yellow pages may also offer some suggestions and many other national companies can be found online.

A good starting point would be Set Your Table where they offer lists of dealers who stock china replacements. On this site, you simply click on the manufacturer's name to get a list of dealers who stock china made by that company. These dealers are located throughout the country and you can leave a message for them to call you if they don't have an email link.

This site also provides a useful section for repair/restoration company listings. There's no real reason to avoid replacement pieces to hold the original value of an heirloom set, but in some cases repairing an item that isn't damaged too severely can cost less than a replacement.

With china matching services to help, making yourself, family and friends feel special with gorgeous table settings isn't frightening at all. So dust off those dishes for your next gathering and celebrate the coming of spring in style.

Additional resources:

More information on China Matching from expert David Lackey.

Learn how to sense ceramic defects with more tips from David Lackey.

Visit the ceramics and porcelain links for related sites of interest recommended by your guide.

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