WHY Dining Services are Worthless

The most under-appreciated segment of the market for fine antiques is often found in dining rooms; specifically, objects related to the ritual of DINING. FE sends me a BIG question: Why are sets of formal china, silver, crystal, and linens almost worthless?

The philosophy of eating in tight family groups with certain status and gender specific signals changed, and so did the perception of the value of the objects involved in that ritual.

Yes, the reality of the DOWN market for dining objects MY generation treasured—and NOW most likely keep in STORAGE, seems severe. Reasons exist for why china, silver, crystal and linens devalued.

We, as a culture, lost the urge to (formally) DINE. Our philosophy of gathering for a shared meal changed the way we value the paraphernalia involved, from the days of the Silent Generation, to completely different objects valued by the Millennial Generation.

Most updated homes do NOT feature a dining room.

At one point this room became the heart of our households, storing dining related objects. China cabinets held formal china brought out at specific times of the year, sometimes brought forth at certain TIMES of the day. We don’t value fine china used for certain occasions because those CODIFIED RITUALS are fast fading. Families no longer perform a dining ritual except for the most select of holidays. Think of the term itself: ‘formal china.’ What does that exactly mean? I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean, microwave and dishwasher. Clients feel dismayed to find a fine service for 24 place setting is worth under $500.

Civilizations always observed rituals around consuming food but the reason for gathering to break bread changed drastically over the centuries. In no other room of the house has the room-based ritual symbolized by the objects contained therein changed quite as much. We do much the same things in our bedrooms, our kitchens, and our bathrooms. Yet the ritual around the dining room is modernized.

In my grandparent’s house we observed an unspoken dining rituals:

• WHO, what female of what age group, cooked what.
• What gender did certain jobs: older men brought IN the main meat course, younger men took OUT the garbage.
• AGED BASED dining tables. Remember the kid’s table?

Younger kids used smaller kid-sized sterling. Fine silver is valued for its silver content if it is sterling. If it’s silver plate, forget it. It’s not valued for the ritual that says reserve the GOOD cutlery for GOOD guests upon high holidays with certain age and gender limitations. For example, the eldest man of the family usually reserved the right to wield a carving knife and sharpener.

Think of the many TYPE of crystal glassware

We don’t have that level of formality around what is sipped by whom at what time of day. A can or a red plastic tumbler works well no matter time of day…therefore the value of crystal dipped WAY down.

A reason lurks behind the down-market. We don’t find value in the ritual of dining with fine objects at a certain fine table at home. When one dines OUT at a fine restaurant, one expects to observed these rituals, but one doesn’t expect them at a friend’s house. The standard of home, versus not at home dining, was, formerly, that HOME dining possessed a level marked by objects of status. Today, for many of us, when we want a more formal meal, we LEAVE home.

FINE TABLE LINENS?

Even the BEST, real linen with real lace, are impossible to sell due to the degradation of the dining ritual. Once covering a table meant respect and honor. Today a tablecloth is (at home) unnecessary, and despaired of when laundry times comes around (and who even OWNS an ironing board anymore?). Recently when upgraded to a first-class seat on an airplane I felt bemused to find the cabin attendant covered my plastic tray with a white cloth. This ritual is fast fading, except as a nod to a past tradition, which signals “class.” When the tradition fades, the object becomes devalued.