Mrs Bricker and I are the proud parents of a full china service for 12 people – 112 pieces of Noritake china in the vintage, discontinued “Damask” pattern. I have no idea if this is the most sought-after pattern in Noritake history or the Edsel of the china world.
What I do know is that we have used this china once in over a decade of marriage.
I want to sell it.
But how does one go about selling such a thing? I don’t want to ship it. Antique dealers? China fans dot com?
I’d go to an antique dealer and see what they have to say. A lot of them take things on consignment, if there is any value. Funny you mention this, as I had two identical sets of Noritake in my last marriage. One was a wedding gift, and then I won the second set. Turns out the goddamn stuff is worth quite a bit of money, but the ex kept both of them.
Just looking at some representative pieces on ebay, your set could be worth north of $1,000.
If you don’t want to ship I would try a local consignment shop - many will take items on consignment so you get $$ when the item sells. This may net more $$ than just trying to sell directly to a antique shop.
You could see if you have a local reputable auction house that handles estate sales and suchlike - with something like a full set of discontinued china, even if they can’t take it (or guarantee a good price for it) themselves, they’ll know exactly who to send it on to locally who will be able to take good care of you.
Looking on ebay, you’ve got a decent shot at some good money out of this if you simply list it. Less if you’re not willing to ship it, but perhaps worth checking out.
Alternatively, you may also want to contact a big online “fill in” site like China Lane, Replacements.com, or classicreplacements.com (the big three that I know). They won’t give you an amazing price, but what they’ll do is snatch up the full-set from you, then make craploads of money off of selling individual pieces here and there to people who are missing bits of their own sets. They’ll give you a good (but not amazing) price for a full-set, and they all (I think) will handle shipping and etc for you.
Contact Replacements Ltd. The specialize in selling replacement pieces for patterns in china, silver and glassware. The link above shows what they’re selling your pattern for right now. Of course, they probably pay 1/2 that or less, to make their profit.
My mother and sister sold to replacements regularly and always found them easy to deal with.
Bricker, Yes, contact Replacements Ltd. I believe that if they wish to purchase the set, they will send you special boxes and instructions for safe shipping. You’ve received good ideas here for possible buyers. You may also want to list the set on Ebay, but with “Local pickup only” … so that you won’t have to get involved in shipping. Good luck!
Here’s what I don’t get about china. Dishes are meant to be used, so use them. Whatever plastic, IKEA, Wal-Mart stuff you use now, put those away for 10 years. Use the china. You can feel like you’re eating in the court of the Emperor or something.