My Lenox Belvidere China Story

For those of you who have shown interest in my fairly long, and sweetly surprising, Lenox Belvidere china story, heres a recap.

My husband and I were out and about back in July and stopped in our favorite thrift shop in Blowing Rock, NC.

  I looked at a display of dishes and thought "what a sweet pattern this is!" Then noticed the price - $119 for all that china.  A LOT of china.  Belvidere by Lenox.

But I wasn't in the market for a new set of china.  

I'm 75 years old.  I have a gracious plenty of china.  And no, I have no intention of telling how much.

Suffice to say I have had a weakness for pretty dishes my entire life.  As did my mother.  As does my mother-in-law who recently did some downsizing  which means my own collection has grown.  Quite a lot.

 So, I walked away thinking $119 is still $119.  

And where on earth would I put it all?!  

You've probably guessed the end of this story.   

We left without it, but went back to get it and it was gone.  

And I started kicking myself.

Decided I could not live without at least a few pieces, so looked around on the internet and found four dinner plates very reasonably priced at Poshmark and bought them.

In the meantime, out of the blue, I received a note asking where did I live?

In an attempt to make this saga a shorter Reader's Digest version, the person, Sue Mann Paulsen, inquiring as to where I lived just happened to be at her family home on vacation, where there just happened to be a large selection of Lenox Belvidere China which had belonged to her late mother, Mrs. Mann.

 By the time Sue and her sweet husband headed back home to Texas just a few days ago, we had become pen pals.

We made arrangements to meet so they could gift me Mrs. Mann's china. 

 The family had decided they wanted it to be with someone who would truly appreciate it.   There are truly good people in our world. 

I, of course, love the beautiful china which has been passed into my care.

  But i will treasure it even more now after gaining a new friend in Sue.  

With her in Texas and me in North Carolina, we won't be the kind of friends who are able to get together for coffee, or dinner and drinks.  But, no matter.  I see some meet-ups and some visits in our future with lots of notes in the meantime.

And I will think of her every single time we have a meal using our beautiful new china.

This is the set we saw and walked away from.  Silly Us!

These are the four dishes I found at Poshmark and bought

Then I bought four B&B plates at Ebay.  I've stacked them here with some depression ware dishes that had belonged to my mom.

I could not resist the covered dish

OR the sugar bowl and creamer

OR this sweet serving bowl!

There's something irresistible about older Lenox.  It has a finish that is not quite the same as now on the newer dishes.

Belvidere was produced from 1941 - 1978.

Doing a little "thrifting" helped add to the table I have in mind for showing our beautiful Belvidere china at its proudest -

A vintage damask tablecloth with matching napkins, a Val St. Lambert candlestick, and sweet little birdie salt and pepper shakers.

And this is Sue!

Finally meeting, and the long awaited china exchange.

And here's Mrs. Mann's china.  

It was her wedding china purchased in 1948, the year I was born.

I couldn't wait to play, so i set a table just to see.

And, of course, i love it!

But i have some other ideas, and there will be more versions of this table to come.

In the meantime, I am very much enjoying a quiet cup of coffee with blueberry scones while admiring our new old china.

And reminding myself -

Life is good.