[timwilky]

65 years ago, my parents recieved a Wedgwood dinner service from my maternal grand parents as a wedding present, (They also gave them a 3 bed semi) I now own the dinner service, alas the semi was traded up and divorce.

So at present I have a plaster cast on my broken left wrist. A brace securing my realigned right thumb meaning to hold anything requires two hands as I have no grip on either hand. So this morning I saw a plate falling, got to it with one hand and managed to knock it onto the tiled floor, smash. Wife comes running and more earache about how useless I am.

Fortunately, it was a relatively common pattern and oddments turn up on auction sites. But never cheap and the phrase perfect condition appears to cover multiple scratches, chips and cracks. And whenever I start looking, i end up buying loads I already have, to get the piece I need