Goodbye, Chateau Rose
8/3/14 11:11![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeraldsEarlier today I sent my pal Todd out the door with my grandmother's silverware and instructions to sell it.* He came back an hour and a half later with an envelope full of cash.**
The purpose of this exercise was twofold: First, I've been wanting to be free of that silverware for years. It's been in a tarnish-resistant white leatherette case at the back of a cupboard, an unseen and untouched albatross around my neck, for as long as I've lived in this house. Sentiment, tradition, and an unexamined attachment to the belief that Real Silverware means you've really joined the middle class, have kept me hanging on to it, ironically right through the decline and fall of said middle class.
And second, I needed the money to help fund my bedroom remodel.
Totally not my style, either.
The daughters and granddaughters of the mid-20th century are ridding themselves of the impractical flatware by the ton, so the family silver is only collectible if it's in mint condition. And it's only in mint condition if it was in a family even more aspirational than mine--that is, one who never actually used the Good Silver.
Twelve place settings of Chateau Rose are, therefore, worth nothing but the melt value of their silver content (about 2000 grams all told). Todd and the broker arrived at what I'm confident was a very fair deal. And I'm free of the albatross.
So goodbye, Chateau Rose and hello particleboard. Screw half-century-old middle-class pretensions. I want IKEA wardrobes and a new bed.
*It is a sad fact of life even today that an affable six-foot-six man will get a better deal than I will from the guy who does business under the WE BUY GOLD sign. Besides, Todd likes people and new experiences. He reports having had a wonderful time transacting business in a fascinating world that doesn't normally overlap his or mine at any point. I bought him lunch.
**I...have never actually had hundred dollar bills before. Wow. So Benjamin. Many sketchy. Very tracking strip. Wow. I am not comfortable with cash. I have made it go away.
The purpose of this exercise was twofold: First, I've been wanting to be free of that silverware for years. It's been in a tarnish-resistant white leatherette case at the back of a cupboard, an unseen and untouched albatross around my neck, for as long as I've lived in this house. Sentiment, tradition, and an unexamined attachment to the belief that Real Silverware means you've really joined the middle class, have kept me hanging on to it, ironically right through the decline and fall of said middle class.
And second, I needed the money to help fund my bedroom remodel.
Totally not my style, either.
The daughters and granddaughters of the mid-20th century are ridding themselves of the impractical flatware by the ton, so the family silver is only collectible if it's in mint condition. And it's only in mint condition if it was in a family even more aspirational than mine--that is, one who never actually used the Good Silver.
Twelve place settings of Chateau Rose are, therefore, worth nothing but the melt value of their silver content (about 2000 grams all told). Todd and the broker arrived at what I'm confident was a very fair deal. And I'm free of the albatross.
So goodbye, Chateau Rose and hello particleboard. Screw half-century-old middle-class pretensions. I want IKEA wardrobes and a new bed.
*It is a sad fact of life even today that an affable six-foot-six man will get a better deal than I will from the guy who does business under the WE BUY GOLD sign. Besides, Todd likes people and new experiences. He reports having had a wonderful time transacting business in a fascinating world that doesn't normally overlap his or mine at any point. I bought him lunch.
**I...have never actually had hundred dollar bills before. Wow. So Benjamin. Many sketchy. Very tracking strip. Wow. I am not comfortable with cash. I have made it go away.
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9/3/14 18:53 (UTC)But yes, the little stack o' bills represents both a psychic liberation and about 80% of my proposed IKEA extravaganza, so I've put Benny and his eyes where I can't see them till tomorrow morning when I go convert them to ones and zeros at the credit union.
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9/3/14 20:42 (UTC)(no subject)
9/3/14 23:08 (UTC)(no subject)
11/3/14 13:08 (UTC)