Dave Kathan, Chevy Chase, Maryland: I inherited a single china plate that has special significance for my family. The plate was handed down through many generations from the 1820s, when my Van Sciver relatives lived in Georgetown, DC. According to family lore, John Quincy Adams gave this plate to the family in gratitude for their service. The plate stayed with the Van Scivers for about 100 years. It was inherited by my grandmother’s great-aunt, who passed it to my grandmother, who passed it to me.

Janice M. Sellers, Gresham, Oregon: I am the proud owner of my maternal grandmother's china set that she used for her Passover dairy dishes. She acquired it over time as part of a "buy the piece of the week" promotion at a local store. The set has service for fourteen. In December 1997, she insisted that I fly to Florida to pick it up right after I had foot surgery, while I was still using crutches. On my return flights home, I took the bag with all the china as a carry-on. The bag was on my lap as airport employes ferried me around in wheelchairs at three different airports. Miraculously, nothing broke.

Alice Marsh, Jericho, Vermont: Shortly before her wedding, my 4th great-grandmother Mabel (Thompson) Barker (1763-1838) travelled on horseback by herself from her home in Litchfield, Connecticut, to purchase a china tea set in a nearby town. One teacup remains from that set; it is now owned by the Middletown Springs Historical Society in Vermont. I suspect that my love of china comes from Mabel and the subsequent generations who carefully preserved that cup.

Michael Gaule, New Orleans, Louisiana: As a child, I was enamored with my grandmother’s china set, which pictured a ship at sea. It made me want to embark on a sailing adventure. The set was displayed in a glass cabinet in her New Orleans "shotgun house." She left me the set in her will. These pieces are very special to me. I've never used them—I'm deathly afraid something might get damaged!

Mary Lou Inwood, Wilmington, Ohio: I own five china sets: my own set of Lenox Monroe china from when I got married, my mother’s Wedgwood set, my husband’s grandmother’s Currier & Ives set, my maternal grandmother’s set from Germany, and my 2nd great-grandparents’ virtually indestructible “saloon china” from their own saloon. The last set was used by several generations of my family after the saloon closed in the early 1900s.

Dorcas Aunger, Arcadia, California: My mother, Lorena Wilson (Hubbell) Aunger (1906-1988), painted china pieces. She bought the pieces at antique shops, removed the patterns, and repainted them. These pieces from France, Czechoslovakia, and Belgium were the finest pre-World War II quality. I have a tea set she painted for me when I was a child as well as part of a full service she painted for my sister. That service will pass to my sister's daughter, who will split it among her three daughters.