Hello, me old China

 

I have been going through my cupboards, china cabinet and boxes of goodies from my mum. I have some lovely china from mum and my aunties who passed away many years ago.  I had heard that old china may contain unsafe lead levels and as I wanted to pass on some of this to my children I thought I had better investigate this (i.e. ask Mr Google). Well, it is not easy! I found myself on an antiques website having a live ‘chat’ to someone. I gave the names of some of the china and asked if they had lead in. I couldn’t get a straight answer. She wanted to refer me to the antiques specialist who would require photos before giving me the information—at a cost!

I tried other sites who simply wanted to tell me all about the china—except whether they had lead in or not. There were lots of general sites which told me all old china had lead in so don’t use it if there are any cracks, chips or crackling. That reminded me that one Christmas I gave my daughter-in-law (who loves old china) a beautiful old set of bowl and dessert dishes which had some crackling. Oops, I had better tell her to toss them. Also, don’t use old china to hold hot food or beverages or store food for a long time.

Some sites said bone china did not contain lead. Other sites said it contained a lot of lead. Let’s face it, if you are going to use bone china cups they are going to have hot liquid in them. So what to do?

Some of the china was beautiful. I went through and tossed any china that had cracks, chips, surface scratches or crackling. I will take the rest to my daughter and daughter-in-law with all the appropriate warnings. They will have to make the decision as to what they wish to do with it.

Maybe they too will consult Mr Google.