Thing is everybody’s gramma has a cabinet full of china because it’s mass produced. Just like diamond engagement rings or high school proms people in the mid-20th century made up a tradition of gifting sets of china to young women because of all the fancy dinners every single middle class woman would be hosting throughout her life.

What happened is a bunch of fancy looking plates sat in cupboards in dining rooms for decades while actual meals were eaten off other also mass-produced but slightly cheaper plates that were stored in the kitchen cabinets.