No, your dead Granny’s Johann Haviland chinaware is not a treasure

The baby boomer death curve is expected to increase over the next several years, with an estimated 4 million baby boomers dying each year by 2037. As of March 2024, 2.6 million baby boomers were dying each year, which equates to over 7,000 funerals per day. When Granny dies, a “lucky” daughter or grand-daughter usually inherits the dishes that nobody was allowed to use.

One of the brands of chinaware that has flooded the market is Johann Haviland brand of Germany, not to be confused with the famous Haviland brands of France.

“Except for very old pieces, this is lower quality china made by a relative of the Havilands in Bavaria, Germany. The company was sold after a short period of time, though the name was retained, and has been under various owners, currently the Rosenthal conglomerate. Frequently servicemen in Germany after WWII found it in PXs at a very low price, and, thinking they were getting real French Haviland, sent sets home. It was also used as grocery store premiums.” Source: https://havilandcollectors.com/hcif/faqs/

Grocery stores and gas stations used to give away cheap dishes as loyalty rewards, before the concept of loyalty points arose. Women would keep these dishes in a hutch for display, but were not actually used for every-day meals. Many women kept these dishes in their cabinets their entire lives and never used them, not even once. This gave the wrong idea that these were expensive antiques worth thousands of dollars, when in fact, most millennials want absolutely nothing to do with them.

Another source for these dishes came in what was called “powdered soap” boxes. Laundry detergents, particularly brands like Duz and Rinso, included glassware and other promotional items in their boxes as marketing strategies during the mid-20th century, primarily in the 1950s and 1960s. These promotions were designed to attract customers by offering tangible rewards with their purchase, a popular tactic during that era. The glassware often came in the form of drinking glasses, cups, or other collectible items, and they became quite popular among consumers.

After Ganny dies, delusional people put “the good dishes” on eBay and other sites, asking psychotically inflated prices. Of course, people don’t buy them. But as more people try to dump Granny’s dishes, they look at the asking price that delusional people posted on eBay and post similar prices. It’s all a waste of time.

One popular site people draw prices from is Replacements.com. Few people understand what Replacements.com actually is.

Imagine you run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. You phone your automobile club and they bring a gallon of gas to you so you can make it to the nearest gasoline station. That gas is not priced at market prices, it’s marked up 100, 200 or 300%, because you are desperate for gas. Replacements.com is priced similarly – it’s for people who have one piece of their dish set broken and are desperate to replace the single piece. So ignorant people look at the price on desperation sites, multiply those desperation prices by the number of pieces they inherited, then post a listing for dead Granny’s dishes as if the set were worth a fortune.

Looking at “asking prices” on second-hand seller websites is meaningless. You have to look at completed sale prices to know the market value. Too many people mistake delusional asking prices for actual value of dead Granny’s stash.

People used to believe their Beanie Baby stash would make them millionaires one day. People used to “invest” their entire paychecks into buying Beanie Babies, especially if a particular style was delusionally priced. On average, it is estimated that the value of most Beanie Babies has dropped by 90% or more from their peak prices. For example, a “must-have” Beanie Baby that once sold for $100 might now only sell for $10 or even less. People used to guard their Beanie Baby collection as if they were made of gold.

While there are hundreds of listings for Johann Haviland dishes online, 98% of them go unsold. You have to look at completed sales to know market value. Several vintage 6 Piece Johann Haviland Bavaria Germany Moss Rose Fine China settings were offered for $4.99. I would argue that $4.99 is a reasonable price if somebody actually wanted to buy them. There were no takers.

A 5 piece setting new in the box sold for $10 or best offer, so we don’t know whether they actually paid the $10 or they accepted $4. But we know it was worth $10 or less.

The largest number of U.S. troops stationed in Germany after World War II occurred during the early 1950s, at the height of the Cold War. At that time, the number of U.S. military personnel in Germany peaked at around 250,000. This large deployment was part of the broader NATO strategy to deter Soviet aggression in Europe. Every one of these soldiers had access to the PX, where they could buy Johann Haviland dishes at next to nothing, and they shipped boxes by the crateload back home to their families. These second-class Haviland dishes were confused for luxury items by American families.

The most expensive chinaware sets generally come from brands like Meissen, Herend, and certain collections from Royal Copenhagen and Limoges. One of the most prestigious and typically most expensive sets is Meissen's "Swan Service." A complete set can cost upwards of $100,000, with individual pieces often ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 each. People wrongly assumed their Johann Haviland dishes were worth as much as Meissen, so they put them on a display shelf and never allowed anyone to eat off them.

Many millennials favor minimalist and functional designs over elaborate patterns. This trend aligns with broader lifestyle shifts towards minimalism and decluttering. Most millennials want nothing to do with dishes unless they can be put in the dishwasher. And displaying dead Granny’s dishes is not their idea of décor. Today’s young people lack space or practical use for chinaware. The desire for chinaware is about as obsolete as ice boxes (if you even know what those are).

When you see a listing for 23 pieces of Johann Haviland chinaware with an asking price of $200, you know the seller is delusional. It’s a waste of the seller’s time, and a waste of the shopper’s time. It’s like the Beanie Baby delusion – eventually they just are used as dog toys, just like Johann Haviland chinaware is often used as dog dishes.