I began an obsession with chocolate sets when the homeplace in Wingate was divided up. Aunt Sara had one that sat on a chest in her living room. It had belonged previously to her sister, Mary Lee. Sara left it to my cousin Edith, which is how I came to learn of their existence. Mom let me read Sara's will and when I came across the chocolate set, I asked what it was. She told me and I became fascinated with the fact that there was a set of dishes made specifically to serve hot chocolate out of. I never saw Aunt Sara's set because it had gotten packed up and given to Edith early on, but I began a mission to have one.
Later that same year, 1987, I bought a set that was marked as a chocolate set. In actuality, it's a demitasse set. Still, I loved it and the dealer gave me an extremely generous price of $15 for it. Considering I was 12 at the time, this was a big deal to me. It was a green checkerboard pattern and from the 40's. I loved it. I still love it and need to get it out of its box sometime and put it on display!
Fast forward about 25 years. One of the times I had tried to quit smoking, I began the tradition of buying myself something fun with the money I was not spending on cigarettes. A tradition I'm still carrying on to this day! And, I found this set on Ebay. I paid about $80 for it. It's green with gold leaf. I absolutely love it and am happy that I could finally mark it off of my antiques bucket list! I haven't used it for anything other than display, but you never know. It's getting colder outside and this is the perfect thing for hot chocolate. That's what it's made for, after all!
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