What Is A China Matching Service?

So often when people ask what I do, and I tell them, "I run a china matching service", I'm met with blank stares. The reality is unless you have used one, you are unlikely to be familiar with the concept. Even if you need to use one, you won't seek one out, as you don't know they exist.

As a business, that's one of our biggest challenges, letting people know we exist.

So... what is a 'china matching service'?

In short, we replace the missing pieces of customers tableware services, be they dinner, tea, coffee or serving ware, when their sets have been discontinued from manufacture by the pottery who made them, and are therefore no longer available in the shops.

By way of example, imagine you are having tea with grandma and she drops a tea cup breaking the handle. You know she is fond of the tea set so the next day you go to the department store to buy a replacement tea cup. However, the shop assistant tells you that your grandma's tea service is no longer available as it's not made anymore. 

So you carry out a search on Google for the set to see if there any remaining pieces in any shops. There aren't any new pieces because it turns out that it was discontinued many years ago. However, you find some second hand pieces listed on a website like MrPottery.co.uk, a china matching service.

Sometimes called a tableware replacement service, we source discontinued china from the secondhand market. We stock large quantities of those designs and patterns which we know are regularly in demand. For those that we get asked for less often, we maintain a "wanted list" of discontinued china patterns and pieces our customers ask us to find for them. 

So if you are seeking replacement plate, dish or teapot in a discontinued china service, then a china matching service is what you need to help you find it.