I have always had a Meccano set – so this is over 70 years of acquired Meccano in boxes. it is time it had a new home.

I have more boxes of Meccano in the loft

I am listing a Meissen dinner service – made between 1815 and 1924 so I am trying to find a more accurate date. The pattern is interesting and rare I have seen a few individual items sold on ebay, but we have over 70 pieces of a complete dinner service.

Meissen 74 piece 19th century dinner service

Meissen 74 piece 19th century dinner service

Meissen 74 piece 19th century dinner service

I thought I would try to find photos as back as far as I could go of my family, up to and including myself when we were around 21 years old.

I got stuck in 1908 for an accurate age, but so far I am back to about 1880 with four photos.

I know the dates of the photos for my mother and myself – my Grandmother is definitely no later than 1915 and my Great Grandmother is a guess from the type of print and the technique of printing, it was a half plate contact print from a studio, so likely to be a wet plate process – my best guess for the dates of the photos is….

Amelia, my Great Grandmother (photo circa 1865-1885) (born 1843 died 1939
Grace, my Grandmother (photo circa 1905-1910) (born 1889 died 1972)
Pamela, my Mother (photo 1940) (born 1922)
Me (photo 1966) (born 1945)

OK so Amelia was older than 21 in the photo and my mother was only 19, but they are now forever 21.