When we moved cross-country last year, I dumped on a friend - left her with a set of china that was my mother's. I never liked it and didn't want to carry it with me - - and didn't know what to do with it. My friend offered to take it to a store that apparantly sells on EBay for you? I think that's what they do. The brand is Taylor Smith Taylor, pattern James Tea Rose. It's from around 1942. I have no idea what price to ask. The only place I've found this obscure pattern has 3 plates for $17 each. Mine is a complete set with serving pieces, mostly in perfect in condition. Thanks for your help.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/roadshow/tips/matchingchina.html

Surf around that site a bit... there are good resources there and they link to reliable sites.

I went through Ebay a bit and also craigslist.com to check what people were asking for their china... it seems like a bad idea to me. I think you should try to call some local antiques dealers with a list of what you have. They are the ones that know what the value can be rather than what someone can steal it from you on Ebay for. From reading a bit, it doesn't seem to me like your set will be worth a ton, but you certainly shouldn't give it up for the $17 I saw people getting for complete sets on Ebay.

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to see what the Ebay store thinks they can get, but if you don't call some dealers and find out then you'll always wonder if you lost some money.