[dropcap]M[/dropcap]y grandma Maxine was only able to have one child. She loved my Dad dearly but had also wanted to have a daughter. When she knew that would not be possible she decided then and there that someday she would have a granddaughter. That decision is why I have so much Golden Wheat dishware, also known as Duz Wheat china.
She began collecting, buying and making things for me. She was a woman on a mission. One of her largest endeavors was collecting glassware. She bought more Duz soap than was practical to use. Back then Duz Laundry Detergent came with glassware in it. You had to buy enough to complete sets. Grandma loved the pattern and tried to collect enough for her to use and to give to me.
How the granddaughter collection began
Golden Wheat was found in the soap boxes from 1949 to 1966. She collected the whole time. My Dad was only three years old when she began collecting for me. It was not until 1975 that I was even born.
When you could no longer get Golden Wheat from the Duz soap boxes she began to go to yard sales. If there was a yard sale she stopped to look for glassware. She also collected other things for me, Jadeite, Anything Viking, Fostoria, you name it. New Martinsville glassware was especially easy to buy with her living in Wileyville.
I can not imagine how many boxes she had to buy to get so many, many boxes of dishware for me. How many yard sales she had to go to. I know it was enough that my Grandfather had a build a small building on the land just for her store everything she was not using and that some of the glassware still had soap flakes on them.
I have childhood memories of us casually eating off of plates lined with 22k gold. When she passed I inherited her collection and added it to my own. I’m a collector now. I concentrate on Golden Wheat, Jadeite and depression ware. I want to pass on to my imaginary granddaughter like my grandmother passed on to hers.