I have learned a lot from being married. One topic I learned a little bit about is decorative plates. You know, the collector plates that you see being sold on television by the Bradford Exchange when you aren't really paying attention to what is on the television.

I started to learn about these plates because my mother-in-law is a fan of them. Because I am the designated person in the family who knows how to do anything with eBay, I have been given the assignment at least once each year for the past ten years of so of looking for just the right decorative plate to accent some room or another in my mom-in-law's home.

If you are just learning about these collectibles, one of the first things you must realize is that there are many different kinds of plates that you might consider collecting. People start their collections for a variety of reasons. Some people are guided into it when they are given a particular style or brand of plate that gets them rolling. Others just think it is a beautiful way to add to the decor of their home and they work with what looks best in their particular home.

This may seem like common sense, but it bears mentioning in this forum. Not all dishes are meant to be used for serving food. That sounds a bit silly, but because of how older dishes were made and the ingredients used in the processing of the plates, they may not be safe for presenting food. If your intention is to serve food on the plates, make sure that they are safe to use for that purpose.

If you are thinking of collecting plates for the sake of making money off of them some day, you should probably do a bit of research before you start. While there are guides available for you to use in your collecting, you may want to invest a bit of time studying eBay auctions. The auction giant still is the place to go for buying and selling collectibles of all kinds including decorative plates. The site is especially good for finding replacement plates when one piece of a valuable set has been damaged or broken. It is very difficult to predict what will hold its value or appreciate in value when you are starting out in any kind of collecting. Usually, the more something is promoted as being collectible, the less it ends up appreciating in my experience. This doesn't always hold true, but often, so many people snap up the "collectible" and then store it away, that it never has a chance to become truly scarce. That means that no one will be forced to pay very much for it later. I always think of Holly Hobbie plates as an example of this. I remember my Mother buying them for some friend of hers back in the 70's and talking about how collectible they were. They now can be picked up for a song on eBay or at your local second hand sale type of shop. You just never know how trends will run or what demand will look like down the road.

Aside from being collectible, the plates do make a handsome addition to pretty much any room if you are creative in the presentation. They do not have to simply stand in a china closet. Many people use hangers to mount them on walls or have specially built racks which allow them to be mounted in all manner of designs. Plates based on themes can be a wonderful accent to a room with matching decor.

Whatever path you choose to follow in collecting decorative collector's plates, you can't really go wrong if you like what you bought. It is a very individual choice that guides plate collectors. Whether you choose to collect commemorative Beatles plates from Bradford Exchange or some more well known brand or pattern, if it makes you happy and it looks good in your home, you have made the right choice.