for dinner ware is not good. The time I spent working in a very large mall, I saw few sets go out the door. The ones that did sell were pennies on the dollar for what they sold for 10 or 20 years ago. There are so many of us in the "downsizing" generation it is very hard to sell what was dear to us.

What is the actual fair market value? I get that by watching EBay sold listings. Millions of buyers and dealers pretty much set the market value there. Most likely the best you can do is to list the set there. Replacement services will charge you a bunch for a missing item, but only give you a few cents on the dollar of what they sell them for.

Sometimes the best you can do, if you itemize your taxes, is to donate to a nonprofit.

Wedding gift?

let them deal with it.

...is there is little market now for sets of china, even very good china. Spode or Wedgwood would be a different matter, of course.