Before I saw your "about 50 yrs old", I said to myself, flashback to the 60s!
So we agree on the time period.
Why did I remember??? ... my sister got about 4 or 5 sets of them as wedding gifts. That was during a time when you were thankful for your wedding gifts, accepted them, thanked profusely and chances are they were displayed (think: dust collectors) in your home. I was much younger, and I remember visiting and thinking how beautiful the gold and amber set was that she had received ........... proudly sitting in the centre of her stereo cabinet
And no, never ... just the pretty dust collector!
The 34 is probably just the code of who did the work or the batch/day that set was made. Not uncommon.