A Corner of my Silver Shop

[JewelFreak]

I just finished polishing some of my silver stuff & decided to snap a pic of it; it looked like a little silver shop. This is only a small part of the haul I got from parents & grandparents & some I bought when we lived in Europe -- nobody else in the family wanted to bother with it. I love its history & design & don't mind polishing as long as there's a brainless movie on the tube. It looks so pretty when it's shiny!



I like to polish metals to see them come up. A friend of my mother's had a huge tray from India, beautiful solid brass w/pie crust edge & engraving on its face. Once when it was horribly tarnished & unloved, I offered to shine it up for her. "Well, I have to pay you," she said, "that's an enormous job." "Just keep me supplied with vodka-tonics," I told her. Worked out great -- over about 2 hours, the tray & I got polished at the same time.

--- Laurie

 

[canuk-gal]

HI:

Wonderful! Do you use most of the pieces? Do I see a cigarette case there--I don't smoke, but I'd love one!

cheers--Sharon

 

[distracts]

Shiny shiny!!

 

[JewelFreak]

Yeah, that was with one of my grandmother's stuff. I have it sitting on a table, though it's empty these days. Made before filtered cigarettes anyway -- has 2 compartments, one for shortie cigs & a smaller one for matches. It's a family puzzle; the monogram on top says "RDW" (the W big in the middle) -- our family name begins with W but nobody can come up with an RD. Could be she bought it at an antique shop but she wasn't the type to do that. It's by Tiffany, the good quality old Tiff work. That, the ink pot & one of the card cases have dents from the San Francisco earthquake in '89 when things fell on them.

I use everything in this pic. There is a ton of holloware -- some beautiful beautiful veggie dishes, vases, pitchers, & a couple sets of flatware, that I rarely use. Lovely cheese knives w/mother of pearl handles & silver chasing from my grandmother, butter knives to match.

--- Laurie

 

[zoebartlett]

Beautiful collection! Did your royal relatives give you any of these pieces?

 

[Tacori E-ring]

Beautiful collection!

 

[JewelFreak]

Zoe, if I had any royal relatives, you can be sure I would snag the jewels! No-brainer.

 

[Rosebloom]

Just stunning! I love silver. I have service for a bigillion of my grandmothers sterling pattern - and will someday inherit her pieces as well - and can then feed the city of Chicago dinner in matching silver if needed. Totally practical and needed, right?

 

[ponder]

For the silver that you don't regularly use/display I would recommend wrapping it I plastic wrap immediately after polishing it, then sealing it in a Ziploc type bag. My friends mother would do this, and I was constantly amazed that it wasn't tarnished when she would get it out. I guess the plastic reduces the exposure to oxygen which reduces the oxidation/tarnishing process.

 

[AGBF]

I absolutely adore your silver, Laurie, but I cannot make out what everything is. Help me, please! What is the small round piece behind the candle snuffer? And how many wine coasters do you have in the photo? I don't know if I am seeing two or if there are two more behind them. I love silver, but I am really not very expert at identifying it. I think Sharon did a great job at knowing which piece was a cigarette case when it was so small in the picture! I would love to see that up close with its areas for short cigarettes and for matches! You really do have a "gem" of a collection there!

Deb

 

[iLander]

Hi Laurie!

A lovely sentimental collection, very nice. I have a bunch of inherited pieces, including a full coffee service (the tray, coffer pot, etc>) all tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and stuck away. I like your pieces, they seem more useful.

This Christmas, I will try to pull out a funky little silver pot/bowl/thing, I have no idea what you'd call it. I used to put Christmas balls in it, and it was lovely. I will try to remember to do that this year, in honor of your collection, Laurie.

 

[VRBeauty]

oops - double post.

 

[VRBeauty]

Beautiful collection! Good for you for claiming and keeping it in good shape!

I love silver too. Most of mine is silverplate - but I have lots of that! I recently gave one away, so I think I'm now down to six sets of vintage silverplate flatware!

 

[honey22]

That's a gorgeous collection. Can I ask what you use to polish it? I have a silver Tiff's bracelet that needs a polish but I have no idea how to do it?

 

[diamondseeker2006]

Very pretty pieces, JF! I am very bad about polishing my sterling!

 

[JewelFreak]

Polishing it is a chore, DS. That's why nobody wants it for wedding presents, etc., anymore. I get a little thrill seeing its beautiful color & sparkle as I polish it up.

Honey -- I used Never Dull polish. Have tried a zillion brands over years & I love this. Comes in blue tin cans -- it's treated cotton-y stuff that you rip little pieces off of. One reason I like it is that you can get it into little crevices. I use it on silver jewelry too. Some hardware stores carry it.

iLander, your coffee set sounds beautiful. That is a rare treasure. And thank you, I'll tell my pieces they are honored this Christmas! The family connection does affect me -- I think of my various grandmothers (I had 4 due to deaths, remarriages, & divorce -- super for Christmas presents as a kid) when I use their stuff. Some were my parents' wedding presents that I grew up with, always bring back Thanksgivings & Christmases, warm & family-filled. I bought silver at antique shops & shows in Europe too. Have a mustard pot w/its cute tiny own spoon & blue glass liner that I really love, for instance. The sad thing is that nobody in the next generation is the least bit interested in it. I hate it to leave the family -- someday, 2 or 3 generations on, they'll look back & wish they had it & could never afford to buy it. No point in leaving it to someone who will just let it corrode; might as well throw it away as do that. Sigh.

Ponder, the stuff I don't often use lives in silver-cloth bags & those put into sealed plastic baggies away from light. They come out when I do use them as bright as they went in. It's magic, isn't it?

Rosebloom -- Ha! Invite me! I hope using it brings back memories or thoughts of family, as mine does. I have my mom's set of Towle flatware for 12 & when I pick up the big serving spoons I flash right back to childhood holidays with almost psychic intensity. Neat are 2 monogrammed coin silver serving spoons that belonged to my gr-gr-gr-grandmother, married around 1822; I try to picture meals with them in her day.

 

[JewelFreak]

VRB, thanks. It's the vintage stuff that's nicest to have, isn't it? New silver, without history, isn't the same at all. Enjoy yours!

Deb -- Behind the candle snuffer is a Georgian ring box I bought in London at an antique shop. Got it for a song in those days, before silver & gold became more valuable than...well, silver & gold. It is lined with velvet. Sits on my dresser with the swirly-glass perfume bottle you see there (and 2 stuffed Siberians, my childhood teddy bear, childhood stuffed pink kitty whose name is Carnation, Paddington Bear, and my jewelry box). I don't have much to do this morning so snapped some pics of it. I especially love the little fleur-de-lis feet.





Here is the cigarette box. I think the lining is cedar. No idea where my grandmother got the thing. Its inside upper lid is gold colored; I don't know what material.





There are 4 wine coasters. DH's. He was a big wine afficionado from long before we met. Bought it while it was still in cask; he really knew French wines well -- of course, living in Holland. He had magnums, cases, bottles stored by a wine co. -- they put them in disused bunkers built around Rotterdam when the Nazis held Holland, perfect conditions for keeping wine. Most of it is either sold or down the hatch by now.

One of my favorite items is the small silver bowl in the center of the photo. Mom's stepmother probably found it in a NY antique shop -- they lived in Greenwich Village in the 50s & she loved antiques. Engraved all around under the rim, it says "Harrison Wood + Hoosac Falls NY + September Twenty-Seventh + 1915" and on the bottom: "From his godmother, Helen Fidelia Draper". I looked them up online -- the Drapers owned a factory in Hoosac Falls (I think it's on the Hudson River) and baby Harrison eventually went to Princeton & became a lawyer. I never heard of them before, but love having their nice bowl & its background.

Thank you, Tacori e-ring. Are you all moved now? What direction did you go from here?

 

[AGBF]

Laurie,

Thank you so much-so very much-for taking those wonderful extra pictures and telling all of us the stories about your pieces. I do love the fleur-de-lis feet on your ring box, but might not have noticed them if you hadn't pointed them out. I am not very observant! However, that cigarette case is to die for!!!

I don't know what it is about old silver, but it seems to evoke stories. This thread is reminding me of a Pricescope thread about my late mother's old silver which caused me to ask her questions (obviously when she when she was still alive, I was about to write one of those fatuous phrases about how I asked my dead mother questions while she was still living) about the provenance of the pieces.

This has become one of my all-time favorite threads on Pricescope. I hope you save it somewhere and add to it over the years when you have time to photograph more of your silver collection. And, again, I really thank you for sharing all that you did. Sometimes I find it too tedious to get out my camera and even one piece of jewelry to photograph!

Hugs,
Deb/AGBF

 

[Enerchi]

Love your beautiful silver pieces!!! And the Vodka tonic payment plan!

Rosebloom, when I come to Chicago in April, I sure hope we can have a PS GTG using all your silver place settings!!

 

[Loves Vintage]

Beautiful, Laurie!! And, I love that ring box!! Makes me want to find one for myself!!

Are you our silver expert now? It's funny because I came across some silver yesterday. My daughter (almost 2 already) pulled a case out of our china cabinet, opened it and started playing with 4 little silver rectangular trays. They are about the size of a business card. I showed my DH, and he said he'd never saw them before! They must have been his mother's, and we apparently, haven't gone through everything in the china cabinet. We moved it here and must have put everything back in where it came from? Any idea what these are? There may be more than 4 little trays. There's room for them in the case, but she may have put them somewhere else for me to find them later. haha.

 

[Phoenix]

LOVE your silver. All really gorgeous. Tell me, do you have any cutlery?

I'd love to get some silver cutlery for us. We have some beautiful chinaware and crystal but no silver cutlery. Do you happen to know where I may be able to get a set, without having to pay a fortune?

(I am actually a cheapskate, believe or not, I bought the chinaware and crystal at the store sale & expat sale - got them for very good prices and the quality is *amazing*).

 

[erinl]

Beautiful pieces-- so glad to see they are in the hands of someone who appreciates silver. A lot of silver in my neck of the woods ends up being melted down for scrap-- a travesty!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

ooh, wow, that is quite a collection!

 

[AGBF]

Beautiful, Laurie!! And, I love that ring box!! Makes me want to find one for myself!!

Are you our silver expert now?

I would say that the answer is a definite, "yes"! Fire&ice used to be a wonderful source of information on silver, but she has not been around lately. I want to post a link to the thread in which she helped me to find out more about my mother's Georg Jensen silver. I do not know if we should use Laurie's thread for this and for discussion of silver flatware (which was also requested in this thread) or if we should take it elsewhere, however.

What do you all think? Laurie, what do you think?

Should we start "a silver thread" like "The Gold Thread" in which all things silver belonging to anyone can be discussed and leave this thread to Laurie? In the charm bracelet area that is what we did. We allowed each poster to have a thread for her own bracelet so that she could post updates on it and people could follow it. Then there was one general thread. I think that it might be more polite not to threadjack Laurie's thread for general discussion of silver.

I think I may just start a a silver thread.

Edited to add that it was done!

The Silver Thread...[URL='https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/the-silver-thread.182781/#post-3324510']https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/the-silver-thread.182781/#post-3324510[/URL]

Deb/AGBF

 

[Rosebloom]

LOVE your silver. All really gorgeous. Tell me, do you have any cutlery?

I'd love to get some silver cutlery for us. We have some beautiful chinaware and crystal but no silver cutlery. Do you happen to know where I may be able to get a set, without having to pay a fortune?

(I am actually a cheapskate, believe or not, I bought the chinaware and crystal at the store sale & expat sale - got them for very good prices and the quality is *amazing*).

Phoenix,

There are fabulous deals to be had on sterling cutlery at estate sales. Also small antique stores can be good. I've seen some amazing deals on eBay too! If you happen to like the idea of mixed patterns you can really get a steal but collecting a few place settings at a time in patterns that appeal to you. Also monogrammed pieces go for much less. Sometimes I've thought it would be fun to get a set all monogrammed in different letters - but I have waaaaay too much and am not allowed to start a new set!

 

[Loves Vintage]

A separate thread is a great idea, AGBF.

I did want to post back here, just to update on my question to Laurie. It would appear (based on my ebay research) that what we have are actually ashtrays! Who knew? Anyway, I do not think they belong to the box at all. I think the box is actually a keepsake box of sorts. The ashtrays must have wound up inside simply because they are also silver. Mystery solved!

 

[JewelFreak]

My daughter (almost 2 already) pulled a case out of our china cabinet, opened it and started playing with 4 little silver rectangular trays. They are about the size of a business card. I showed my DH, and he said he'd never saw them before! They must have been his mother's, and we apparently, haven't gone through everything in the china cabinet. We moved it here and must have put everything back in where it came from? Any idea what these are? There may be more than 4 little trays. There's room for them in the case, but she may have put them somewhere else for me to find them later. haha.

LV, are you sure nothing sits on the little trays? As if they were kind of saucers? Sometimes little containers, like mustard pots or salt dishes, come with saucers to go underneath. If not -- they could be ashtrays. From about the 20s to the 60s, some hostesses put tiny individual ashtrays by each place; I've seen them in crystal or silver. You may even find a matching cigarette box -- those usually have lids but not always. Can't think what else they might be.

Go through the stuff & see what you find! Sounds like a cool hour or two -- & interesting stuff for PS too.

--- Laurie

 

[canuk-gal]

LOVE your silver. All really gorgeous. Tell me, do you have any cutlery?

I'd love to get some silver cutlery for us. We have some beautiful chinaware and crystal but no silver cutlery. Do you happen to know where I may be able to get a set, without having to pay a fortune?

(I am actually a cheapskate, believe or not, I bought the chinaware and crystal at the store sale & expat sale - got them for very good prices and the quality is *amazing*).

Phoenix,

There are fabulous deals to be had on sterling cutlery at estate sales. Also small antique stores can be good. I've seen some amazing deals on eBay too! If you happen to like the idea of mixed patterns you can really get a steal but collecting a few place settings at a time in patterns that appeal to you. Also monogrammed pieces go for much less. Sometimes I've thought it would be fun to get a set all monogrammed in different letters - but I have waaaaay too much and am not allowed to start a new set!

Phoenix:

Have you looked at Oakgem.com

They have flatware, some of it Tiffany or Jensen.

cheers--Sharon

 

[Phoenix]

Phoenix:

Have you looked at Oakgem.com

They have flatware, some of it Tiffany or Jensen.

cheers--Sharon

Thank you, Sharon. Wow, they have some gorgeous stuff there!

 

[innerkitten]

I have a few bits and pieces. Most of it is random and doesn't match. I'll post it though. My mom's long term partner/ boyfriend of 20 years has some silver stieff items from his mother. Maybe he'll let me take some pics.