Thank you for finding That Old House amidst the chaos of the Internet. We are delighted that you are here.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Sunday Silver Kvells

Sunday ... and that means it is re-run time, with the Sunday Favorites blog party. Find the links below, at the end of the post, where you can also find links to the Gypsy Fish Journal blog, and the 3rd Silver Sunday blog party!

***********************************************************

(November 17, 2009, slightly edited for length)

Kvell
-- from the Yiddish, to gush with pride; usually reserved for proud grandparents when new babies are placed in their arms, as in, "Oy, I'm kvelling!"

************************************************************

A couple of epiphanies today: One, that it is only 9 days -- and counting! -- till Thanksgiving and Two, that is is very hard to photograph silver well, and even harder to do so in sunlight.


I was poking around in my bits of old silverplate flatware, making sure I have enough so that everyone who wants a fork gets a fork at the Thanksgiving table. Dion says he's okay without a fork, but that's just one among more than two dozen gathered for the feast.


It occurred to me that I am going to have to polish these bad boys before T-day. They are just too tarnished to use for putting food into mouths. I don't know about you,
but I always think I can taste tarnish if it's on an eating utensil.

It's not a pleasant condiment.

So it looks as if I'm going to have a date with Wright's Silver Cream in the next few days.
I'll have to figure out a good reward for myself for that chore.
And don't say my reward will be nice gleaming silverware; I stopped falling for that one when I was 12.


Today, I'm kvelling over my old serving pieces that will be called into duty next week.
I know a lot of you also love vintage silver, so here they are.

First, a charming and surprisingly weighty ladle that just arrived in the mail yesterday.
Pardon the sun reflections.

It's a Reed & Barton Tiger Lily pattern silverplate piece, from the early 1900s.


Next, a tablespoon and a meat fork also from the early 1900s. Can you see the ridges in the business part of the fork? They give the piece so much life and sparkle.

This is Community Plate's Georgian pattern, also very heavy and in really excellent condition given it's almost a century old. This old plate lasts and is so much nicer that most of what is available today in silver plate.


I have a lot of this Georgian pattern, including a dozen or so of the big spoons; they were used for soup 'way back when, but are more the size of our serving spoons now. Here's a darling little berry spoon:

Also ridged. It will dish up homemade cranberry sauce.

Just a wee bit younger is this Art Nouveau pattern meat fork that has seen some hard use:


I wonder if someone buffed off a monogram on the handle?


Another ladle, this one also a bit worn and showing her age:


Why do I think the spoons and ladles are female, and the forks and knives are male?
Don't answer, I think I can figure this one out all by myself.
Paging Dr. Freud, paging Dr. Freud. . . .



Do you buy things for odd reasons sometimes?

Take these next 2 spoons, each almost 9-inches long:

These are the Rogers Blenheim pattern, from the late 1800s.

I have never seen any knives offered in this pattern;
I think they are old enough that the manufacturers back then only made forks and spoons,
while the and knives were made by other companies and purchased separately.


Blenheim is an ornate pattern, but I bought my first few teaspoons simply because of its name.
Our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Dion, is brown and white, which is known as the Blenheim color in Cavaliers. But it turned out that I loved the pattern, and occasionally do an Ebay search for it.

In fact, I'm waiting for delivery of a couple of forks, and spoons. These will be my first forks.

Here's the bowl of a small Blenheim spoon, 6-inches long.
Lovely detail. It, too, will serve cranberry sauce.


Most of my pieces are plated; old plated pieces are inexpensive to buy,
and some of the patterns are just charming.

I do have some sterling, though, including this lovely and large vintage serving spoon:

Look at those curves!

My mother-in-law gave it to me when she moved from Massachusetts to Florida.
Lucky me; it's a wonderful spoon.
It will serve the mashed potatoes; it does so every year.

And, finally, a cheese plane -- a modern blade on a vintage sterling handle.


*********************************************
Click here for more Sunday Favorites posts, courtesy of
Chari of Happy To Design blog. Thanks!

And hop over to the Gypsy Fish Journal blog,
for the third in a series of Silver Sunday memes.


***********************************************
Your moment of Zen . . .
sun pouring through our dining room bay windows:

This is why I pray fervently for a cloudy Thanksgiving!
That sun shines a spotlight on any bit of dust or schmutz left behind after the pre-party cleaning.

Strong sunlight? Heck, I don't even want to see myself in it! -- Cass

23 comments:

  1. You have a beautiful colletion of serving ware..Thanks for coming today...see you next Sunday!
    {{gypsy hugs}}
    Beth.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's a beautiful collection of serving utensils! I love all the sweet patterns on the handles.

    Have a wonderful Silver Sunday!

    Hugs and love,
    Julia

    ReplyDelete
  3. What beautiful silver pieces you have collected! Great patterns! I love silverware and have collected some serving pieces, but no place settings. The way our family celebrates holidays, nobody else would appreciate the beauty anyway. But I love it myself, so maybe I'll be inspired by you and gather some more beautiful silver pieces, if only for my own satisfaction!

    -Pam

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love your engraved silver piece..so royally elegant! See you next Sunday!
    Gale

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is a favorite post of mine as well -- and I love collecting silver serving pieces! We got to use a lot of it this weekend for my MIL 80th BD party.

    Your pieces are stunning!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I REMEMBER this post - - - I'm still KVELLING over it!!!!

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your silver pieces are all just stunning. I love all the beautiful patterns and the patina is just fabulous. What great pieces. Your mosaic is wonderful. You did a great job. Hugs, Marty

    ReplyDelete
  8. All your silver pieces are beautiful. It makes a gorgeous mosaic. I especially love the lily. Just sooo pretty!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, I remember this one - gorgeous. Go ahead and gush a little because it's a great collection.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love your collection and the little snippets with each picture! You know so many different patterns...is there a book or books out there that you could recommend...I have been going through Replacements, Ltd. pattern by pattern trying to identify some of the pieces I have. I especially like the Tiger Lily pattern, which would mix/match with my Frontenac pattern, in case I can't find more pieces at a reasonable price!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thanks for reposting this. I love looking at all the silver and collect a few odd pieces when at antique shops. They are getting harder to find though. Hope you had enough forks at Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Lots of beautiful old pieces here...mix and match and make merry. Happy Silver Sunday.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi Cass! What beautiful silver you have! I just love silver!!
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

    ReplyDelete
  14. I could sit and drool over your pictures on all the wonderful silver you have all day!! I actually think about you whenever I find a beautiful piece of silver somewhere!

    I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Love the mix of silverware...the mosaic is fantastic....happy SS!

    ReplyDelete
  16. I enjoyed each and every one of your pictures..detailing each piece from your collection! You have some really gorgeous serving pieces! I just love the large ornate spoon! So elegant and pretty to use for special and everyday meals!

    Miss Bloomers

    ReplyDelete
  17. Just beautiful Cass...I so remember when you did this post loved it and now...come by sometime I have missed your visits do I have bad breath ha ha!! Hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

    ReplyDelete
  18. Beautiful silver! When the sun shines in, my dining area looks like I never dust! Guess I could close the blinds, but I need all the sunshine I can get these days. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. I love vintage cutlery.....each piece is so unique and intricately made.
    Happy SS to you!
    xojanis

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your pictures and your post were both informative and detailed. I enjoyed seeing all the different patterns.

    ReplyDelete
  21. You have a beautiful collection. I love serving pieces. I usually keep the serving pieces from old sets because you can never have too many!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Cass...

    My friend, I remember this post! I must tell you that it was this post of your fabulous silverware collection that started me hunting on ebay for silverware!!! Ohhh my...this blog bug of collections really does make it's way around...doesnt' it? Hehe! Anyway, I really enjoyed looking and drooling over each and every photo (by the way, you did a beautiful job photographing that silver!)! I'm so glad that you decided to share this post with us for Sunday Favorites this week...such "eye candy"!!! Thank you, my friend!

    I just want to apologize at being so late to get by...I had to make a trip out of town yesterday! It was a busy, busy day! Have a wonderful week, Cass!!!

    Warmest winter wishes,
    Chari @Happy To Design

    ReplyDelete
  23. Love these pictures! I think you can taste the tarnish too!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting That Old House; it's always exciting to find new comments -- they are treasured! Because of increasing spam, I have reluctantly eliminated "Anonymous" commenting. Legitimate anonymous commenters, please forgive me! You might try using "Open ID" instead. Blogger's spam software worked for a good long time, but, sadly, no longer.