Silver Kvells, Silver Kvells . . . .

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!"

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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. This pattern morphed mid-century in Festivity, but this piece is from the old school, and I love it. It's got a gorgeous monogram. Not our initial, but so what?

Our initial is "L" and it's on the next serving pieces -- 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:

He's an old fella, and it shows.
I wonder if someone buffed off a monogram on the handle?

He's still got lovely lines, though. He'll get a very gentle cleaning!

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. . . .

She, too, will be cleaned very gently:

Do you buy things for odd reasons sometimes?

Take these next spoons, 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 and serving pieces,
and knives were made by other companies and purchased separately.

Blenheim is an ornate pattern, but I bought my first few teaspoons 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!

That was a gift from my mother-in-law.
It will serve the mashed potatoes; it does so every year.

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

My family is Norwegian; cheese is definitely on the befores table at every gathering.

This pretty piece will probably slice the Nokkelost!

********************* It's Party Time! *********************

Thanks to Tam at The Gypsy's Corner for hosting Three Or More Tuesday!

Thanks to Diane at A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words for hosting 2nd Time Around Tuesday!

And thanks to Roomies blog for hosting Past Due Tuesday!

Now go visit; I know I will.

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Your moment of Peace . . . sun pouring through our dining room bay windows this afternoon:

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 want to see myself in it! -- Cass