Before and After Silver Haul

I had a meeting in a town about an hour and a

quarter away from my house earlier this week

and on the way home I stopped at a thrift shop

for a look around and found a pile of old silver.

I imagine a family emptied out someone's home

and sent it all to the thrift shop.  Probably many

of these pieces were wedding gifts back when

people got silver for their weddings.  There were

so many cool pieces, a huge circular tray that

must have been 2' across, coffee pots, creamers,

footed water pitchers...  and I didn't buy anything.

NOT ONE THING!  I thought, oh, you have so

much already, where will you put it?

And then I regretted it.  I thought about it all

week.  I really wanted the huge tray.

This was our wedding anniversary weekend and we

were out of state all day on Saturday so I made a deal

with Mr. Wonderful.  I said if we got up early on Sunday

 and got all of our outdoor chores done, could we head

back down south and see if any silver was left?  He was

up for it and off we went.  Of course many of the good

pieces were gone, including the huge tray.  But I did

pick up 10 pieces.  And I got it all for $20 which is the

weekend limit I usually set for myself.  So it was a score!

I polished it all as I was watching the final Lewis on

Masterpiece and now it is all packed away in the china

closet.  I think we will have a silver themed Thanksgiving

and Christmas this year!

Silver Haul!

It's that time of year when the garage sales start up and 

I'm always ready to go treasure hunting.  A church near 

my house was having a rummage sale and I stopped in to

look around.  I saw this bag of silverware marked $5.

The first thing I noticed was this server that was

sitting on top of all the other items.  I thought the

rest of the bag was probably filled with assorted

forks, knives and spoons but I was interested in the

server.  In an antique store this item alone would 

probably cost at least $15 so I figured $5 was a 

good deal.

When I got to the car I looked in the bag and laughed.

I guess someone else likes butter knives as much as

I do!  I use butter knives often and not just for butter,

when I serve triple cream brie or other soft cheeses

or dips, I like to give each person their own knife.

When I was a little girl I always liked to use the butter

knife from my Mum's silver set ~ it just made the meal

more special.

While watching a movie this afternoon I got them all

polished and looking beautiful.

They are mostly silverplate but I did find some 

sterling.  There are even a few that match

 ~ not that that matters...

I love the little shields on this set of 6, perhaps I

should have them engraved with our initial.

These two will go to someone I know with the

initial B.

There was even one M ~ made just for us!

Silver ~ Present Perfect!

A few days ago I was out treasure hunting with one

of my friends and when I got home I found a package

waiting for me.  My dear friend who has moved away

to sunny Florida sent me a gift ~ present perfect!

She knows me so well, she said she saw this pair of

candlesticks in an antique store and knew I had to 

have them.  I grabbed the silver polish and wow!

They are gorgeous!

Yesterday I had to go on an errand to a town not too

far from my house.  I don't get up there too often 

these days so I decided to stop in at the local thrift 

shop.  I found this sweet silver vase for 99 cents and

knew it had to come home with me.  When I got to my 

car I removed the label from the bottom of the base 

but the sticker left so much gummy residue I couldn't 

tell if it had any marks.  Once home I got out the polish

and saw it is marked Gorham.  A nice find!  Today the

first daffodils have bloomed in our back garden so I

snipped a few for the vase but I'm waiting for the 

grape hyacinths to bloom in the next few weeks, I 

think they will look spectacular in this, I'll place it

next to my bed so I can wake up to the scent of

Spring!