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!

Mid-Century Atomic Snowflake

While I was out treasure hunting recently, I came

across this Mid-Century Meat Platter by Inland Glass.

I took a photo and sent it to Kate saying, "too bad you 

are a vegetarian, this would have been perfect for you."

She asked, "would I have to use it for meat?"  I figured,

no, you could serve anything on it so I got it for her.

This is not just a perfect find because she likes this sort

of style but also if you notice the edging is in black and

gold and Kate is a proud Purdue graduate and those

Boilmakers are wild about their school colors.  This

pattern is known as the Atomic Snowflake which I

find wildly amusing.  It is so Mid-Century.  I'm (luckily)

too young to have had A Bomb drills in my childhood

classrooms, we only had firedrills.  But I remember my

siblings talking about air raid drills where they were 

told to get under their desks.  Ah ~ the good old days!

It also came with a stand so you could keep your

dinner warm with candles under the platter.  I guess

it's good Kate is a vegetarian since our modern tea 

light candles don't fit...

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!

Delft

I have loved old stuff all my life.  Just yesterday I 
bought a piece of Delft and I thought to myself how
 long have you loved this stuff?  I realized it was 
probably when I would visit my neighbor across the
 street from my girlhood home.  Mrs. C was Dutch and 
collected Delft.  It was probably in her home that I 
first fell in love with it.  I have been to the Netherlands 
a few times but never to Delft.  
I'll have to make it there on my next trip!

I sent this photo to Mrs. C's kids and her daughter

sent me this photo.

Wow! This is Debbie's collection.  She said her daughter

has her Mom's collection ~ just as it should be.  It is great

to see families pass their treasures to younger generations.