I guess one could safely say that I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth. My mother did have some silver . . . a silver coffee service which she was given when she bought her waterless cookery set in the 1950's as a 25 year waterless cookery anniversary gift . . . and then when my parents were stationed in Germany, she bought a set of silver cutlery, which only came out once a year at Christmas time. The rest of the time it sat in it's special case on top of the buffet.
When I worked at the manor I had more than my fill of silver, or should I say "the care of silver." There wasn't a room in that big house that didn't have silver in it in one form or another, and the kitchen was loaded with it . . . cutlery, serving pieces, coffee sets, tea pots, etc. . . . and of course the care of it all was down to me and the housekeeper. Just the silver in the kitchen alone took me days to polish and the rest of the silver in the house, took weeks. It seemed like we were always polishing silver. It cured me from ever wanting to have any great amount of silver for myself. I wouldn't mind having just a few pieces of it however.
I don't think you have to be rich to own a few pieces of silver . . . it is entirely possible to find nice vintage pieces at decent prices.
I was recently made aware of a fabulous Vintage Cutlery site. Jennifer's Cutlery. Specialising in beautiful silver plated cutlery and gifts, Jennifer's Cutlery offers a mix of products from single items of cutlery to large full canteens. She is able to service customers in Australia, the United States and the Far East, as well as here in the UK.
All you Downton Abbey fans would be interested in knowing that Jennifer supplied the show with some fabulous Kings pattern cuttlery in Season 4. Now, that's a pretty nifty claim to fame if you ask me.
Jennifer recently sent me several small pieces of cutlery. They came in a special padded envelope and wrapped in tissue paper, tied up with a grosgrain ribbon, which was a very nice presentation and made me feel like I was getting something really special . . .
Inside were these three pieces. I did a search to find out about the fork as it was quite unsual. I think it is either an oyster fork or a cake fork. I haven't quite figured it out yet and I am not that knowledgeable. The butter knife is very pretty with it's pearlized handle and I think the spoon is a sugar spoon, but again, I could be wrong. In any case they are very pretty and I thank Jennifer very much for sending them to me.
Her prices are not too bad. I think it's nice that you can buy single pieces or whole sets even, and quite reasonably.
I think single pieces of silver . . . serving pieces etc., make really nice wedding gifts and Jennifer's site has a lot to choose from. The site is very simple to get around and easy to use.
Do go and take a look. Jennifer's Cutlery I think you will find it quite interesting, and you never know. You will find testimonials as well as tips for care and storage of your silver. You never know . . . you may just fall in love. I did.
Many thanks to Jennifer for very generously sending me these pieces. They made me feel like a Queen . . . well . . . at the very least like a Princess.
