Hi Ho Silver.......Away!!!!!

You might think, by the title of this post, since I love horses,  this  might be about one of my favorite childhood TV series - The Lone Ranger!

              

                                          Fooled ya' !!

Thought I'd just jabber on about another favorite thing of mine - vintage silverplate, and old silver.

Gone are the good ol' days, when there was a day of the week designated for polishing the silver- when silver was what you set your table with, not the stainless steel forks and spoons we now purchase at Target.

Real silver, not the silverplate stuff, is still kind of out of my reach pricewise.

But, I LOVE thrift store and rummage sale finds of silverplate, and on occasion, if I am lucky, REAL silver!!

I have my grandmother's very nice silverplate serving spoons and utensils. I have a couple of Great Aunt Taimi's monogrammed shrimp forks, and serving platters.

                                      Monogrammed "K" for Kahkonen and below "C" for Caldwell

I have a weakness for Deco designs, and sometimes the most gaudily ornate mid to late1800's butter knives and jelly or bonbon spoons will catch my eye. A bonbon spoon- can you imagine????!!

Above: a bonbon spoon(or maybe it's a berry spoon) is now a necklace; an English captured faerie wing, Mexican cuff, and bracelet, sterling ring and brooch.

I love to uncover utensils that served a purpose years ago, when now, sometimes only hours of research will yield their extinct name and reason for creation..

I love old silverplate, tarnished and pitted, for repurposing, upcycling, and just plain decoration.

                                                             A pile above awaiting altering............
                                                             a pedestal to be, below.......

                                                
                                              

Much of .925 silver made today, does not, to me, wield the charm of an older piece- whether it be from England, US, or Mexico.
It is fun for me to research the marks, sometimes almost indistinguishable, stamped or incised on the backs or undersides of a newly discovered thrift shop or yard sale score!

I love to use old silverware, mismatched, of course, in a table setting, sometimes with a cast off orphaned vintage dinner plate or teacup of the same era. I often wonder where these might have originally been used, or what years ago dinner party, did these fancy plates and silver pieces grace the table of ?

                                                                   iced tea spoons



A tarnished, ugly and blackened with age spoon, sometimes surprises me, and cleans up to a beautiful glistening piece of silverplate (or with luck- actual SILVER!).

A blackened pedestal in the trash, cleaned up quite nicely to become a jewelry catch-all!

                                    Assorted servers and ladle that cleaned up pretty well

Others that are worn in much used spots,down to the base metal,  are perfect for artsy upcycling, taking on new life as a piece of jewelry or wind chime.
An old silverplate lidless sugar bowl becomes a planter for an African violet. A silverplate pedestal urn is now filled with a miniature array of spring garden plants. A knife is stamped with words of wisdom, or cut and recreated into a candle holder.

 A mid 1800's silver hand mirror (score!) adorns a same century dresser, as a companion to a silver clothing brush. It gives us a glimpse into an era of days gone by...........holding that mirror and gazing into the streaked glass, wondering who before you owned this, their visage stored in the mirror's memory.

                                                closeup of the detail on the hand mirror below

                                
                                             (plant stake/spoon coming soon to my Etsy shop)

It's a treasure hunt that never ends- with a Hi Ho, Silver...............AWAY!!!!