Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Let's try this again and see if the pictures will show up!
I have been on the prowl for about a year for vintage paint by number paintings that AREN'T horses, cowboys, or beach scenes. Well, I hit the mother lode in Mountain View, AR at a junk shop this past week! I found these two beautiful 16 x 20 paintings, framed - for $9 each! I'm posting pictures of some of the details on the paintings as well. I love them!
Sometimes you can find a pretty piece of silverplated holloware that is a bargain. People have posted here about finding real sterling silver items at rock bottom prices, but I haven't been so lucky. I found a silverplated nut tray that was lovely, it was black but polished up gloriously. I also found one of those three tiered canape thingies that the ladies loved at the last dinner party I had.
Sometimes you can find a pretty piece of silverplated holloware that is a bargain. People have posted here about finding real sterling silver items at rock bottom prices, but I haven't been so lucky. I found a silverplated nut tray that was lovely, it was black but polished up gloriously. I also found one of those three tiered canape thingies that the ladies loved at the last dinner party I had.
The sad thing about sterling today is two-fold: first, the spot price is pushing $20/oz.... remember when it was less than $4/oz? It is so unfortunate that people are selling grandma's sterling to be melted down and then take the cash and run. Ain't happening on this end.... sentimental value dwarfs monetary gain. Second, maintaining sterling is a total pain, and gold does not oxidize (though those cloths that stop oxidation on silver really do work, when left in the display cabinets). Can't recall when I last saw a sterling (full) tea set, other than when I was in the states in Litchfield CT... pounds of silver... but unfortunately this new generation does not comprehend the elegance and style of something so traditional. Me thinks the 'World of Warcraft' video games are replacing anything traditional.
In some decorator circles, tarnish is considered desirable "patina" on silver and silverplated items. You do have to be careful not to use excessively abrasive products of valuable antique silver pieces, but tarnish and patina are not the same in my book!
Some of the more interesting Victorian quadruple plated items are seeing an increase in demand at present - mostly the more elaborate things with engraving or molded figural details - like my g-grandmother's butter dish which has a matching domed lid topped by a cow. No mistaking the purpose of this item!
If you use your sterling flatware everyday and wash and dry it promptly after use, that will help create desirable patina and delay tarnishing.
As for the tastes of the present younger generation: you have to catch'em young and teach them about these things, make sure the nicest things get used for special occasions that include the children, and tell them the stories of the family pieces' former owners. I am fortunate to have a couple of young relatives who actually like the more "decorated" look of older things - hope that doesn't change.
The sad thing about sterling today is two-fold: first, the spot price is pushing $20/oz.... remember when it was less than $4/oz? It is so unfortunate that people are selling grandma's sterling to be melted down and then take the cash and run. Ain't happening on this end.... sentimental value dwarfs monetary gain. Second, maintaining sterling is a total pain, and gold does not oxidize (though those cloths that stop oxidation on silver really do work, when left in the display cabinets). Can't recall when I last saw a sterling (full) tea set, other than when I was in the states in Litchfield CT... pounds of silver... but unfortunately this new generation does not comprehend the elegance and style of something so traditional. Me thinks the 'World of Warcraft' video games are replacing anything traditional.
What wonderful observations you have made here. I cannot "rep" you enough.
The only sterling I own is my mother's set of flatware - service for eight. It's a very ornate design and I have some of the extra pieces like butter spreaders, seafood forks, serving pieces including slotted spoon. Only once or twice a year do I have a formal dinner party ... you see I own a 120 year old Victorian house and the dining room is very formal indeed with high ceiling, a large crystal chandelier with 15 branches dripping with over 850 crystal prisms, etc.
I am getting more and more reluctant to use the silver because even if one spoon or fork goes missing I'm out $80-$100.
As a member of an organization of owners of Victorian homes, I've learned that even affluent Victorians created elegant homes and lifestyles by acquiring copies, reproductions, and good fakes of things. In other words, a really handsome well made silver-plated item for the table such as a candlestick can be lovelier than a mediocre sterling silver one ... a gorgeous piece of costume jewelry can far outshine some generic piece of 14K or 18K gold jewelry.
What wonderful observations you have made here. I cannot "rep" you enough.
The only sterling I own is my mother's set of flatware - service for eight. It's a very ornate design and I have some of the extra pieces like butter spreaders, seafood forks, serving pieces including slotted spoon. Only once or twice a year do I have a formal dinner party ... you see I own a 120 year old Victorian house and the dining room is very formal indeed with high ceiling, a large crystal chandelier with 15 branches dripping with over 850 crystal prisms, etc.
I am getting more and more reluctant to use the silver because even if one spoon or fork goes missing I'm out $80-$100.
As a member of an organization of owners of Victorian homes, I've learned that even affluent Victorians created elegant homes and lifestyles by acquiring copies, reproductions, and good fakes of things. In other words, a really handsome well made silver-plated item for the table such as a candlestick can be lovelier than a mediocre sterling silver one ... a gorgeous piece of costume jewelry can far outshine some generic piece of 14K or 18K gold jewelry.
Get my drift?
Absolutely agree.... I am one who owns a Federal from 1876... (they don't build them like they used to; flat roofs in a snow-effect area may not have been the best choice, but the construction beams in the attic were incredible (roof drains on the interior walls, that fed the cistern in the basement initially weirded me out). Some of the negatives were such high ceilings (not for living, but decorating), and the window treatments had to work with a 10-foot high window Really like the attention to detail; solid mahogany doors, with chestnut raised-panels... real crown molding (i.e. plaster), and plaster/horsehair wall covering. Old-growth southern yellow pine flooring was typical for houses of this era. Front stairway is a curved solid mahogany treads/risers ,balusters, handrails etc.
We put in a similar chandelier to this: Schonbek Camelot 22 Light Chandelier in Polished Silver and Clear Gemcut Trim 2626-40 | Lighting New York in the dining room (a room that with new-home construction is being eliminated, unfortunately.)
I too only use the sterling for special occasions, such as Xmas and Thanksgiving. Between all the silverware, linen napkins with napkin rings, the plates, the glasses, the cut glass bowls, etc... takes as long to hand-wash clean it as it did to make the meal.
Not sure if I can agree with 'copies, reproductions, and good fakes of things'. In India, the only gold we could buy was 24kt, by law... (the posts for earrings were much thicker, as pure gold is quite soft.) Just a personal viewpoint, but fake anything (being Gucci bags, plastic crown molding, vinyl siding, plated anything, basically something that is an attempt to be misleading) is just a ploy to have something appear to be real, when it is not. Would someone wear a quartz-movement fake Presidential Rolex that they got at a flea market for $20, and not have a self-adequacy/esteem issue?
LOL, this made me laugh because, although I don't consider myself a true collector, I do seem to have amassed quite a few pyrex stovetop percolators. DH and I both love percolated coffee, so these are the best.
My husband, however, thinks I have enough (even though they come in various shapes and sizes). This past summer we were strolling through a large indoor antique center when I spotted DH about 50 feet away with his hands in his pockets staring at something. Aha! Just as I suspected, it was yet another pyrex pot, and I just know he was wondering whether or not he should tell me. It didn't have the "innards" and I had that model, anyway, so I passed it up.
Not sure if I can agree with 'copies, reproductions, and good fakes of things'. In India, the only gold we could buy was 24kt, by law... (the posts for earrings were much thicker, as pure gold is quite soft.) Just a personal viewpoint, but fake anything (being Gucci bags, plastic crown molding, vinyl siding, plated anything, basically something that is an attempt to be misleading) is just a ploy to have something appear to be real, when it is not. Would someone wear a quartz-movement fake Presidential Rolex that they got at a flea market for $20, and not have a self-adequacy/esteem issue?
You misunderstand me.
When I say copies and reproductions, I am not saying knock offs of name brand consumer items like a quartz movement Chinese made watch that mimics a Rolex (BTW I used to be in the watch biz and I do not have that high opinion of Rolex to begin with: give me a Breguet, Blancpain, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantine, Franck Muller, Audemars Piguet and several others ANY DAY over the overpriced and over rated Rolex). Or Prada bags or Louis Vuitton luggage or Hermes scarves.
What I meant to say, for example, was a very lovely and extremely well made late 19th Century Victorian Sheffield Silverplate coffee service that is a reproduction of an 18th Century Georgian solid sterling coffee service ... one can acquire the former for $1 -2,000 as opposed to the original that would go for ten times that amount.
Can't afford 10 mm Japanese Akoya pearls by Mikimoto or Imperial or Mastoloni? I assure you that a nice strand by Majorca is not in bad taste. Even Jackie Kennedy and Princess Diana wore simulated pearls of good quality.
BTW, I've been to India four times. On one trip I toured India for 3 1/2 months. The gold jewelry is usually 22.5k - 23.5k which is near pure - but not "plumb" as we call it in the jewelry biz, but it can be described as pure gold by the Indian government (which allows for a "margin of error" in the karatage.) I adore traditional Indian jewelry designs, especially when they contain rubies, emeralds, pearls and enamelling. Even Cartier copied Indian jewelry designs (the Dutchess of Windsor owned such a necklace).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Really like the attention to detail; solid mahogany doors, with chestnut raised-panels... real crown molding (i.e. plaster), and plaster/horsehair wall covering. Old-growth southern yellow pine flooring was typical for houses of this era. Front stairway is a curved solid mahogany treads/risers ,balusters, handrails etc.
. It didn't have the "innards" and I had that model, anyway, so I passed it up.