If It Weren't For The Hand-Washing. . .

. . . I'd use old silver plate flatware all the time.

But sadly, I am lazy, so it comes out for Thanksgiving, state occasions, dinner parties, and when I just want a bit of shine on the table. I have bits and pieces of many patterns, but I have a favorite, and . . .
..it is my show and tell for "Show and Tell Friday," hosted by Kelli at There Is No Place Like Home. Visit her there for links to more Show and Tell Friday blog posts.

I found my favorite flatware on Ebay when I was looking for bargains in elaborate sterling (which I never found!).
It's the "Georgian" pattern by Community, introduced in 1912.

All the knives are the Old French Blade style, with wide silver plated blades, not stainless blades.

I have read that flatware manufacturers switched to stainless some time around the First World War. A shame. The silver blades are razor sharp and wonderful to use! They slice through that Thanksgiving turkey like nobody's business.

I have service for about a ba-jillion, although I am still looking for unusual pieces --iced tea spoons, shrimp forks.

The silver boxes don't always look so messy. Well, OK, often they do. I didn't tidy up for your visit. When you see the "butler's pantry" picture, below, you will know for sure I didn't tidy up!

(At Thanksgiving this year, our first in this house, I couldn't find the smaller of the two silver boxes. It turned up near Christmas in a box marked "Winter Coats." Go figure. "A Gathering of Family and Strangers..." is the Thanksgiving post.)

Lots of old silverware has lovely old monograms. Most of ours are marked with "L," the first letter of our last name.Others have an "H" -- my husband's initial, or a "C" which is mine.
A few random little cream soup spoons have "D" on them. The only one in the family with a "D" initial is our dog, Dion. I love those gigantic tablespoons. Check out their size next to the 9-inch knives!

I like using those huge spoons for soup. It's flashback time; you are 5 years old and sitting at the grownups' table. Sometimes it's good to feel small.

Here is where the silver lives, in what will eventually be restored as the butler's pantry. Right now it's an extraordinarily fugly passageway between my kitchen and dining room with a powder room on the other side of that door at one end.See? I told you I didn't tidy up.

Someday, fingers crossed, I will be able to show "after" pictures, with glass-front wall cupboards, a mahogany counter with a small nickel bar sink, a built-in beverage center . . . yeah. Well, at least I can paint it and do something to make it look less like a scullery.

Any suggestions for a mini-makeover? (Other than storing the recycling bin in another place!)

Weekend plans! My mirror hangers arrived in the mail yesterday, which means we will attempt to hang our big mirrors (read about them HERE )without incident.

Or at least without a lot of incident. Wish us luck! We don't want to bring on 7 years of bad luck if we can help it.