Silver Kvells, Again, As Thanksgiving Looms!

Kvell --  from the Yiddish, to gush with pride; usually reserved
for proud grandparents when new babies are placed in their arms,
as in, "Oy, I'm kvelling!"

************************************************************
I am re-posting from November 17, 2009 -- about old silver.
And getting it ready for Thanksgiving Day.

We'll have 31 gathered around our table(s) this year.

************************************************************

(First posted 11/17/09)
A couple of epiphanies today:  One, that it is only 9 days -- and counting! -- till Thanksgiving and Two, that is is very hard to photograph silver well, and even harder to do so in sunlight.

I was poking around in my bits of old silverplate flatware, making sure I have enough so that everyone

who wants a fork gets a fork at the Thanksgiving table.  Dion says he's okay without a fork,

but he's just one among more than two dozen gathered for the feast.

It occurs to me that I am going to have to polish these bad boys before T-day.
They are just too tarnished to use for food.
I don't know about you, but I always think I can taste tarnish.  It's not a pleasant condiment.

So it looks as if I'm going to have a date with Wright's Silver Cream in the coming days.
I'll have to figure out a good reward for myself for that chore.
And don't say my reward will be nice gleaming silverware; I stopped falling for that one when I was 12.

Today, I'm kvelling over my old serving pieces that will be called into duty next week.
I know a lot of you also love vintage silver, so here they are.

First, a charming and surprisingly weighty ladle that just arrived in the mail yesterday.
Pardon the sun reflections.

It's a Reed & Barton Tiger Lily pattern silverplate piece, from the early 1900s.

This pattern morphed mid-century in Festivity, but this piece is from the old school,

and I love it.   It's got a gorgeous monogram.  Not our initial, but so what?

 This ladle now lives at my sister's house.
It matches a set of old plated flatware we gave her last Christmas.

Our family initial is "L" and it's on the next serving pieces -- a tablespoon and a meat fork also from the early 1900s.
Can you see the ridges in the business part of the fork?  They give the piece so much life and sparkle.

This is Community Plate's Georgian pattern, also very heavy and in really excellent condition given
it's almost a century old.  This old plate lasts and is so much nicer
than most of what is available today in silver plate.

I have a lot of this Georgian pattern, including a dozen or so of the big spoons;
they were used for soup 'way back when, but are more the size of our serving spoons now.
Here's a darling little berry spoon:

Also ridged.  It will dish up homemade cranberry sauce.

Just a wee bit younger is this Art Nouveau pattern meat fork that has seen some hard use:

He's an old fella, and it shows.
I wonder if someone buffed off a monogram on the handle?

He's still got lovely lines, though.  He'll get a very gentle cleaning!

Another ladle, this one also a bit worn and showing her age:

Why do I think the spoons and ladles are female, and the forks and knives are male?
Don't answer, I think I can figure this one out all by myself.
Paging Dr. Freud, paging Dr. Freud. . . .

Do you buy things for odd reasons sometimes?

Take these next spoons, almost 9-inches long:

These are the Rogers Blenheim pattern, from the late 1800s.

Blenheim is an ornate pattern, but I bought my first few Blenheimteaspoons because of the pattern name.
Our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Dion, is brown and white,
the coloration which is known as the Blenheim color in Cavaliers.
Luckily, I adore this beautiful pattern!

Here's the bowl of a small Blenheim spoon, 6-inches long.
Lovely detail.  It, too, will serve cranberry sauce.

Most of my old pieces are plated; old plated pieces are inexpensive to buy,

and some of the patterns are just charming.  I do have some sterling, though,

including this lovely, large, vintage serving spoon:

Look at those curves!  Va-va-va voom.

My mother-in-law gave me this spoon.  A beautiful Art Nouveau spoon, made more special
because it comes with a family connection.  It will serve the mashed potatoes; it does so every year.

And, finally, a cheese plane -- a modern blade on a vintage sterling handle.

My family is Norwegian; cheese is definitely on the befores table at every family gathering.

******************************************************************

 Welcome back to November 2010.

I have help in the ongoing kitchen makeover this weekend; Howard and daughter Anne.  What bliss.

We also changed a bit of what was planned for the kitchen, and are busy implementing that.

No current pictures; I'll save those for tomorrow!

**************************************************************

Thanks to Chari of Happy To Design for giving me an easy way out on a Sunday

by posting a past post (say that 3 times fast!).  You can visit Sunday Favorites; click here.

 

Beth at Gypsy Fish Journal hosts Silver Sunday on the 2nd Sunday of each month, here.

At The Tablescaper, it's Seasonal Sunday.  Nothing's more seasonal than Thanksgiving plans!  Click here.

 

Have a lovely Sunday!  See you tomorrow, if you are patient enough to see more kitchen shots!  -- Cass