Reed & Barton filed for bankruptcy

[texaskj]

distracts, you were lucky. Mom had an entire tea/coffee set, bowls, chafing dishes, trays, etc. It had to be done at the kitchen sink.

 

[iLander]

My great-grandmother had THREE services for 24; dinner in flow blue and white, lunch in a beige with flowers, a funky red and white handpainted for breakfast. There was sterling for it all, plus serving pieces for all the sets; pitchers, tureens, bread plates, soup plates, etc. She used it all every day, but she also had servants to care for it all!

I have glass front kitchen cabinets and, because my house is blue and white theme, the flow blue tureens and pitchers have pride of place on the top shelves. It's really quite pretty and melds with the overall blue and white. On the bottom shelves there are 87,000 different colors of fiesta, which we actually use.

The sets are down to very pieces now (lost a lot when it was shipped to this country), I think I can do a full place setting for only six now (soup plate, bread plate, salad plate, etc). I will pull them out for Christmas every few years, but they are 100+ years old, and probably full of lead, so I'm skittish. The luncheon set is also cool because the flowers are all different. My aunt and I split it, we each have 10 plates, but I have the bowls and pitchers. The breakfast set, I think my dad has.

But I'm thrilled my great grandmother had excellent taste, her sterling was all hand hammered by a silversmith and looks completely modern. But she also had a ton of other sterling; teapots, sugar bowls, etc. I have sterling sugar cube tongs if anyone needs a pair.

I would trade in my MIL's sterling (very fussy pattern) for a Georg Jensen Acorn set, but I probably wouldn't use it any more then I use the other sterling, which is only occasionally.

I'm the only girl born into both sides of the family, so yeah, got all those things. Use them once in a while. I collected Waterford for a while, before they fired all the cutters and started molding the patterns. So, DD, again the only girl, will get a bunch of stuff that she probably doesn't want.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I have very nice memories of all sorts of special occasions that my mother used the good china, crystal and silver, that she was so proud of. Yes, my brother and i were enlisted to polish the silver, but it was part of how the household was run. We knew company was coming and it added to the excitement. However, much to my mothers disappointment, I never really wanted these things for myself The only thing I really like is crystal. Women were home at that time and luncheon sets were used for friends and acquaintances for any excuse. Those were the days when people were call Mrs. until after a year someone might say, "Why don't you call me Edith now". My mother would announce this at dinner to show how she had a new friend.

I like a semi casual dinner party. I like place settings where each are very different, and crystal is used. The flatware could be anything; stainless is fine. If you are lucky enough to inherit some of these things, I hope you use it. It becomes associated with the important events in your life. I think that was what it was meant for.


Annette

Just a cute story. I have demi-tass(Sp) cups and small sterling silver spoons to go with them. I used to hold tea-parties for the little girls in the neighborhood. After one of these tea parties, a six yr old came up to me and said,"Annette, I want to ask you something". "Yes", I replied, "Could you leave me, in your will, those little cups and little spoons, I would like them>" Of course I smiled and told her I didn't know if I could. I just loved her asking.

 

[AGBF]

Deb, you're not the only one buying those bells. I like to give them for wedding presents.

Sisters!!!