Here is some silver from Mappin and Webb which savoir faire is seriously coveting, to make my life even more complete with savoir faire!In my formative years I could have been educated, entertained and nourished with this porringer from 1938.
If I coddled eggs for breakfast I would definitely be using this fabulous sterling egg coddler.
Then during the day I would be storing my biscuits in this fabulous biscuit barrel from 1890.
I could also pass the time of day just looking at the below enamel box from the 1930's
Come time for champagne before dinner, nothing else would do other than this silver wine cooler.
Menus for dinner held within these fabulous little menu holders.
And to finish all off if I was to be drinking brandy and smoking a cigar after dinner, the fabulous cigar lighter shaped like a hand grenade from 1918 would be it!
Beautiful. I adore sterling.
ReplyDeleteMappin and Webb and Asprey are wonderful old London shops with interesting histories and a lot of charm. Their sterling is lovely but don't underestimate that of Canadian silversmith Henry Birks and Son. In years of collecting and comparing antique and vintage pieces, I've found that a lot of old Birks sterling is excellent. Many very old Birks pieces were made in England and are hallmarked as such.
ReplyDeleteThe prices of antique sterling (in fact most antiques) has fallen tremendously, and one can pick up outstanding pieces for personal use or gifts for a quarter (sometimes even less) of the price of what they would cost new. The most desirable pieces and the things most sought after by connoisseurs are always the very plainest and simplest. Nobody wants Granny's baroque teaset or roccoco flatware. Especially if it is monogrammed. Having one's sterling monogrammed instantly devalues it to scrap.
Sadly, with today's casual lifestyles, fewer and fewer people care about living and entertaining with fine sterling. I've heard such changes referred to as "the slobification of America."