Some of my Favorite Victorian Silverware

 I'm sharing some of my favorite bits and pieces of antique silverware today.   

 

 Of course this is not a piece of silverware but instead, an old hatpin.  I had it stashed with my forks and spoons and couldn't resist photographing it along with the rest. 

 

 Ages ago I started picking up old bits and pieces of Victorian silverware.  I found myself intrigued by how amazingly detailed they were. It's not uncommon to discover that a fork or spoon is almost as elaborate on the back as it is on its front. 

The little creamer has plenty of character and is perfect for holding crafting of office supplies.  My sister owns the matching sugar holder.  $7 each.  Not much.  I left the antique store with a huge smile.  Couldn't afford the stunning but massive silver water pitcher for $70, but I could still stroll out with a little treasure. 

 

This petite spoon features the old Victorian Cliff House in San Francisco.  It survived the 1906 earthquake only to burn to the ground a year later.   I use to live across the bay from San Francico and must admit to often daydreaming about what it must have been like inside this beautiful old place.  As a matter of fact, I wondered what it was like to live in turn of the century San Franciso.  Often.

Oh how I hated leaving that part of the world.  

Note the ship to the right.

 Backside detail.

 It's a little hard to see the detail on this old spoon. Little Red Riding Hood is to your upper left and the Big Bad Wolf on the poor girls right and below her feet.  Sadly, Little Red has lost quite a bit of her face over the years. 

 Detailed backside of fork.

These last two are favorites of mine.  One look at them and you are immediately transported to another time and place.  Here one minute.  There, watching Countess Olenska arrive the next.

 I don't recall ever paying more than $1 for any of the forks or spoons.  Sometimes even less, a quarter apiece for example.  I was fortunate to find a few items at the local Salvation Army not to long ago. 

Only yesterday my heart skipped a beat when I spotted a fellow with piles of silverware at the flea market.  No luck this time.  It turned out to be mostly from the Edwardian/1920s period.  Definitely lovely in it's own right but certainly not as fancy. 

Other favorite things below:

 A Fave Silverware Basket

Silverplated Forks and one Lone Spoon

 Upcoming posts:

The Art of Cuisine/Toulouse-Lautrec

A Vistion of Paris:  The Photographs of Eugene Atget, the Words of Marcel Proust