What are you doing today?

I don't baby my silver except when cleaning. For the rest of the year, it will go into my dishwasher (but I do have a flatware tray that keeps pieces from banging together.) I do store it in a box or cloth that deters tarnish. But it is right by the dining room table so I can access it quickly.

For sterling:
  • For terrible tarnish, I use Hagerty liquid polish. Slather it on and wait a few and carefully buff it off. Repeat until it rubs off clean on the buffing cloth. Then polish with a jeweler's cloth.
  • For tarnish spots, Wright's hard cream polish. Dampen the sponge that comes with it and rub lightly with the cream. Rinse the sponge when it gets too blackened. Then polish with a jeweler's cloth.
  • For barely tarnished or "it doesn't look too bad" pieces, Goddard's silver dip. Dip and rinse well, then follow with the jeweler's cloth.
  • For encrusted tarnish, any of the above but use a silver cleaning brush to clean the crevices.
For silverplate:
  • Wright's if the tarnish is bad. Follow with a rinse and buff as above. Otherwise, use a quick dip, rinse and buff.
For very large pieces, use the appropriate clothes otherwise you will get some light scarring of the finish. I really keep to the jeweler's cloths. Also, use circular motions to clean and your palm on the cloth to buff.
 
Kathleen said:
I don't baby my silver except when cleaning. For the rest of the year, it will go into my dishwasher (but I do have a flatware tray that keeps pieces from banging together.) I do store it in a box or cloth that deters tarnish. But it is right by the dining room table so I can access it quickly.

For sterling:
  • For terrible tarnish, I use Hagerty liquid polish. Slather it on and wait a few and carefully buff it off. Repeat until it rubs off clean on the buffing cloth. Then polish with a jeweler's cloth.
  • For tarnish spots, Wright's hard cream polish. Dampen the sponge that comes with it and rub lightly with the cream. Rinse the sponge when it gets too blackened. Then polish with a jeweler's cloth.
  • For barely tarnished or "it doesn't look too bad" pieces, Goddard's silver dip. Dip and rinse well, then follow with the jeweler's cloth.
  • For encrusted tarnish, any of the above but use a silver cleaning brush to clean the crevices.
For silverplate:
  • Wright's if the tarnish is bad. Follow with a rinse and buff as above. Otherwise, use a quick dip, rinse and buff.
For very large pieces, use the appropriate clothes otherwise you will get some light scarring of the finish. I really keep to the jeweler's cloths. Also, use circular motions to clean and your palm on the cloth to buff.
Click to expand...
I wash all my silver by hand and only polish when they need it. The silver spends its time in silver boxes in the gun safe so it usually doesn’t take much to make it look good.

Here is a picture of our table last time my late brother set it for Thanksgiving.

IMG_6285.jpeg
 
This is our silver pattern, Edgewood from 1909. My brother was always on the lookout for silver deals and got us a set of 12 basic knife, forks, salad forks, and spoons, and gifted it to us when we lived in Germany. We added to it to make serve for 16 plus a lot of serving pieces that are rare.

He also bought Ann and Andy’s silver at a good deal for them, and gifted John and Peter each a set. We will eventually give Matt ours. John has Meg’s sterling and doesn’t wasn’t what Mickey gave him. I told the boys to sell what they don’t want. I also have a 12 place setting of quality silver plate that belonged to my Dad’s mother but that is another story….

Edgewood sardine fork by International…. I may not have that.

iu.jpeg
 
Johnny West said:
This is our silver pattern, Edgewood from 1909. My brother was always on the lookout for silver deals and got us a set of 12 basic knife, forks, salad forks, and spoons, and gifted it to us when we lived in Germany. We added to it to make serve for 16 plus a lot of serving pieces that are rare.

He also bought Ann and Andy’s silver at a good deal for them, and gifted John and Peter each a set. We will eventually give Matt ours. John has Meg’s sterling and doesn’t wasn’t what Mickey gave him. I told the boys to sell what they don’t want. I also have a 12 place setting of quality silver plate that belonged to my Dad’s mother but that is another story….

Edgewood sardine fork by International…. I may not have that.

View attachment 79216
Click to expand...
That looks dangerous. Lol
 
Johnny West said:
I wash all my silver by hand and only polish when they need it. The silver spends its time in silver boxes in the gun safe so it usually doesn’t take much to make it look good.

Here is a picture of our table last time my late brother set it for Thanksgiving.

View attachment 79214
Click to expand...

Beautiful table setting, John!

Best of luck with your procedure - hope it helps a lot!

Lee
 
Johnny West said:
This is our silver pattern, Edgewood from 1909. My brother was always on the lookout for silver deals and got us a set of 12 basic knife, forks, salad forks, and spoons, and gifted it to us when we lived in Germany. We added to it to make serve for 16 plus a lot of serving pieces that are rare.

He also bought Ann and Andy’s silver at a good deal for them, and gifted John and Peter each a set. We will eventually give Matt ours. John has Meg’s sterling and doesn’t wasn’t what Mickey gave him. I told the boys to sell what they don’t want. I also have a 12 place setting of quality silver plate that belonged to my Dad’s mother but that is another story….

Edgewood sardine fork by International…. I may not have that.

View attachment 79216
Click to expand...
Look at some of the going prices for those on Ebay and other sites 😳
I'm talking $200-$800.
For the sardine fork.
 
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Johnny West said:
This is our silver pattern, Edgewood from 1909. My brother was always on the lookout for silver deals and got us a set of 12 basic knife, forks, salad forks, and spoons, and gifted it to us when we lived in Germany. We added to it to make serve for 16 plus a lot of serving pieces that are rare.

He also bought Ann and Andy’s silver at a good deal for them, and gifted John and Peter each a set. We will eventually give Matt ours. John has Meg’s sterling and doesn’t wasn’t what Mickey gave him. I told the boys to sell what they don’t want. I also have a 12 place setting of quality silver plate that belonged to my Dad’s mother but that is another story….

Edgewood sardine fork by International…. I may not have that.

View attachment 79216
Click to expand...
You enjoy sardines! I hope you start to use it. I dearly love using my sterling sardine forks. I keep toying with the idea of seeking something suitable to serve the sardines in!
 
Sass Muffin said:
Look at some of the going prices for those on Ebay and other sites 😳
I'm talking $200-$800.
For the sardine fork.
Click to expand...
Sardine forks can be very spendy! Which is why I encourage him to use it.

Many younger adults do not want the hassle of silver as they have been taught to only use it for special occasions and hand-wash it, etc. Yes, I am sure it is good practice but...my patterns and silver have very few marks on them even though I use it all of the time and stick it in the flatware rack in my dishwasher.

My sterling service is Fairfax by Gorham-Durgin. It's a pattern that has been around since 1910. I like it in that it is simple enough to go with pretty much any kind of place settings I desire. Plus, it is popular enough to have a huge variety of serving and service pieces. I have place settings for 8 in all table-service pieces including ice cream forks! (My birthday gift this year!) I was gifted the basic 5-piece place setting for 8 by older friends who had no one who wanted it and they were downsizing. Over the years, I have added to it. In hunting for pieces, I strive to avoid "custom pieces" which are generally not original pieces but are formed in other ways.

The best thing about collecting sterling is that so many younger adults are simply selling the silver sets instead of using them. With a bit of patience, I can often get the pieces for the price of the silver. (Some collect coins - I collect table and place pieces!) I am very close to completing my luncheon place service for the pattern. There are some pieces that I really desire, and I was fortunate to find a few very recently: Lettuce fork, 2 lemon forks, 4 cocoa spoons. And I have my ever-growing list.....egg spoons *sighs* Using them makes me smile!

For those who are interested in collecting this kind of thing, here are some rules I go by.
1. Know the price of silver per ounce. It's important when negotiating. You can google the weight of any piece on the fly so you know the price of the silver in it.
2. I typically offer the price of the silver in the piece (sterling is at least 92.5% silver) plus i will add an extra $5-15 depending on the piece/set and how much I want it.
3. All of my pieces are not monogrammed. If I see a piece that I really want, but it has a monogram, I will reduce the price down to the cost of the silver alone....and sometimes less. (If they sell the piece to be melted, they will not get the price of silver for it.)

If it is sterling, not much will keep it from looking practically brand new. I found a set of cream soup (gumbo) spoons. One of the spoons had a terrible encounter with a garbage disposal, and all had monograms. I bought the set of 8 for $130 about a year ago. My silversmith charged me $20 to fix the spoon and another $50 to remove all 8 monograms. Plus, he polished them up to very new standards. These spoons were selling for about $100 per spoon at the time so I feel like I got a good deal. And gumbo never tasted so good.

A silly hobby to many, but tons of fun for me.
 
Kathleen said:
Sardine forks can be very spendy! Which is why I encourage him to use it.

Many younger adults do not want the hassle of silver as they have been taught to only use it for special occasions and hand-wash it, etc. Yes, I am sure it is good practice but...my patterns and silver have very few marks on them even though I use it all of the time and stick it in the flatware rack in my dishwasher.

My sterling service is Fairfax by Gorham-Durgin. It's a pattern that has been around since 1910. I like it in that it is simple enough to go with pretty much any kind of place settings I desire. Plus, it is popular enough to have a huge variety of serving and service pieces. I have place settings for 8 in all table-service pieces including ice cream forks! (My birthday gift this year!) I was gifted the basic 5-piece place setting for 8 by older friends who had no one who wanted it and they were downsizing. Over the years, I have added to it. In hunting for pieces, I strive to avoid "custom pieces" which are generally not original pieces but are formed in other ways.

The best thing about collecting sterling is that so many younger adults are simply selling the silver sets instead of using them. With a bit of patience, I can often get the pieces for the price of the silver. (Some collect coins - I collect table and place pieces!) I am very close to completing my luncheon place service for the pattern. There are some pieces that I really desire, and I was fortunate to find a few very recently: Lettuce fork, 2 lemon forks, 4 cocoa spoons. And I have my ever-growing list.....egg spoons *sighs* Using them makes me smile!

For those who are interested in collecting this kind of thing, here are some rules I go by.
1. Know the price of silver per ounce. It's important when negotiating. You can google the weight of any piece on the fly so you know the price of the silver in it.
2. I typically offer the price of the silver in the piece (sterling is at least 92.5% silver) plus i will add an extra $5-15 depending on the piece/set and how much I want it.
3. All of my pieces are not monogrammed. If I see a piece that I really want, but it has a monogram, I will reduce the price down to the cost of the silver alone....and sometimes less. (If they sell the piece to be melted, they will not get the price of silver for it.)

If it is sterling, not much will keep it from looking practically brand new. I found a set of cream soup (gumbo) spoons. One of the spoons had a terrible encounter with a garbage disposal, and all had monograms. I bought the set of 8 for $130 about a year ago. My silversmith charged me $20 to fix the spoon and another $50 to remove all 8 monograms. Plus, he polished them up to very new standards. These spoons were selling for about $100 per spoon at the time so I feel like I got a good deal. And gumbo never tasted so good.

A silly hobby to many, but tons of fun for me.
Click to expand...

As far as collecting/hobbies go, this one is an investment, at least! Not that you'll ever sell the collection, but if you HAD to ....

Lee
 
Kathleen said:
You enjoy sardines! I hope you start to use it. I dearly love using my sterling sardine forks. I keep toying with the idea of seeking something suitable to serve the sardines in!
Click to expand...
I eat sardines right out of the can. I’d like to know how it was done in olden days as the sardine fork looks to large for small can use. I’m wondering if they are talking about the larger pilchards?
 
Johnny West said:
I’m extremely pleased with how I feel after the osso tron treatment and bearly feel any discomfort this morning. I was able to do many housework chores without wearing out or taking a break to recharge. It’s been many years since I felt this good.
Click to expand...

That is wonderful news, John! May the relief last a very long time!

Lee
 
QSis said:
As far as collecting/hobbies go, this one is an investment, at least! Not that you'll ever sell the collection, but if you HAD to ....

Lee
Click to expand...
With my gun collecting when I sell one it’s break even when selling to a friend or have made money due to value increasing. I’m getting to the age to get rid of most but to many have sentimental value. I gave Matt what he wanted but other two don’t want any.
 
Johnny West said:
With my gun collecting when I sell one it’s break even when selling to a friend or have made money due to value increasing. I’m getting to the age to get rid of most but to many have sentimental value. I gave Matt what he wanted but other two don’t want any.
Click to expand...
As you may recall, I sold my pink and black Ruger to the kid who used to work at the Marathon station in Delphos.
He still has it.
I think that was back in 2016.
 
After I went grocery shopping, I popped in at work to look at the schedule.
I'm going to be on behavioral -but I have a good crew tomorrow night.
That makes all the difference in the world!

While shopping at Chief, I needed bread.
😳
No thanks!
I did buy a Lewis half loaf.
And I thought Dave's was pricey.
Dave's is $1.50 cheaper at Walmart.
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