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Story of Silver (page 1) -- These days, most Arts & Crafts silver is purchased by collectors and museums to be displayed as works of decorative art rather than for the dinner table. Some collectors do use an occasional flatware set or vase or pitcher, but most pieces simply sit behind glass doors or atop Stickley sideboards to be admired.
Collectors are often afraid that use will damage pieces, or simply don't want to deal with constant cleaning. But at the beginning of the last century, when many of these pieces were made, they were bought either for daily use or for service on special occasions. In an age of low taxes, high incomes, and displays of conspicuous consumption, they were also a public indicator of wealth. Of course back then many homes had servants or maids to help with the polishing.
Don't know your oyster fork from your lemon fork?
Click here for an illustrated guide to flatware pieces.
In 1937, the Sterling Silversmiths Guild of America published The Story of Sterling / Thumb-Nail Historical and Useful Facts About the Craft "Where Art and Industry Meet" -- a slender book containing a short history and examples of decorative objects and details from various periods:
Egyptian Greek Roman Gothic Italian Renaissance French Renaissance Louis XIV Louis XV |
Louis XVI Directoire and Empire English Renaissance William and Mary Queen Anne Georgian American Colonial Contemporary |
The book also provides a page of silver marks, a guide to patterns, and an illustrated list of various kinds of serving implements (so you can tell a teaspoon from an orange spoon and a tea knife from a dessert knife). Finally, it offers suggestions on silver care and cleaning, as well as a short glossary.
It details the derivation of the term sterling:
"The word 'Sterling' is believed to be a contraction of' the word 'Easterlings,' which was the name of a band of traders of the twelfth century, during the reign of Richard l. They came from the eastern part of Germany and in trading with the English offered 'tokens' (pieces of metal corresponding to coins) in exchange for goods. These tokens were made of a silver alloy which was noted for its purity and the uniform high standard of 925/1000 fine, and were adopted by the English for use in commerce."
Its silver history in America dates back to Thomas Howard in Jamestown in 1620 and John Mansfield in Massachusetts in 1634, and the enterprising (or possibly corrupt) John Hull, a Boston silversmith who in 1652 became "master of the mint…[and] made the famous pine tree shilling." Hull's sweetheart deal with the government was that he could keep one silver shilling for every twenty he made. Not bad.
Tea set illustrated in model "Afternoon Tea" table setting
Finally, it provides a glimpse into life in upscale 1930s homes with several pages of table setting photos and even menus, when dinner meant more than opening a few takeout cartons.
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