Estate Sale Silverplate

Last Saturday I had plans to get up early and hit a couple of estate sales.

But as so often happens with me, I chose to sleep in instead. (If only they held estate sales at night…I could make a midnight start time much easier than an 8am one.)

Still, once I was up I decided to quickly get ready and head out to one of the sales in the Brookside area of KC, just to see the house more than anything else. (Getting to go through cool houses is one of the best reasons to go to estate sales.)

Because I was late, I wasn’t expecting to find anything, but I stumbled on a big box of silverware (mostly silverplate I believe) that they were selling by the piece.

I picked through it and chose 15 or so pieces. When I got them home, they looked like this.

But after my using my silver cleaning for lazy people method and giving them a quick buff with an old (i.e. soft) dishcloth, they looked like this.

I continue to be amazed what a good soak in baking soda and hot water can do. I didn’t use any silver polish on these, and while I’m sure a bit of polish would make them even shinier, this will do just fine for me.

Even though these pieces are all mismatched (which I love) I chose them because they all had a similar feel to them.

First of all, they’re all large, heavy pieces.

A lot of vintage silverware is smaller than we’re used to – dainty even. I like the size of these.

Many of the pieces are engraved too.

And these aren’t delicate patterns. They’re crowns and crests and even a knight in armor on the one knife I bought.

Some of the pieces have monograms on them.

I love monogrammed silverware, even (especially?) when the monogram isn’t my own.

I can’t wait to set a table with these. Luckily, it’s Easter weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend. And if you’ll be celebrating Easter, I hope yours is beautiful and blessed.