Sometimes antique silver is all that will do that particular cherished piece or long sought after gem to finish off your collection. Sometimes, though, nothing says perfection quite like having silver cutlery hand crafted to traditional designs.
There are a range of traditional patterns suitable for a hand forged silver cutlery design. These range from the extraordinarily detailed and delicate, like the chased and pierced vine pattern, to the sublimely understated a personal favourite is the Art Deco Grecian pattern, which youll see of course on antique silver dinner services as well as on a modern hand forged collection.
The advantages of having modern silver hand forged into a dinner service are many fold. Antique silver is not always intended for use indeed, the more valuable and impressive your antique silver cutlery set, the less likely it is that you are going to be happy about getting it out and getting soup all over it, no matter how carefully it is washed afterwards!
A hand forged dinner service is a wonderful statement of individuality and taste, which can be customised to your exact requirements. However many pieces of silver cutlery you need, thats how many you will get whereas, of course with an antique silver set you are dictated to, to a degree, by the quantity of pieces extant in the service you purchase.
This is not to say, of course, that there is no place for antique silver in the home. Antique pieces make glorious historical centrepieces in any home, recalling the opulence and elegance of bygone eras or connecting a sense of family history to its roots. From silver cow creamers (endeared to a nation, or at least to me, forever by the wonderful P.G. Wodehouse and his hapless creation Bertie Wooster!) to genuine Victorian silver teapots,
antique silver at its best can be a passion that is hard to control.
Theres something about entering the potential Aladdins cave of a new antique silver merchant, one that youve never discovered before. The nostrils twitch with the scent of a potential find. The anticipation of the hunt descends upon you.
The best are the small family owned stores, masters of the manufacture and discovery of silver cutlery, tea sets, cow creamers and salt and pepper cellars who always have an encyclopaedic knowledge of their own inventories lodged in their heads. No need for a list here you can walk into any one of these delightful little shops with a specific request and be told in seconds if the proprietor has such an item in stock at the moment or not and, if not, you will like as not be pointed in the direction of a glorious piece of
silver cutlery you hadnt been looking for but cannot leave without.
