Save the Silver!

I have spent the fall and winter caring for Emma. This past Sunday was the first day off I have had away from the children since November 1. I was really looking forward to antiquing with my mom in Atlanta. We went to Scott's Antique Market. It is located just off either side of the 285 exit of Jonesboro Road the second weekend of every month - two huge buildings filled with most anything you could want, some overpriced and some incredible bargains! All beautiful!!!

I would have loved to buy these pale blue glass plates with the fleur-de-lis!

And I almost couldn't breathe over these GORGEOUS yellow Fostoria glasses.

Beautiful things, right? Well, we were headed there for silver. 

On this visit, the sterling silver pickings were slimmer than ever before. Some of our beloved dealers have quit coming. Dealers selling by the ounce have replaced them. Sterling patterns are often thrown together in torn plastic freezer bags. They are haphazardly piled about. Many of the new dealers have no idea what they have, they just know what it weighs and what they will sell it for. And that was really depressing. Sterling prices have risen steadily, but now vintage and new pieces are disappearing. 

Forever.

We inquired from one dealer about a pattern we didn't recognize.We'd never met him in the past, and we were immediately put on our guard that he didn't know what the pattern was. It was simply marked State House Silver, and there were 6 teaspoons, 6 soup spoons, 6 salad forks, and 6 dinner forks. (I managed to identify it through Replacements. It is Inaugural, discontinued in 1942. I have posted a link to a picture here. http://www.replacements.com/webquote/SHSINA.htm Look at the forks. They are so pretty. *sigh*) I remarked to my mother how easy it would be to put this classic pattern on the table with mother-of-pearl knives. 

Get ready to be shocked.

The dealer snatched up the silver and put it on the scale, telling us at 36$ an ounce, it was coming in at just under a thousand dollars. As the mother of a sick child who has stayed home, (and not worked much), since the beginning of November, that was not an amount I was going to spend. I hedged politely. The man became angry, threatening to melt it for that much. "I'll melt it right in front of you. I don't care!" He growled at us! He was aggressive, leaning towards us, holding two soup spoons! "You don't care if it gets melted?!" He carried on. Was loud. And louder. He was shaking the spoons and his fist!

And he bent the two soup spoons in front of us, destroying them forever. Who has ever heard of such of a thing?  

Needless to say, we moved on.

As we browsed the decent dealers, describing the incident, we heard the same story over and over. They can't move inventory at these prices. They have to sell at the melting price or they can't replace their inventory. They talked about the great silver meltdown of the 1980's, (Hunt brothers), that destroyed the silver value. It is sickening to think of the destruction of these precious items with such artistic and unique value. 

One justification for buying silver is that it will always be worth something. People are certainly discovering that in this time of high silver prices. But I think the cost of the destruction of tons of silver heirlooms is even higher. I realize that silver needs care. And it's easy to make a quick buck right now pawning off grandma's goodies. 

But how can you part with these precious pieces? They may be some of the only things you own of real value, both in terms of the silver itself, but also in terms of the design, artistic merit, sentimentality, and historical significance.

For instance, my pattern, Sir Christopher (begun in 1936) by Wallace, is named for Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. The motifs on the silver mimic his most famous works. The pattern is notable because it was designed by William Warren and is one of his masterpieces to carry a discernible pattern on the front and the back of each piece. He also designed Grande Baroque, Rose Point, Stradivari, Romance of the Sea, and Grand Colonial. One brief source on the history of Wallace Silversmiths is Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_Silversmiths_Inc..

I understand the practicality and ease of stainless. I have several stainless patterns in addition to the silver patterns in our house. There are some really amazing designers in the world of stainless. The first that comes to mind is Stanley Roberts. But the more you use your silver, the less you have to polish it. And can stainless compare to the timelessness and beauty of silver?

  

One last thing:

The day was not a total loss! We made friends with a new silver dealer from Americus, Georgia. We discussed New York theatre and classic plays and films for at least a half hour. I am currently trying to save Apollo by Alvin (1900). And my mother and I saved pieces of Blackinton's Cherry Blossom (1903) and Reed & Barton's Francis I. 

Francis I is Emma's pattern, and the pieces were gifts because she was not allowed to go due to her illness. The first was a gold-washed master salt spoon. We got a good price because the dealer knew we weren't melters. Most good dealers have a soft spot for those of us who treasure the silver for its intrinsic value.

But the second item we bought for her was somewhat of a mystery. The sweet dealer knew and loved his silver, but this fork was a mystery to him as well. It appeared to be a well-worn piece. We asked around and did our research. There were some strong contenders for what kind of fork this was, but we had a hard time verifying any of our guesses with Reed & Barton or any other image on the internet. We guessed a ramekin fork, a lobster fork, and a lemon fork.

In the end, we learned it is a lemon fork! Thank you, again, Replacements, for picture of items you do not have in stock!

What a fun mystery to solve and a wonderful piece to add to her collection. So, we are doing our part trying to save vintage silver and its dealers one piece at a time.  Feel free to help us!

-Andrea


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The Pinkest Party on Earth!

In my city, March brings a festival which celebrates the blooming of over 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees. It is truly a sight to behold! Time to “think pink”!

Pink pancakes, pink poodles, balloon glows, free cherry ice cream being served in one of the downtown parks – just of few of the sights and tastes that we enjoy this time of the year. Even the local newspaper prints a pink edition each year.

We have our own cookbook, which contains only recipes using cherries as one of the ingredients. I will share one of the recipes with you at the end of the blog – White Chocolate Cherry Tart. Yum!!

My contribution this year is a luncheon table setting for six friends to enjoy, before going to the annual tour of homes. In keeping with the spirit of the season, almost everything is pink!

I so enjoyed bringing all of the pink together, but I started with a white “Peyton” tablecloth, which is made by Ralph Lauren and I bought it at Dillard’s. I thought that the pink would photograph better on white.

Pink placemats purchased at Big Lots for a ridiculously low price were added on top of the tablecloth.

Pink napkins and “pearl” napkin rings were purchased online.

The white plates on top of the placemats are Lenox Opal Innocence Carved. I love these plates – they are dinner plates, but large enough to use as chargers for older china patterns.

On top of the Lenox plates are smaller plates with marbleized rims. They are actually Johnson Brother’s “Rose Chintz” accent dinner plates. There are roses in the centers, but you cannot see them under the smallest plate.

The plate on top is a salad plate made by Narumi and is the pattern, “Mountain Cherry”, which fits into the theme perfectly!

The tall pink water goblets are from an unknown maker, although I saw some similar blue ones for sale on Etsy that were advertised as having been made by the Dugan Glass Company. I bought mine from Replacements. My daughter loaned me the other lovely footed pink glasses.

The pink centerpiece holding the flowers is an Indiana Glass compote in the “Teardrop” pattern. I bought this one on Ebay, but I have owned a clear glass one for many years. It belonged to my mother.

Also, decorating the table are two pieces in the Fostoria “Fairfax” pink pattern. One is a mayonnaise bowl.

The other is a bon-bon basket. I will use it as a butter dish with a round mound of butter in the center.

Pink Hocking “Block Optic” footed salt and pepper shakers are used at one end of the table.

Hanging from the chandelier is a Japanese paper lantern – who could resist, when setting a table to celebrate Japanese Yoshino cherry trees?

The place setting sterling flatware is “Strasbourg” by Gorham.






My favorite things on the table consist of the other two pieces of sterling silver. The pattern is a very old Blackinton pattern, which is named, “Cherry Blossom”! One piece is a master butter knife and the other is called a large cream ladle, although, it does not look that large.

I wish that all of you could join us in my city to enjoy the beautiful spring weather and witness the look of thousands of cherry trees bursting out in blooms at the appointed time, as though some magical alarm clock woke them just in time for our glorious Cherry Blossom festival!! Enjoy the recipe!

WHITE CHOCOLATE CHERRY TART

1¼ cups butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 bar, 3 ounces, white chocolate

Crunchy Almond Pastry Shell

Cherry Topping

¼ cup toaster sliced almonds

Cream butter until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar until mixture is smooth and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and white chocolate. Spoon into Crunchy Almond Pastry Shell. Chill until firm.

Spoon Cherry Topping over tart. Chill up to 8 hours. Remove from refrigerator about ½ hour before serving. Sprinkle with toasted sliced almonds to serve.

Crunchy Almond Pastry Shell

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter

¼ cup diced toasted almonds

3 tablespoons water

Combine flour, sugar and salt. Cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse corn meal. Stir in almonds. Blend in water to form crumbly dough. Pat into bottom and sides of a 9-inch tart or pie pan. Chill 20 minutes. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.

Cherry Topping

1 can, 21 ounces, cherry pie filling

2 tablespoons brandy

3 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon almond extract

Combine cherry pie filling, brandy and sugar. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Blend in almond extract.

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Intarsia: Travel, China, and Ebay

Wilkommen!

You have probably noticed by now that I love eBay. Years ago, when eBay first started, my PayPal account was hacked. Ebay and Paypal handled everything beautifully, but it made me nervous, so I stayed off a few years. I eventually worked up the nerve to get back on, and I am so glad I did. Not only are there fabulous finds, but I have been very fortunate to build relationships with several antique dealers, large and small. Even though I try to find the time to go to antique shows, traveling around eBay is like traveling around the country and the world, all from the comfort of your own home. One of my favorite finds is some brown Fostoria glassware in the Mesa pattern. I have the salad plates, juice glasses, and a lovely pitcher. I ran across these when searching for matching green Mesa for my mother. They were a steal. As it turns out, they are a wonderful accent to Intarsia. So are the smoke glass Noritake Perspective water goblets!

But back to traveling...I like real traveling even more than virtual traveling!  In 2006, I started the tradition of taking my children to Europe for on their seventh birthday. My daughter Emma, now in seventh grade, accompanied me and some of my students on a trip to France, Spain, and Morocco in North Africa for her first overseas travel adventure. My son turned seven in 2009, and he opted for Germany and Denmark. My youngest daughter most recently chose England and France in 2010, but this is a story about my son's trip.

My son's birthday is in January, a bad time for a trip in terms of work, school, money, and weather. Sadly, I put him off for a while. As 2009 was winding down, I realized I was running out of time for a trip. As I do so often, I sat down and started combing the travel websites for flight deals. As he was pressuring me to find out where were going, I found round-trip air travel to Frankfurt from Atlanta for $400 per person, including taxes. It was for the week of Thanksgiving. I booked three tickets, surprising Emma. I also noted that rail passes were 20% off in Germany to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was in honor of its 20th anniversary that November. So, I bought 4 day pass bundles for the three of us. All three of those together were about $400, and the tickets were delivered to my door 10 days later.  Then there was the matter of where to stay and the language. It is my experience that you can get around with just English in Europe. Just plan really well. I travel some, and I took a tiny bit of German in college, but I had only been to Germany once while passing through in the south earlier that year, (at a bus stop by Lake Chiemsee).  I was a little concerned to be there for a more than a week with an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old, but I figured as long as we could eat and get back to the airport to fly home, we'd be fine. I was so right! (Much to my youngest daughter's chagrin, I told her she was a bit too young for me to handle the three of them and all of their luggage and souvenirs alone! She would have to stay home with dad, his family for Thanksgiving, and spend the rest of the week with my mom and dad!)

Ah, the blessings of the internet! As I was posting updates of these adventurous plans on Facebook, a friend of mine from high school whom I'd not seen for twenty years (10th grade!) messaged me. She said her family was stationed in Flensburg, in northern Germany near the border of Denmark for a post at the German Naval Academy. Would I consider staying with them?


Wow! Of course we would!  

The main Hamburg train station. We made many trips through Hamburg, some intentional, some not! :) What a beautiful city! The Saturn electronics store, just a block or so from the train station saved me when I couldn't find my European charger for my iPhone! We carried our suitcases in and everything. The staff was breaking down an Apple display to relocate it in the store. Everything was in boxes. They were so sweet to find just what I needed!

Lego Discovery Center, Berlin. A major highlight of this trip. We had considered going to the original Legoland in Denmark, but it was a little out of the way for this trip. Not to mention, it was a little cold for outdoor amusement parks! This center has a ride, lots of building centers, and several interactive exhibits including a film and a cute theatrical walk-through exhibit about how Legos are made. And of course, a fanstastic gift shop. My son's pride was a Lego chess set!

German Naval Academy, Flensburg. What a neat place! I have no idea if this is a place you can visit in general. The stenciling in this place is amazing. The history! And the food was fantastic in the Officer's Club. See a recipe at the bottom of the page for some yummy schnitzel!

Dining Room and part of the tableware collection, Glücksburg Castle


I have so many pictures of china and silver from trips abroad. Many pictures are blurry, but I had to share just one!








So that is how our German adventure began. I could write pages and pages about how much I loved Germany and Denmark, the Weihnachtsmarkts in each city, the castles, the missed trained stops, all of the Lego visits, the history, the wonderful people, the schnitzel, the döners, and the Danish dogs!  But I am trying really hard to stick to china!


What does this have to do with Intarsia?  Well, Villeroy and Boch are German makers of ceramics, reputed to be the largest ceramic maker in the world. They are in their eighth generation; over 260 years of production.  In selecting the colorful pattern Intarsia, I couldn't help but think of our travels to Germany and some of my favorite souvenirs. In researching for this blog, I realized their museum is in Mettlach, Germany, close to France. I am more often in France than anywhere else when I am traveling, (French teacher!), so it seems like a convenient day trip!


While my children brought back toys, (LEGOS!), dolls, coins, antique knick knacks, charms for charm bracelets, clothes, cards, and the ever-important Hard Rock memorabilia, my favorite treasure is my Berlin Bear. 

Different artists have designed patterns for these collectible bears honoring the city of Berlin. The sculptures are all over the city, and the collectible bears are easy to find. We have one large one, and each of my children have the mini-bears. We also brought home several extras as gifts.

All of the maps remind me of traveling. I especially like the elephants on the boxes in the background. Did you know Berlin has very famous zoo? This zoo receives the most visitors of any in Europe each year. It is an old-fashioned, themed zoo. These boxes remind me of the Elephant Gate! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Zoological_Garden 
Google the pictures. It is amazing!

In planning my Intarsia table, I really wanted to honor its German origins of the china and evoke our memories of traveling together.  The map theme continues on the chargers from The Pottery in Commerce, Georgia for $1.00 each. I mentioned The Pottery in a previous post; I am sad to say again that it closed a few years ago. However, the outlets in Commerce are still worth the drive!

 Accents from TJ Maxx

 Beacon Hill stainless from Towle

All this table needs now is food! Look below for recipes from our trip to Germany and Denmark!


Thank you for stopping by! (Recipes below!)


-Andrea


As I mentioned above, we had a great chicken schnitzel at the Officer's Club at the German naval academy. This is very close!


Lemon Chicken Schnitzel

Ingredients

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast halves or strips
Juice of 1 lemon or 2 to 3 tbsp. lemon concentrate
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt or to taste
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 egg
1 tsp. water
1/2 c. fine dry bread crumbs
Dijon mustard or sweet and sour sauce for dipping (optional)

Directions

Italian bread crumbs make it very flavorful.

Cut chicken horizontally into 1/4 inch thick slices. 

Place between 2 pieces of waxed paper and flatten, using the flat side of a cleaver or bottom of bottle. 

Sprinkle chicken with lemon juice; let stand for 10 minutes. 

In shallow dish, combine flour, salt, and thyme; mix well. In another shallow dish, lightly beat egg with water. 

Dip chicken pieces into flour mixture, then into egg mixture, then into bread crumbs. 

Place on lightly greased baking sheet and bake 10 to 15 minutes or in microwave, uncovered, on high for 4 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink inside.

From: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1939,146170-233207,00.html

Danish Dog

Take a typical hot dog or any frankfurter style sausage in a bun.  Many websites offer good recommendations, including adding vinegar to the water you boil your hot dogs in. 

Top with remoulade, sliced pickles, ketchup, mustard, and fried onions. (I prefer the canned kind you put on top of green bean casserole. They seem the most like what I had in Denmark.) I don't like pickles or mustard, but I have to say, I crave these hot dogs all the time now!

Warm German Potato Salad

Ingredients

• 3 cups diced peeled potatoes
• 4 slices bacon
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Place the potatoes into a pot, and fill with enough water to cover. 

Bring to a boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork. 

Drain, and set aside to cool.

Place the bacon in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. 

Fry until browned and crisp, turning as needed. 

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add onion to the bacon grease, and cook over medium heat until browned. 

Add the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper to the pan. 

Bring to a boil, then add the potatoes and parsley. 

Crumble in half of the bacon. 

Heat through, then transfer to a serving dish. Crumble the remaining bacon over the top, and serve warm.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/authentic-german-potato-salad/Detail.aspx