Featured Hello and advice on monograms please

Hi Everyone,
I am new to this forum. So I should start by introducing myself. I am absolutely not a knowledgeable antique collector. I always favored modern design. I have finally come to the point in my life, when I am beginning to buy some "nice" table settings. I stuck with the modern for the china (Haviland Illusion) and crystal (Rosenthal Lotus Blossom). I had to move to ebay to find sterling I could afford. So as of late I have come to appreciate the antique and vintage styles. I now have a full dinner service for 12 (Oneida King Cedric - not really antique, but not modern either) and a Victorian fruit/dessert service in sterling and MOP. After spending a few weeks in Sicily, where we ate fish every night and were always given fish knives, I have a hankering for fish knives. I have run across gorgeous, affordable sterling pieces, but they are monogrammed. What is the consensus on using flatware with monograms that do not match my own or any ancestors? Thanking you all in advance for you opinions and wisdom.

 

I doubt that it matters to the prior owners. And who else cares? I own a fair amount of flatware, some inherited, some "collected." And it doesn't bother me at all to use pretty pieces regardless of monogram. Besides, you can make up ancestors to go with the letters. That would be a fun game!

 

Where are my manners. Welcome. Kisa!

 

I used to live in Taormina, Sicily ..didn't have any fish services though, mainly ate mortadella pasta ..and - if I got up early enough, a hunk of pizza - easy to wake up early though, my alarm was the fisherman in the bay dynamiting anchovies.

 

Make up an ancestor! Great idea. Curiously, I have also really gotten into genealogy and I would have thought that no matter what the monogram, I would have an ancestor to match, but I am stumped at RD. Any suggestions for ancestry Italian, Russian, or German

 

Thank you, Bakersgma

 

Living in Taormina must have been a dream. Dynamiting anchovies, for real?

 

Welcome to the forum, Kisa.
Don't worry about the monograms. If the knives are beautiful, just enjoy them.

 

Well it was an experience for sure!! Part dream/part nightmare but that's a whole other story - sorry for the thread hijack!

BTW, hand done monograms and crests can be beautiful little artworks in themselves and like most handwork today, almost a lost art. All my cutlery is monogrammed or crested - none of which is from my family or even my country ...

 

The same holds true for monogrammed linens. Those items were lovingly crafted with the hopes that future generations would appreciate and treasure. Whether direct descendants or not, it shows much more appreciation for the items than consigning them to the rag bag or melt pot.

 

Well as in anything there are at least two opinions.

There are some people who will not buy any silver with monograms. Personally, I find those people to be snobbish stick in the muds. They miss out on some really lovely pieces. Monogram items often times are priced less because of people who won't buy monograms. It's a good thing for those of us who don't care.

When a customer says something to me about monograms. I always answer, if anyone should ask, tell them it belonged to dear Aunt Sally.

 

Welcome.
Ditto what Sandra said. Enjoy proudly and often.

 

Hate cutlery with "removed" monograms or "re-monogrammed" stuff - usually spotted by extra thin area where monogram used to live ..

 

Good Lord! Make up names if you want to! If you get older pieces, (as in a fish service, for example) it may have 3 initials. That can be the bride's first, middle and HER last name (which is never much thought of again, except when contemplating a fish fork.) And you can use old-fashioned names, Gertrude, for instance, or Hester, or Florence. Just remember, if the Middle initial is larger than the other two, it is for the Last name.

I have a number of "dear Aunt" Whosis's implements, and quite a number marked with a Z - alone or with two others. I really did have a close relative whose last name began with a zed. Also, quite a few with my own initial - from about a hundred years ago!

 

We were a simple family I suppose. Our good silverware for holidays had no monograms. I think my parents got them when they got married. I wish I had them, my brother has them, well I hope he still has them. Never know. They were in a lovely dark wood box with thick reddish velvety lining that was purposely wrinkled for a plush look.
Only a memory now.

 

Welcome Kisa!
As friends above, I love and use monogramed pieces and consider the beautiful design of the letters as art (except if they are only stick capitals )

 

ERK! Mea culpa!!

WELCOME!!

 

Mom's sterling was not monogrammed nor was her mother's, but my paternal grandmother's set has the full 3 letters for grandfather's name. Very "Art Deco" font for the letters.

 

I don't mind monograms on cutlery or things like that. If they are on the front of jewellery I feel like I am imposing on someone else's life. So I suppose I fall in the category of snobbish stick in the muds. Or I just don't want to impose on someone else's life, even if they have been dead for over a century.

 

I would draw the line on Jewelry too, AJ.