Featured Did I find english silver??

Some of us live vicariously through finds like this. I went to the thrift today, and did find some silver, but it was jewelry bits in a jug that I'll about break even on. You did a lot better.

 

Let's add some history to this. 1940. Our darkest year of the war, but the beginning of hope.

This probably travelled on a convoy ship across the Atlantic, Uboats circling the lot. It would have been made and sold to get desperately needed dollars: Britain was about bankrupt when the war ended.

So, this wee thing. Made in a city devastated by the Blitz, shipped by merchant ships who faced horrendous dangers and ended up in the US, bought by someone who thought it pretty.

 

The unforgettable Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou.

 

Odds are it was a wedding gift for someone who was in uniform a year later and shipped back to where the silver came from.

 

Who the hell gives a silver gravy-boat as a wedding-present?

 

AHUMMMMM.....
My Mom gave my ex-fiance a large sterling silver Birks gravy boat as an engagement gift......

 

Shangas, you're funny! At one time, LOTS of people did! Here's a quick shot of some family silver from my parents' wedding in 1952 - there are 2 gravy/sauce boats in this one photo alone! (And I have many more!)

 

Around here everyone wanted...& got Birks & Carl Petersen Silver....

 

Komo, here, it was more likely to be Gorham...

 

I dunno, to me it seems like such a pointless wedding present. A teapot or coffee pot or something else sounds much more practical...

 

A wife was expected to entertain ...and needed all the required items for formal gatherings...

Hah !!
Maybe not today.....but back then.......nessessities !!!

 

Personally, I wish we did wedding gifts like this today. I can’t remember any meaningful gifts from my wedding; I love the idea of individuals purchasing individual items for a silver set. To me this symbolizes two people becoming one. Part of the joy of a marriage should be spending time with other couples, what better way to prepare for this than a set of silver to have an elegant dinner with friends. Thumbs up from me!

 

Ah, MrNate, you have an old soul! I used to LOVE to entertain that way... We continued the tradition right up until the mid-1990's, when we moved from the DC area to a quiet little town in NW CT. I still miss it mightily!

 

Back when, a silver gravy boat was actually a useful thing. My parents married in the 60s, when everything was plated or not metal at all. Ours matched mom's formal china, except the ones for the railroad pieces. Those were pottery/ironstone. We reserved the railroad china for special guests and real friends. Said formal china is now at my cousin's house, where it will stay.

 

I’ve never heard of railroad china until you wrote this. I looked up a few pictures and they are beautiful and clearly valuable. Now I have something new to look for!

 

Oh, MrNate, be careful! Before you know it, your home is going to be overflowing with "cool stuff"!

My husband's Dad worked for the New York Central Railroad (and eventually, one of its successors, Conrail) from the time he was 17 years old until he retired at 67, with a gap of a few years when he served in the Army during WWII. (He worked on railroads then, too!)

I have a few (okay, maybe a dozen) pieces of NYC railroad china, packed away in the attic. It's not "pretty" - it's sort of whitish-beige and brown - but it's pretty neat to have it.

(Just for example, I have a dish just like the one shown in this listing on RubyLane:
https://www.rubylane.com/item/27950-4215/York-Central-Railroad-Mercury-China-Celery )

I KNOW I should start selling some of this stuff, especially the things that have been packed away for so long!

 

Mom about gave Dad's away after he died to another major rail nut. My dad bought pieces when the railroads were ditching their dining car services. The generation who did that are dying off, so odds are some is coming onto the market again. It ought to be out there. (but be warned, it's dangerous!)

 

I forgot! I have a small Homer Laughlin Chessie (Chesapeake and Ohio Railway) cup & saucer, too. I bought the set years ago, simply because I love Chessie the cat.

There were LOTS of reproductions of the Chessie stuff made later, so be careful if you go looking for any!

Like so many of my things, this set is packed away, but here's an old, not-so-good photo of it:

 

Here, when a couple got married, you were either given a list from which you could select the item you wanted to give, or given the address of a silver or porcelain shop that had a 'wedding list' for the couple.
You'd go to the shop and they would know what had already been selected by other wedding guests (they wouldn't disclose who spent what, of course). You would either buy something from that list and take it home to make your own present, or pay them to have it delivered along with the other gifts to the home of the bride or to the wedding reception.
So don't worry, the coffee or teapot would also be included, just gifted by someone else.

 

Hi,
When I was last in Bermuda a shop had a wedding register for engaged couples. Each couple had their own table set with the dinnerware and flatware and crystal.
The registry book was also available with all the other stuff pots and pans towels etc. It was a nice display.
greg