Featured Today was an AMAZING day!

Wow wow wow wow wow today was a really fun day!

I decided to spend the afternoon hopping from as many thrift stores as I could in my local area. Actually, my day started stopping by a vintage stereo store to see if they would buy some speakers I found recently (that turned out to be a complete waste of my time) but after that ended my attention turned back to hunting for goodies. I can't remember if it was my first or second store, but very early on in my day, I hit the silver JACKPOT! The store I was at had recently received a donation of a bunch of flatware. Whenever I'm looking at flatware, I try to look for yellowish pieces, usually a good indication of something that "might" be silver. There was an entire box of yellowish flatware. I grabbed the first piece and it read "community plate" and I thought I was out of luck. I decided to take a look through it a bit more thoroughly, and after a few plate pieces it wasn't looking promising, until I once again saw that magic word "sterling"...I couldn't believe it. I imagine that if anyone else had looked in it (i'm honestly not sure how long they had been there as I had last visited that store about a week before), they probably grabbed a few pieces, read "community plate" and moved on with their day.

Now I was in hunt mode, I had about three bins of silverware to sort through, I would search through a bunch, and then another identical pattern sterling silver spoon/fork/knife would show up in my hands. It was so exciting, my hands were actually a bit shaky at the excitement of just how many I would find. I stumbled upon some knives with the same pattern, and I couldn't find a sterling mark so I decided to leave them (don't worry I didn't make that fatal error). After a good 30 minutes, I felt confident I had discovered all that could be found, so it was time to go pay for it. I'm always a little nervous when I find sterling silver in a store when I go to pay...What if they see it's sterling silver too and they suddenly decide they won't sell it for next to nothing?...Of course if they do that, I'm just stuck, but luckily it hasn't happened yet.

I get to the front counter and the cashier counts all the flatware, and then she says that wonderful, magical, mystical phrase: "sir, your total is $2.96." Ummm....yeah, I'll pay that. I briskly take my horde back to my car, and I decide to head back to double check I didn't leave anything behind. Coming back to my senses in the last 5 minutes, I grab the 5 knives with the same pattern as the rest of the pile. Ummm....okay sure I'll pay 92 cents...

The rest of my day was filled with the excitement of what I had just found, I CAN'T BELIEVE that moment where luck and skill collide...I continued looking through a good number of stores, and towards the end of my day, lady luck hit me upside the head with a BIG LADLE marked 800! I really couldn't believe it. That one really set me back at $2.22... And with that, my day came to a close, a truly unbelievable hunt for me. I have photos below (yes, I've already polished them, I was so excited to get them home and clean them off). Total weight of everything is 2 lbs 13 oz.

So...Does anyone have any idea of the hallmark on the ladle? My buddy thought it might be German, but I haven't found a match yet.

 

Way to go, Mr Nate!

Yes, I, too, think German on the ladle.

By any chance, do you see the maker's mark here:
http://www.925-1000.com/Fgerman_marks_a1884.html

 

good story...good find !!

 

Good job, Mr Nate ... that was a really great find!

The mark on your ladle looks very similar (but worn) to the one for Karl Kaltenbach & Söhne shown here at 925-1000
http://www.925-1000.com/Fgerman_marks_a1884_4.html
I'm not sure, though

 

Wow, congrats on your finds.
And your photos are great too.

 

OMG! That first set was my mother's pattern! You did very well, indeed!

 

Quirky girl, I totally think you found it!! I had to believe the ladle probably had some age on it, because I would think a more recent ladle wouldn’t be so heavy (since manufacturers probably try to keep their items lighter and this ladle is almost half a pound). Now I can try to research the era, thank you for sharing that with me.

 

Oh wow that’s a funny coincidence, I didn’t think much of the design until I got them home and cleaned them up, now I think they are magestic. I like the depth of the pattern on the knives and the shape and weight of the set.

 

I think they are lovely. Pretty flower design, subtle elegance.

 

NICE haul, MrN8!!!!!

 

Good ID Aquitaine!

Score! MR. NATE. Wow!

Always pays to look carefully! had a similar thing happen a few years ago. Bin comes out at thrift, a place that diligently checked items in the back, bin filled with a bunch of silver goblets with gold wash in the cup. Each marked $1.99. The first one I looked at was marked silverplate. But looked a bit more, and the second was sterling. 12 Gorham sterling silver goblets. OMG, I didn't have a cart with me -- I think I grabbed some basket off the shelf or something and got them out of that bin as quickly as I could.

They must have looked at one, "silverplate" and out the rest went.

 

@quirkygirl found it!!! All I did was enlarge and post it, @Lucille.b ......

 

Great score! The flatware pattern is very Jensen-esque.

 

Lucille,

That is an amazing story, I can only imagine how that must have felt. I haven’t found silver goblets yet, that would be awesome.

I’m lucky that I’m in a part of the country with lots of age and history, as I think that definitely increases the odds of finding silver.

My favorite from my finds yesterday is the ladle because unless you know something about silver purity markings, you won’t realize what you’ve found.

Thank you for sharing your story!

 

You will, you will.

 

Thanks for the great story and showing your gorgeous finds.

 

It doesn't happen too often, but every once in a while ... score! Congratulations!