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"She seemed to come suddenly upon happiness as if she had surprised a butterfly in the Winter woods"
(edith wharton)


Saturday 6 February 2010

silver ~ tarnished but loved

the family silver story that yesterday would not come out from my head

going back generations, my family were from below the stairs not above them. they were simple folk. I did not inherit any family silver. the only silver piece that I know of in my family is the infamous tea pot that my Uncle Brian put onto the wood burning stove when he was visiting the original Inglewood.. it melted. and I have heard that the ancestors were not impressed with that.
a collection of silver belonging to my friend, Peter.. when I visit him, I gaze longingly at this also.

as a little girl, I loved going to my friends place where I would gaze longingly at her mothers silver service. wishing it were mine. I even begged to be able to clean silver for people when I was a Girl Guide doing 'cents for service' ~ I would sit in front of their family silver with silver polish and cloth, and clean that silver til it shone, always making up stories in my head about that silver & me..

I have always had a fascination for old silver and like a bower bird, I have gathered bits over the years.

nothing worth much at all. most broken bits. tarnished and worn.


a collection of spoons, none matching.

and today, i remembered that I do have one piece of silver of my own and that is a Pixie cup that my Pa gave to me when I was a little girl. my pixie mug

do you have a fascination with anything like I do with old silver?

9 comments:

amelia said...

Crystal. Shiny clean sparkling crystal!!

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I read the lovely story about you and your pixie mug. I have an old mug from my childhood too, but it's a plastic mug that looks like Yogi Bear's head. Well, to each their own! But I DID have a short hairstyle when I was little that was known as a "pixie cut."

gma said...

Yes! I too love old silver,china tea pots,rusty gates,water cans,old lace, old doors,open windows,old things in general that have a patina of age.Rocks and minerals quartz and jade...the list is long. I have no idea why those things call to me...but I certainly love them more than anything new I could buy.
:-)

April J. Ellington said...

Wow. Interesting collection! It almost makes me with I had an obsession with something to collect. The only things I perpetually collect are innumerable items on my to-do list.

They never get done, mind you. : - /

linda may said...

Anything old that was in my family I treasure. I recently was given a plant that came from one y great grandmother owned, I am carefully nursing it . It is on my kitchen windowsill.

linda may said...

P.S I am enjoying your each day postings.

Anonymous said...

So rewarding shining up old neglected pieces of silver, the black left on the cloth while the object gleams,rescued and liberated from dullness. Relaxing too, while listening to the radio.I collected silver and crystal for a while, but now tend towards more of the nature stuff- sticks,stones bark and pebbles.I guess it's the fossicking and seeing the possibility to transform something that you like to look at. I liked reading the insights into your family Robyn.My family was not into the silver much, my husband's very much so, with heirloom pieces handed down through generations. My brother and I had mugs when we were little, ceramic with a bird on the handle that was actually a whistle.I'd forgotten them 'til your post.

Anonymous said...

That pixie mug is beautiful!!!

I have a number of fascinations - silver is one of them. I must blog about a couple of pieces I got from Tom's grandmother's collection.

Janet said...

One of the reasons I hang on to everything is because as a child I yearned for family heirlooms but we didn't have any! I've kept so many things that I intended to hand down to my kids but neither one of them is interested! There you go....I've saved all this stuff to just have to get rid of it now. But I still love old stuff whatever it is.