New Silverware

As a wedding present, my lovely grandmother bought a set of twelve five-piece place settings for us. It's an example of repoussé, a process or the product of ornamenting metallic surfaces with designs in relief hammered out from the back, and it's also the name of the pattern. This particular silver was made by S.Kirk & Sons in Baltimore; Kirk and several other silversmiths in the area were apparently famous for using the repoussé method to create very ornamental silver.

Anyway, my aunt who lives in Baltimore went searching for some for my grandmother to give to me and she was quite successful. It was all made between 1900 and 1925, and the forks and spoons have various monograms and names engraved on the backs, like Betsy and RAMcG. I like that little touch.

We always set the table with placemats and cloth napkins, so adding silverware in place of the stainless seemed like a natural move. We put the stainless away, and put six place settings of the new stuff in the drawer. I don' t have space in the drawer for all twelve sets! I suppose I'll rotate it out every six months or so.