On 3/8/2016 at 9:59 AM, Deryn said:
I agree with you. However, sometimes a set (even if complete) is difficult to sell because it was monogrammed - which was the case with mine. I loved the silver but the set was no longer complete and could not be filled in, especially because it had not one but 3 fancy monogram letters on each one (they belonged to my grandparents). I used it for many years but finally realized that my lifestyle had changed so much it probably would never be used again in my home. I just tried to 'imagine' that the person who bought it loved it and would keep it - and that it wasn't someone who would actually melt it down.
Maybe my sister bought it. She's in the antique business and she loves sterling flatware sets and she buys all she can get her hands on. She has a lot of it. She particularly likes buying monogramed sets because they're cheaper. And she uses them. Like much of our family, she never lets the truth get in the way of a good story, so one of her favorite things to do is to "invent" relatives from whom she has inherited these assorted sterling sets - a dear maiden aunt that was a spy for the Allies in WWII, assorted grandparents, whatever strikes her as an entertaining tale at the time.
Younger folks here undoubtedly don't remember a time when nobody, absolutely nobody, had stainless steel flatware. It was really crappy and awful. If you couldn't afford sterling, and lots of people couldn't of course, you had silverplate. Some of that, especially the heavily-plated "railroad silver" has become quite collectible.
Like most brides in the 50's and 60's, I, too, selected my silver pattern, along with the china and crystal. I got a lot of it as wedding presents, primarily because I got married in the Philippines, and most of our relatives lived in the US. Silver was easy to mail. So I wound up with service for about 24. I still have it, and use it all the time. Love it. A reminder of a lifestyle gone by, I guess.
