Vintage Wednesday: Butter knives

I know, I know, it's a burning question in our society today: what's the difference between a master butter and a place or table butter knife? Well question no more my friends because I'm here to give you the answer so you can once again sleep at night.

In my silver, the handles of the knives are different with one having a hollow handle and one being flat. Generally, however, the master butter is long (like a saber) with a pointed tip. The master butter knife is used to transfer a pat of butter from the master butter plate to your individual bread plate. The individual or table butter knife is used to spread the butter onto your bread AFTER you've transferred the butter to your bread plate - so you don't contaminate the communal butter.

That leads to the etiquette tip of the day: be sure to transfer the butter to your bread plate with the master and THEN butter your bread. Never butter your bread straight from the butter plate.

And so ends the lesson for today!

Vintage Wednesday: Treasure hunting

I'm generally an estate sale girl. You see the ad, they describe what they have and often there are pictures that help me decide whether I want to go or not. I don't often do yard sales, but Community yard sales sometimes catch my eye.

My MIL has a standard, "Stick with the older neighborhoods. Those people just want to get rid of stuff." I tend to agree. Younger neighborhoods usually have younger couples, and I'm not yet in the market for toys, DVDs and baby clothes. Community yard sales, however, have a concentrated number of people in a small space, which means more opportunity for treasure!

Last weekend I struck gold - well, really silver, but you get the idea. I found a sale with an older woman who was getting rid of antiques for super cheap! My find? Digging in the jewelry box, I found a very detailed sterling silver pin. The "patina" was deep - it probably hadn't been cleaned in a while. I knew, however, it was sterling because of the stamp on the back.

And wanna know the best part? It was a QUARTER!!

Happy treasure hunting!

What is it Wednesday?

Somewhere around the 1870s through about 1940 there was a silver and china revolution in America. Americans in the Victorian era were especially enamored with setting a beautiful table. They demanded china and silver that would accommodate every conceivable meal that could be served. There were social conventions that dictated the furnishing of a dining room that often included a rich color, a heavy buffet and/or sideboard with silver on display and a "lavishly appointed table that riveted attention."

Most of us set our table (if you even eat at a table anymore) with a knife, fork and spoon. If we're setting a formal table we might include a salad fork and dessert utensils. The Victorian table, however, had oyster forks, fruit knives, ice cream forks, cream soup or bouillon spoons, fish knives and fish forks, not to mention berry bowls and knife rests and finger bowls and salt cellars. I've read that some silver flatware lines offered up to 100 different types of pieces especially for a hostesses "lavishly appointed table."

This piece is one of the many offerings that probably first became popular in the Victorian era. It's called a hooded asparagus server - not to be confused with asparagus tongs! If you were a well-equipped hostess it would have been used with a special china plate made to serve asparagus.

Did you guess correctly?