Does anyone use silver any more?

[Gwen in VA]

We have more-or-less 8 place settings (7 dinner forks but 16 spoons, 8 of most other things), but I regard the silver as a pain in the neck --

 

1) It needs polishing. (Some polish works better than others, but the silver does need to be polished.....)

2) Getting it out is a pain, since we store it in those tarnish-resistant bags in a cardboard box. But if we bought a nice storage box for it, we still couldn't have it out on a sideboard or someplace convenient because dh is afraid of it being stolen....

3) With a bunch of kids, anytime we have company for Thanksgiving or Christmas, we don't have enough place settings so we have to augment with our normal stainless anyway.

 

All in all, silver seems pretty pointless! So I think maybe we should just sell it.

 

Does anyone use silver any more?

Has anyone just sold their silver?

Do you think I might regret selling it years from now?

[JoyfulMama]

Not exactly the same thing, but when my folks downsized (major downsize), they offered me their silver tea set (platter, tea pot, creamer, sugar, and maybe a couple other little things). I always regarded it as something to look pretty. I never remember my mother using it, but I remember her polishing it. I passed on this one. I instead took other pieces which are more useful to me. She ended up donating it somewhere I think (but who knows, she may have it packed in storage hoping I'll change my mind).

[tricia]

We don't use it but we have some. Only because whenever we go to a thrift store hubby looks for it and usually buys it. He says someday it will be worth something. Anyway, it's his thing!!

[LizzyBee]

We've occasionally used the silver we inherited from dh's grandmother. Even if we never use it again, we wouldn't sell it. My dh and his grandma were very close, and her silver and china are among the few things of hers that he has. But if we didn't have a sentimental attachment to it, I wouldn't have any qualms about selling it.

[Crimson Wife]

We have a set that belonged either to my maternal grandmother or to my paternal great-aunt (my folks inherited both around the same time and I forget exactly which set was ultimately given to me). We use it a few times per year. It is a pain to polish. To me, however, if I'm using my Wedgewood china it just looks funny to put our everyday stainless flatware on the table.

 

What we have not gotten yet is the Waterford crystal. I want to at some point, but the set I want is a special order and we just cannot justify it in our budget at the moment.

[Carol in Cal.]

So it has lots of fun little weird pieces, like salt spoons and an olive/pickle/butter fork, and things like that.

 

So I don't use it much, but when I do I enjoy it so. It's so festive, kind of feels like playing house as well, very fun!

 

I wash it by hand, but we store it on our main floor so it doesn't tarnish that much. If you keep it in the kitchen or basement, the sulfur in the smoke from the stove or water heater makes it tarnish much more quickly.

[swimmermom3]

Does silver plate count?:D I inherited my grandmother's silver plate in it's box. The pattern is from the 30s and there are 7 complete settings, serving pieces, extra spoons,etc. My grandmother was a phenomenal cook and all-around amazing woman. I loved her very much, so having her silver on our holiday table is like having a bit of her still there.

 

Now 7 place settings is a bit problematic. Fortunately e-bay yielded 10 more place settings in their anti-tarnish box for roughly $45 with shipping. Grandma was a practical gal so she would have loved the bargain. She also would shake her head at the fact that I still try to keep the two boxes separate out of sentimentality.

 

I am used to high care dinnerware. We have vintage Imari from my dh's family that grew up on mission in Japan. My dh and my mom have spent long hours hunting down unusual pieces of vintage limoge dinnerware for me. What's on our holiday table represents family and love.

 

My bottom line is beauty, usefulness, and meaning. If you don't love it or it has no meaning, don't use it.