We were very fortunate to recieve this lovely gem-like post from Holly on Monday and publish it here in its entirety. (Thanks, Holly!!)
I spent the morning polishing my silver… what better occupation for a semi-observant Yom Kippur?
I’ve used this silverware for my entire adult life. It belonged to my great-grandmother. When it was time for me to start furnishing my first apartment, my mother thought -- why should this stuff languish in a drawer while you eat off cheap flatware from Target? Someday, maybe I’ll give it to one of my nieces...
Throwback activity though it may be, I love taking the time to polish my silver. It's a rare chance for reflection (pun intended) on my family's history. As I rub and buff the surfaces into high shine, I wonder about when and how the set was bought. It must have been expensive, and I guess such a purchase would have been freighted with meaning for an immigrant family of Eastern European Jews freshly transported to New York.
The pattern isn’t my typical style, but I’ve always loved its tiny, precise five-petal blossoms. And I’m endlessly charmed by its name, embossed in flowery cursive on the back of every piece: “First Love.”
I never knew my great-grandmother, but there’s a funny calculus that makes me feel closer to her and more knitted into my family just by owning and using her silver. Isn’t it strange and human, this power of objects to connect us? I’m so grateful my mother opened that drawer.
- Holly Barkhymer
I recognize that pattern! For the life of me I cannot remember the name, however. I have place settings for twelve inherited from my grandmother (who no doubt would have thought stainless steel from Target was more appropriate for my household). Get those tarnish resistant felt storage bags/holders and next Yom Kippur you can be more observant and avoid the polishing.
The silver-plate that I have from my grandmother is VERY similar to that pattern, and I, too, enjoying using mine daily. I never polish it. Maybe I should.
My folks and my sister each have their own wedding silver, so I got my grandmother's.
Beautiful. What a treasure to have something of your family's that reaches back through time and connects everyone along the way. And what better than silverware? The breaking of the bread, the meals and feasts and traditions....thanks Holly.
Lovely. Last Thanksgiving we did the same thing at my sister's house. She has our grandmother's silver. We polished every piece and then used one of those Seal-A-Meal things to seal them away from Oxygen until the next use.
You know, if you use your silver on a daily basis it will never tarnish, it will achieve a warmth and a patina from use but no tarnish. isn't that funny?
My "silver" encompasses the following: my mother's stage ballet shoes, my grandfather's watch, and a vase my grandmother made. I take care of each item and periodically hold them and tell them I love them (they ballet shoes are properly encased). Sometimes I think I hear whispers back. Personal history is so incredibly reassuring that we are connected.
Thank you for sharing your sweet and beautiful story.
What a nice post. I converted to Judaism, but every holiday I use my Episcopalian grandmother's silver salt and serving pieces (and her beautiful platter for the seder plate on Passover), and I think about how happy I know she would be for me to have found my spiritual home.
Just a quick little useful tip, you can polish silver with toothpaste. No joke, I have done it many times with a set I inherited as well, and it does a VERY quick job. Kind of makes you wonder though ... how is it "good" for teeth but can clean silver!?
Hello - I too have this pattern and use it everyday and it never tarnishes. What a lovely post-thank you for sharing
Sulia
Hi everyone! I was excited to see my post here tonight and just wanted to thank Maxwell for posting it and everyone for their kind words.
It's funny, I use my silver every day, but it still gets much brighter and shinier when I polish it. I do it about once a year (using Cape Cod silver cleaner, which I love -- it's a little bit expensive if you ask me, but works great and actually smells good...).
How great to have the AT community to share thoughts like this with, knowing it's a place where people will understand what you mean. Thanks again, everyone!
As someone who recently took the china out of the china cabinet and put in on the everyday-dishes shelf, I loved this post. Tonight I ate two slices of take out pizza on a work of art, a 10-in Lenox china plate.
Life is short!! Use the beautiful stuff everyday!
Silver tarnishes due to exposure to various compounds like suphur. Using it everyday won't stop this from happening (especially if you leave it sitting in egg salad or something). However, it does seem to slow the tarnish down a bit, maybe because of the frequent washing. I use my silver plate as my everyday cutlery and love it. I rarely need to polish it, but when I do, it definitely comes up brighter and shinier so I think it just tarnishes more slowly and evenly if you use it regularly.
Some brands of black tissue paper contain something that stops silver from tarnishing (not all kinds work, you just have to test). Some polishes (the ones with a pinkish hue usually) have jeweller's rouge in it that helps prevent tarnish and brings up a brighter shine more easily. My favourite polish is Hagerty's (the one in the blue bottle). I use a Hagerty's dip polish to help with the fork tines. Toothpaste is a bad idea as it will probably scratch your silver. Guess that's ok if you want to speed up getting a patina on pristine silverware.
how delightful that you use *the good stuff* every day! mine is packed away in boxes. perhaps i should start unpacking! anyway, my mum has a secret for avoiding tarnish ... place freshly polished silver in a ziploc freezer bag with a piece of chalk. i don't know why, but it works!
I, too, have the "First Love" pattern, which I use daily. I inherited the set from my grandmother (who inherited it from her aunt). I believe it's a Depression-era pattern. I can imagine my great-aunt, an African-American woman living in the thirties, saving up for the "good stuff." The nicks and scratches show that the set was much-used and much-loved.
Thanks for the lovely post and for the reminder that our every day lives deserve the "good stuff."
Funny, we just got out our wedding silverware and used it for a barbecue this weekend for the first time in 8.5 years. When we were taking it out of the boxes and washing it we decided we didn't want to use the wal-mart stuff (which was fine) so we just packed the old away and have been using the nice stuff. Even eating salad out of a plastic bowl is more fun with the good stuff because it has such a nice heft and mouth-feel.
Anyone have any tips for polishing between the fork tines? I usually use a sponge and some silver cleaning paste, but I noticed the sides of the tines are tarnished and hard to get at.
i'm with your mom in using my silver every day. to keep it shiny, i use my grandmother's trick of keeping it in a drawer with a thick stick of chalk. i don't know the scientific explanation but it definitely slows down the tarnishing.