SILVERWARE—most take it for granted, some collect it and still others pack it away in cupboards and drawers, if only to minimise the cleaning. Since that ruckus with Charles I about exactly how divine he was, we Britons haven’t needed to melt down domestic silver to pay soldiers and are, therefore, blessed with an abundance. It would have been much more if our forebears hadn’t treated family silver as an inflation fighter—when prices got too high, they melted it down and, when prices were low and silver abundant, they stocked up on newly minted and fashioned pieces.
A quick rummage through that drawer may produce some surprises. If you don’t have such a drawer, a visit to an auction house is the answer—local, rather than online, as, despite the high-resolution images and in-depth descriptions, it’s really instructive to handle silverware before you buy.
What you are most likely to find is silver produced in the past 300 years. Any earlier and you have a treasure—possibly, if of high enough quality, even a national treasure.
How valuable the contents of your drawer are in trade terms depends on what it is, when it was made, who made it and its weight. It also depends on how well it was made and its rarity. How valuable it is to you depends on something a little less complex: do you enjoy it and can you either use or collect it?
Esta historia es de la edición November 29, 2023 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 29, 2023 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Tales as old as time
By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth
Do the active farmer test
Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts
SOS: save our wild salmon
Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish
Into the deep
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel
It's alive!
Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters
There's orange gold in them thar fields
A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd
True blues
I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.
Oh so hip
Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland
A best kept secret
Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning
