OMG, you have so many GORGEOUS silver pieces there! and the price you paid is amazing!

I have several silver trays ("trophies" from golf tournaments. lol!) but I never think to use them. Most are still in the original box.

I totally agree with Party. WOW.
I can't get over your collection or the prices.
I am just now getting interested in trays, for vignettes. (darn enablers here). And even tho I hate, hate, hate polishing silver..today I couldn't resist a very tarnished silver vase at GW. You must have ESP-ed me and made me buy it. LOL.

hugs, Karen

Lucky:
You have a gorgeous!!! collection.
I've always had little interest in them but as Karen mentioned , the "enablers" have helped that along and I always keep in coscience to look for them when I'm out and about. You got some amazing prices to.
I looooove the silverware set and the big platter in the first pic specifically.
I've plotted an idea for Christmas that requires one but have to find the tray first. LOL Hopefully this summer I'll come upon a sale that has one for a bargain such as you happened upon.

OMG,, what beautiful pieces you have, LG!! I've been bitten by the silver bug myself, but don't have 1/10th the gorgeous collection that you do. And, the prices you've paid blows me away . . . good for you!!! Thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Lynn

Wow LG...those prices you paid, would never float here, in the NE!
You have some amazing pieces and the prices you paid are equally amazing! I have some silver pieces that are just too far gone w/tarnish..but I love them anyway.
I foolishly gave away an old flatware set, because I didn't want to have to clean it...now, I'm kicking myself...
It's nice to know that when you found yours..you put 'love' back in them!
If you have pieces that have NO lacquer on them, you can clean them thoroughly and then use spray lacquer in several coats...to prevent tarnishing.
Also you can remove old lacquer and do the same..

jane

Oh, what a nice collection you have. I love the big trays and anything with the cutouts or fancy carved edges.

Several years ago when I was first learning to paint one stroke roses, I started looking for inexpensive pieces that I could paint on. I found a few really nice pieces that I would never dream of painting--but also picked up several that were scratched or worn and could no longer be polished to look good. Those are the ones I use for my painting. I only have about three trays, a little three tiered server, a teapot, and a covered butter dish with a glass insert. I love the pretty shine of the silver and even the silver plate.

Thanks for sharing your gorgeous pieces with us, and congrats on the great prices.

Luvs

Party music, trays can be used in many ways and if you don't want the engraving to show you could use a doily on it. One of the trays I bot was engraved as a trophy from the 70's and I kinda like it.

Karen, yes I *definitely* did make you buy that silver vase! ;-) LOL I think everyone needs a little silver in their life! Hope you show us your vase.

Milosmom, I hope you find a big tray soon. I think there is a lot of silver around as it's not very trendy altho in one of my recent home decor magazines they showed several silver trays hung on the wall - exactly what I did a few years ago, so it may be fashionable again.

Lynn, I've been gradually buying silver for about 8 years now and my collection has grown - I find at least a few pieces every year. I hope you show us all yours sometime - I really like your flower holder, that's a really nice piece.

Jane, it's quite cheap here altho I just pass by if it's not. I've never paid more than $5 for any piece, even large trays. I have a 4 piece tea set that I paid $25 for at slow winter auction.

Luvs, I'd like to see your painted pieces, I'm sure they are lovely as you have such talent. I only have the one piece that I had DH spray paint and I do like that, altho it's not the same as your painting I know.

Thanks very much everyone for your kind comments. This is only a fraction of what I have and I have occasionally sold pieces but they are not in high demand at yard sales. I'm kinda kicking myself because I sold a gravy boat, some wine glasses, and a large urn shaped wine cooler in my store that I could have used in tablescapes now. Hoping to maybe find more.

Ahhhhhhh Lucky Gal!! Those are beautiful. I too am a silver lady and even enjoy polishing the stuff!! My helper is not as pretty or as color coordinated as yours, but she is usually underfoot!
Thank you so much for posting your lovelies!
J

Thanks, Jay! I'm glad to hear you also polish your silver. I've never understood the tarnished look altho it would be easier.

Around here it's often difficult to take a pic without a cat in it. They take turns "claiming" new things. We have 3, all different colors, so there's always one who "coordinates". LOL This sweet orange tabby was an abused rescue kitten so she gets away with things around here. We've had her almost 5 years and I doubt she'll ever get over her nightmare early life. I never speak loudly to her or make sudden movements. She's a darling and I don't like them on tables, etc. but occasionally let her get away with it and wash tablecloths a lot.

Beautiful! What a collection!
Now tell me, what do you find is the best polish?

Your silver pcs. are so pretty & so useful...love the way you use the trays for your vignettes! And the silver plated flatware looks so classy! Glad the polishing effort gave you good results! Great finds & collection! TFS pics! Jeanne S.

Ok, here's the silver vase from GW. Before and After. Tho I should have waited till tomorrow and taken the after in the daylight. Bright silver didn't photograph too well for me tonight. Please ignore any glares, shadows, or dark spots. Also included a pix of a small rectangle tray I picked up same time. It too is bright silver, in spite of what my photo shows. (As of now, I also have one round and two oval trays. They don't require polishing tho. LOL.)

{{gwi:1411493}}{{gwi:1411494}}

hugs, Karen

Thanks everyone.

Kathleen, I use Twinkle as it's gentle, fast, and less messy than other brands I've tried. I have occasionally used Tarn-X altho really caution it's use. I would never use it on sterling and will only use it once on good silver plate pieces if they are black, black, black with tarnish. It's crucial to rinse quickly and thoroughly as soon as most of the tarnish has gone. Then I use Twinkle to polish. The Tarn-X removes the tarnish even in the carved places which I don't like. I prefer how the Twinkle leaves that patina in place for definition of the pattern.

Jeanne, I do use silver trays every day and always have some silver items on display somewhere in my house. I love using it.

Karen, your new vase is a real treasure, has a very pretty pattern and is decorative all on it's own even without flowers. The little tray will be very useful - it's a good size for small tables or on the back of the potty. Hope you show us how you display your silver treasures.

LG, thanks for the tip about using the little tray on back of potty! Its probably the perfect size for there! I will try it tomorrow and see. I have a figurine and a candle there, but they'd look so much better on a silver tray. And with something added for that matter. What tho?
LOL

hugs, Karen

LG,
You have some wonderful silver pieces. Many have delicate edgings.

I am in love with the idea of a silver tray to hold items back of the potty. You can bet I'll be on the look-out for one at every Yard Sale.

purplemoon, your silver vase is lovely. I've never seen anything but a bud vase in silver!

luckygal, only my BF's trays from City tournaments were engraved. I also have some trays without engraving... one is fairly large and with handles. :) I also have silver bowls of various sizes (with liners) in storage somewhere... We live not far from Oneida Silversmiths and we won a "4-man" charity tournament at their course once. We were each supposed to receive a full tea/coffee silver set, but they didn't have enough to go around so they had us each choose 4 pieces from their table of prizes. Not everything we chose was silver, and many became gifts (like the knife block and full knife set!). That was the only year we played the event and they stopped having them after that. :(

I also wanted to mention the tip I learned about cleaning silver... "in a pinch" you can use ordinary (non-gel) toothpaste! like the white Crest or Colgate. It doesn't smell bad like silver polish does. :)

(I love cats too, and have FOUR spoiled rescues that help me 'decorate'. lol!)

Karen, glad you like that tip, silver trays are useful in many places. You could use a small bowl or even one of those little apothecary jars with some colored bath beads in it as well as your candle and figurine. I've also used little floral pics or a silk flower for a different texture/color.

Thanks OA - good luck on your hunt. I think there is lots of unloved silver around to choose from as the younger gen doesn't value their DM or DGM's silver.

Party Music, that would be fun to choose from such nice prizes. I've heard about using toothpaste to clean silver but wondered how abrasive it is. I forgot to say I also have a silver cleaning cloth for a quick buff-up but it isn't good for a real polishing. Better for silver jewelry. One other tip is to use and wash silver pieces regularly and they won't tarnish as quickly. Aren't we lucky to have those "cat redecorators" to help! Gotta love 'em.

LG, the tray is the perfect width and the length too..leaves a few inches on each end of it. However my figurine and the candle pretty well take up the tray. I could only add some beads or a small piece of a berry garland at most. I might even "make" a necklace to lay on there. I use to do bead jewelry and have a ton of stuff left that I haven't touched in years. (I need to gift it on to someone who'd want it.) Anyway, when we moved into this house 5 yrs ago, the bathroom was painted blue and I'd planned to repaint it. But the color fast grew on me and I just love it now. The figurine is a blue 'n white Delft type (a Staffordshire type laying down greyhound) and the candle is white with soft blue streaking thru it. I remembered I have some Delft ceramic beads that I could string that might look neat laying there. What do you think, Gang? Would love your opinions.

hugs, Karen

Thanks, LG. I do have Tarnex, but use it only for black pieces..the smell is killer!

I use Never Dull sometimes...I will look for Twinkle..

LG, do you know that there is a blog that sponsors an event called Silver Sunday? This is the last week, but you might see some interesting pieces... People show their silver things......

Here is a link that might be useful: Silver Sunday

You have a beautiful silver collection and I hope you keep posting as you add to it. I can't believe what great buys you find. I love what I have but have let DH paint some I shouldn't of.

Karen, great jar you found and polished up. Thanks for sharing.

Punk

Whoops, didn't realize this thread had been added to!

Karen, I posted about your tray on the other thread but if you want an opinion on the beads please take a pic showing another tray scape. Ya know how we love pics! :-)

Kathleen, this is such a coincidence - the blog you posted is one I recently discovered thru another blog. For anyone who loves blogs this is one I recently discovered: http://thepassionatehome.blogspot.com/ Then found this one from there: http://janisgurney.blogspot.com/ Then to the one you posted. These 2 are both Canadian blogs and the first has a shop in a city we occasionally visit so I'll check it out this spring when we travel again. The other blogger makes things from silver objects and sells them in the other blogger's store. Also the lady with the store posted one of my pics I put out on the 'net on her blog!!! Link below. Small world.

Thanks Punk! I have lots of other silver things that I'm thinking about using in vignettes and I'll post when I do. I've only recently had my DH paint a silver thing and I like the result but I'll only have him do the ones that are not very good silver.

Here is a link that might be useful: my J O Y window 5th down

Such beautiful pieces!!!
And, I've learned so much about cleaning silver.

Thanks.