Hating Silver

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Saturday, March 11. 2017

If you happen to have a scullery maid on your household staff, great. Otherwise, silver flatware and silver bowls and platters are a serious pain.

We have lots of sterling platters, bowls, and dinner sets. Also, lots of old silver plate stuff which does look pretty at times but really it all tarnishes so fast that there is no reason to use it. Garbage, basically, even if it has an ancestor's initials engraved in it. We have no scullery maid at present, alas.

If you haven't gotten rid of all of your silver, here's How To Clean Silver With Aluminum Foil & Baking Soda. Basic chemistry. Even clean and shiney, you will never use it.

Posted by Bird Dog in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 13:51 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

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bad link.
I tried the link to see if the recipe was about the same as I have used over the years. Any cleaning method can be damaging over time to silver plate, especially harsh chemicals.

#1 JC on 2017-03-11 14:41 (Reply)

Silver plate is basically garbage, it seems. Or pay to re-plate it. But why?

#1.1 Bird Dog on 2017-03-11 14:45 (Reply)

I inherited a bunch of "special occasion" silver flatware. I've found that, if you use it every day, toss it in the dishwasher like stainless, tarnishing isn't much of an issue. About once every six months I take everything out of the drawer and shine up with some silver polish. Looks great, feels substantial, no big deal!

#2 Dan on 2017-03-11 15:01 (Reply)

It's good for financial collapses.

#3 Otto Maddox on 2017-03-11 16:21 (Reply)

But junk silver is a better deal. Cheaper and easier to buy small stuff with silver dimes and quarters then heavy plates.

#3.1 Jack Walter on 2017-03-11 22:41 (Reply)

We got a silver plated dinner set for a wedding present - 62 years ago. It was kept "special" until my wife accumulated sterling, a lot of it, about 40-45 years ago. The plated stuff went into everyday use, cleaned in a dishwasher when they came on the home market. We ditched the table settings after a few years for good stainless, but the large serving spoons, forks, ladles etc. stayed on, and are still used for everyday. They're scratched all to hell, but the silver never wore off. Probably a better grade of plating than you get today, like everything else.

#4 BillH on 2017-03-11 17:25 (Reply)

Maria Montessori had the little tykes polish silver as part of their school work, and very old-line Montessori directresses still favor this (including some younger ones). They really do like it. Recommended grandchild activity.

#5 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2017-03-11 20:38 (Reply)

Wonderful!! Have four grandbrats aged 5-3/4 to 1-3/4 and that sounds like an EXCELLENT activity the next time they drop by.

We also have, in the silver chest, a leaf which does seem to retard tarnish.

#5.1 Frances on 2017-03-11 22:58 (Reply)

Weiman makes a silver polish "wet wipes" style product - pull one out of the cannister, wipe, dispose - done! Take the old cans of silver polish to the hazard dump...

#6 gpx on 2017-03-11 20:47 (Reply)

It's is fine to run your silver through the dishwasher, but you should not combine it with loads that include other metals, such as stainless steel flatware, cooking utensils, or cookware/bakeware of any kind. The various metals can react poorly with each other. Of course, the best way to keep silver looking good is to use it everyday---washing and drying by hand. ;-)

#7 HH on 2017-03-11 22:31 (Reply)

Primo had thought I might want his parents' silver. I told him that I didn't need a project.

He sent it to his half brother, Ted, instead, which ticked Ted off, which was, partially, the objective, as Ted kept implying that Primo was keeping an expensive bracelet that Primo's mother had promised to Ted's wife. (No such bracelet existed.)

This is the same guy who wanted the estate to reimburse him for attending his own father's funeral: http://diaryofagolddigger.blogspot.com/2015/12/in-which-ted-asks-primo-to-reimburse.html

#8 the gold digger (Link) on 2017-03-12 11:23 (Reply)

Sounds like a first world problem.

We have ten place settings and some serving pieces that we bought when we probably couldn't afford it. Use it often, with guests, for special occasions, good steaks and seafood, and often no occasion at all. Nice.

I will say that most people can't tell sterling from silver plate and stainless steel and don't really care. But we do....

#9 Snowgoose on 2017-03-12 13:38 (Reply)

The only good use for silver is on Olympic medals and the little pickle dishes they give out at sailboat races. It is pretty to look at but is of low utility.

And don't get me going about stainsless steel.

#10 jablonski on 2017-03-13 18:01 (Reply)

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Saturday, March 11. 2017

Hating Silver