Victorian Silver

These are some of my favorite Victorian silver pieces.  Above is a Chocolate Pot. 

It has the word Chocolate engraved across the front.  It is similar to a teapot. 

This is one of the most unusual pieces I have seen.  It is a Victorian Sugar Cube Caddy.

The handle is actually sugar tongs.

The sugar tongs lift out when squeezed together.

An old hand mirror.

Engraved Caroline.

With dancing ladies on the border.

And a crumber with a devil-ish face design.

 

Crumbers were used to sweep crumbs or ashes off of tables, into the larger pan.  

Thanksgiving Silver

 Thanksgiving is already tomorrow!  I have decided to get out some of my favorite Antique Serving Pieces to use. 
The Victorians had a serving piece for every type of food - so I try to use unusual pieces - not necessarily for their originally intended uses.

 This is a Victorian carving set.

 They have an ornate design with Gothic Faces on the handles.

A tiny condiment ladle, gravy ladle, sugar spoon and pastry server.

 A vegetable serving fork, tomato/cranberry round server, and a nut cracker.

 A bonbon server, large waffle server and cocktail fork.

 Variety of tongs - pickle tongs, pastry tongs and sugar tongs.

 The pickle tongs have hands for grabbers.

A toast rack and butter knife.

And my favorite monogrammed flatware. 
Happy Thanksgiving!

More Estate Finds

 Lately I haven't had great luck at estate sales, but I finally found a few things - including some of my favorite things.

 A pretty sugar scuttle.  Great for holiday candies or nuts.  I love finding sugar scuttles.

 An English Toast Rack.  Another favorite thing.

 Group of spoons.

 Including a demitasse hotel spoon from Hotel Pere Marquette, and a Bonbon spoon.

A cigar box.

 

And a group of old candles.

Estate Sales

I love going to estate sales, and last weekend I went to one at the above mansion.  It belonged to the granddaughter of James J. Hill (built a railroad empire in the 1800's).  It was not a house you would expect to find in Minnesota - it reminded me of something straight out of The Great Gatsby. 

These pictures are from a cell phone, so they don't really represent how amazing this house was.  Complete with servants quarters, multiple porches, and sitting on a lake, it was really cool to see.  Unfortunately, by the time I got there, the merchandise was picked over (not to mention expensive), so I did not buy anything.    They had tables and tables of monogrammed linens, maids outfits from the 1930's, lots of sterling silver - the kind of things you would expect to find in a mansion.

 

 At another estate sale, I found this cat and mouse weathervane.

 It sits in the garden along with the witch weathervane - I already had this one.

 A few antique books with great covers.

 And an old Halloween box.

 A set of pretty coin silver spoons, they have a sunflower pattern.

And a monogrammed butter knife.

Halloween Finds

 Halloween is approaching fast!  I found a few Halloween related items at some estate sales.  Above is a 1960's blow mold of a witch.  It has a light inside, and she glows when lit up.

 A few more Halloween items....

 An old Gurley candle with it's original label still on.

 A witch mug.

 This one is not from an estate sale, but it is pretty cool.  A witch made out of salvaged metal parts.

 And her little cat rides on the back of the bike.

 And for the non-Halloween items, a couple of salt spoons.

A set of monogrammed tea forks - with the 3 letter monogram MMD

A Victorian hedgehog pin cushion.  It's tiny!  But so cute.

 And a great old box.

Some Finds From Last Weekend

 These are a few of the things that came home with me last weekend.

 An unusual toast rack.

 A very old brass bell with interesting engravings.

It is a little hard to see, but there is a figural women/angel above the bell, and a dog figure on the left side.
Lots of great details on this one.

 Tiny pierced bowl, with faces on each of the points.

 This is my favorite find - a Reed & Barton toothpick holder with a satyr face.

 Some great silver spoons.

One is engraved with a J, and the other with '13.