The better to eat you with...

Yesterday I got together with some friends I used to work with almost 10 years ago (hard to believe). We never see each other as often as we'd like, but when we do, we talk non-stop for hours.

I mentioned that I'd taken a class this year called Setting the Table, taught by Lynn Rosen, author of a book by the same name. The class focused on what pieces go where in a formal dinner. With one thing and another, Joanne, who's hospitality we were enjoying, pulled out some of her silver, and we played guess what this piece is.

This all reminded me of the exhibit that Deb and Eileen and I saw at the Cooper Hewitt a few years ago called Feeding Desire... What a great exhibit. It was all about the history of flatware from its origins to the present. I loved and bought the catalog.

This past Fall, when I was doing my half hour race through the craft show, one of the booths that made me stop was that of a silver smith who did botanical serving pieces. She had the exhibit catalog on a shelf and she told me that she had pieces in the show.

While I love the botanical pieces, I am especially fond of the sets of silver from Victorian times that featured 100+ piece place settings, complete with teaspoon, coffee spoons, berry spoons, ice cream forks, strawberry forks, etc. All of the essentials of life.

I think about collecting silver sometimes, or at least some of those esoteric pieces. While I have not in any way surveyed the patterns out there, one that I like a lot is called Monticello by Lunt.

I think it's an elegant, yet not overly ornate pattern. It dates from about 1908 and has lots of those fun pieces. A pickle fork, for instance - one of the essentials of life. Alas, the pictures of the asparagus tongs and and chip server won't upload, but imagine, if you will, what they look like...