Finds of the Week #61: Mother Lode, the Sequel
Happy Thrifty Thursday friends!
So I’m not sure what I did to deserve this, but another mother lode? Who would’ve thought it? Certainly not me.
There seems to be some serious pre-winter silver purging going on in these parts and I’m reaping in the treasures.
The best time to collect something you love is when nobody else seems to want it, which means that it’s cheap, cheap, cheap.
Works for me! 🙂
My first haul is from a silent auction that I won at a local flea market.
I got all this for $15, and the tray too.
That includes twelve Primrose Plate silver plate goblets with lovely golden interiors. Aren’t they pretty?
These are regular wine glass size.
And eight House of Silver small liqueur size goblets. So sparkly!
These sound absolutely heavenly when they hit each other, and if they’re not too valuable they’ may be used in a goblet wind chime.
The round tray is marked Chase USA.
It’s quite heavy and is pretty scratched up… so it’s a good candidate for a tray makeover.
Here’s part of my recent haul of thrift store silver goodies.
This pair of silver plate candlesticks are marked Wm Rogers, and at $1 a piece I couldn’t resist. They’re quite ornate and have a good weight to them.
If I ever need some hand-sized exercize weights these will fit the bill in a pinch.
This lovely little heart-shaped $1 silver plate basket is quite small at only 4″ across. I’m not sure what it’s meant to hold because any trinkets would fall out the sides.
Any ideas?
This small silver plate $1 salt and pepper set is marked Made in England, Regis Plate, EPNS.
It has such a lovely patina and will be added to my personal salt and pepper collection… if only because I can’t get the tops off. They are really stuck!
You can see on the right one that there’s some verdegris around the cap. I think they might be patina-ed shut!
But that’s perfectly ok. I’ll quite happily keep them. 🙂
Because I love flowers it wasn’t too much of a stretch for me to fall in love with this silver plate flower-shaped candle holder. I found it at a Salvation Army store up in Midland, Ontario.
It was $3, which was a little pricey for me, but I was willing to fork out the big bucks because I loved it. Well, lucky me… when I went up to the counter to pay it was 50% off day. It’s so awesome when that happens!
I really should get some of my silver tong collection into my etsy shop because I have so many, and here’s another one to add. The thing is I find them so cheap around here that I can’t resist. This one was just $1.
The large serving spoon was $2 and will be probably find its way into a wind chime some day.
Now for the surprise haul that I found at my local Salvation Army store, along with a few of the other items above. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of my two mother lodes came from the same person… an estate maybe.
When I saw this wrapped up thingy I was pretty sure it was a silverware holder. The price tag said $10. Yikes!
Even though the price had this thrifty girl feeling a little hesitant I opened it up anyway. How could I not?
Someone made this silverware holder with a lot of love, probably many years ago.
I’m assuming that this much silverware is not supposed to be crammed in. It has 12 pockets, so I’m thinking it was meant to hold four knives, four forks, and four spoons.
It was packed full with eight knives, fourteen forks, three large tablespoons, eight regular-sized teaspoons, one serving spoon, and thriteen smaller teaspoons. There are some matching pieces and some odds and sods.
For 47 pieces that’s about 21 cents a piece with a lovely freebie silverware holder thrown in. So the $10 turned out to be a pretty good deal.
And the bonus of all bonuses… 11 of the smaller teaspoons, which are 4H Ontario Homemaking Club spoons, are marked sterling.
Seven are marked International Sterling…
…and four are marked Wallace Sterling.
In my first mother lode I found two of these 4H spoons, but they were silver plate and marked Heritage.
Here are three spoons in the condition that I found them. The one on the left is Wallace Sterling, the one in the centre is International Sterling, and the one on the right is Heritage silver plate.
It’s so interesting to me that these are all the exact same design with three different marks on them.
I found some Wallace and International Sterling spoons just like these on ebay from anywhere from $20 to $45 a piece. That’s just crazy to me! Since I never use sterling pieces in my wind chimes I’m hoping these polish up nice so I can sell them.
The forks and spoons will be used for wind chimes, and what I’ll do with the knives is anybody’s guess. lol. I have a growing collection and one of these days I’ll get around to fulfilling some of my ideas for them, but until then they’ll stay in my stash.
I’m feeling a bit like a chipmunk storing up my silver treasures for the winter… so I can dream of summer while making wind chimes in my craft studio when it’s snowing outside. The only problem is I have no room in my craft studio to store this stuff and I refuse to let it invade the rest of the house, which I like to keep clutter free, without an organized display plan.
Maybe I’m going to have to dig me a hole in the back yard and keep it there until spring. lol.
But before I go to that extreme I think it’s time to do some outside-of-the-hole thinking so I don’t risk having some squatter chippies taking up residence with my silver stash.
Not sure what I’ll do if I hit a third silver mother lode, but I’ll worry about that if and when the time comes. I couldn’t possibly be that lucky… could I? 🙂
Thanks so much for reading and until next time…
keep on keepin’ on!
XOX
WOW! Boy, I say you really did hit the mother -load of all loads.
Them goblets are awesome as well as all the flatware you retrieved.
Oh, your heart shape basket; vintage item from the 1980’s which can be used as small bread (dinner rolls) / fruit basket.
You can always run come colored ribbon through the wires and use to hold sea shells, or Whole, mixed nuts for the holidays, etc.
Run pretty pink ribbon through the wires, hang on wall with little trinket or something inside or with the ribbon running through you can set on dresser and put some jewelry in it or set my your entry to put car keys in, etc.
Thanks Colleen! Those are all great suggestions. 🙂
Thanks Colleen! It’s been a long time since I’ve found this many silver treasures.
Wow, what a great shopping day! It is so interesting to see the different markings on the similar spoons. I always learn something from your posts. And after you broke the silverware price down, the cost was amazing per piece. I would’ve shied away from a $10 purchase as well…trying to keep within my tiny budget. Thanks for sharing your awesome finds, and your lack of space to store them. I keep finding free furniture pieces…and it’s so hard to resist 🙂
I’m so glad I don’t see free furniture around here because I’m afraid I’d have to bring that home too. 🙂 It is hard to resist a good deal, and free is the best.
Hi …so love reading your post! I too can’t resist collecting the silver and have attempted a few creations! Any particular reason why you don’t use sterling silver pieces in your wind chimes? Is it just the cost?
My collection of knives is growing as well, can’t wait to see what you have in mind!!
Thanks Heather! It is just the cost. I have a lot of silver plate cutlery to use in my wind chimes, and I don’t seem to have trouble finding more before I run out. So there’s no need to use real silver pieces. I’d rather try to sell those in tact, after I polish them up.
Absolutely amazing! So many beautiful things! I always look for a favorite, but this week it’s hard to choose! But for some reason, I kept going back to the large serving spoon! It speaks to me. It says, “girl, you are crazy!” But I love it! You really did hit the mother lode…twice!! Dona
Thanks Dona! That serving spoon is lovely. It’s quite aged. If you’re crazy then I guess I’m crazy too. lol.
Do you find that silver pieces sell well? I see this stuff at estate sales all the time and was considering buying some to sell in my Etsy shop.
Hi Kim. Silver pieces aren’t selling well for me right now, and I have read the same on some other blogs, but what goes around always seems to come around again. I’m thinking silver will come back in vogue some day so I’m buying pieces now while the prices are very low. I just happen to also love silver and rround here I seem to be the only thrifter buying it.
FYI…It’s called “Wacky Wednesday” at Salvation Army. Every Wednesday is 50% off anything over .99 except furniture!
How wonderful it would be to have a 50% off day every Wednesday. Because I work during the week I can only shop at Salvation Army stores on Saturday, which is when this sale was. I think it was some kind of all week promo thing.
Wow Wow Wow Tuula!!!! You did hit the found treasure mother lode for sure. Love those salt and pepper shakers too.
Hugs,
Kris
Thanks Kris! Now I have to start organizing my treasures so I can enjoy them until I use them for something. It’s no fun keeping things that you love in a box. The salt and pepper set is very sweet. I have a thing for small silver sets.
Wow, what a haul Tuula! Great finds and I know you’ll put them to wonderful use with your chimes 😉
Thanks Cecilia! I have been so lucky in the silver department lately. I hope it continues. 🙂
WOW, you really did hit the mother lode! Especially with all those sterling spoons you found. Isn’t it fun when you’re so excited with a special find and get home to find it’s even a bigger and better surprise? I just love when that happens. Love all the goodies you found. I know you say some of your finds are a bit pricey but compared to southern California most of your prices in Canada seem quite reasonable. I want to come shop there! haha
Thanks Judy! I live in the country and the smaller thrift stores around here are very reasonable. Whenever I go to Toronto, or even a smaller city, I’m always a little shocked by the prices and I rarely come home with much. It’s still fun to look though.
Woot! What a haul, that is an understatement. Great pickings, and how much fun it will be to see all that in holiday displays. (I love old ornaments in silver displays), Thanks for sharing, Sandi
Thanks Sandra! I love to use silver pieces for display too. Their sparkle is just perfect for the Christmas season.
Boy, did you ever hit it Tuula! That pair of ornate candlesticks….sell those in your Etsy shop. I’ve found things that are ornate do better. If they don’t have bad flaws, that is. They look quite pretty. Those sterling pieces might sell in a jewelry shop that buys estate pieces. We have one here that will give you whatever the current market is on silver. I bought some sterling flatware at a garage sale once & it looked horrible, but as sterling, it brought some money.
I know what you mean about not wanting to clutter up your house with your finds. I broke my own rule on that eventually.
Thanks Florence! I’ll probably try to sell the candlesticks. They look quite good. I may try to sell the sterling spoons in tact before trying the other route. There may be some 4H collectors out there that may want them. Sometimes it’s kinda hard to be a thrifter/picker while not liking clutter. Somehow I’m able to manage it most of the time, but I have been known to go on a purging binge every once in a while. lol.
I didn’t think about 4H collectors…hope you can sell them that way. About clutter….I’m exactly like you….I always tried to keep it out of the main house, but now it’s strewn all over. Drives me crazy.
Great mother lode! love the 4H silver spoons – what a find. I think you will be a busy crafter during the long cold months ahead.
Thanks Donna! I’m hoping it won’t be, but if it’s a long winter I’ll have plenty to keep my busy. I’ve never even seen a 4H spoon before and now I have so many. You just never know what you’re going to find.
There are several things you can do with hollow handled knives. You can cut them about 1″ down from the top and make knife bell pendants from them, you can cut off just the blade and a little bit of the handle and make pens out of them, or they also sound very pretty on wind chimes. For the knife handles that are solid rather than hollow, you can cut off the knife blade, then drill a hole and add a clip to make them picnic tablecloth weights!
Those are all fabulous suggestions Laura! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
Tuula, quite a silver haul. Finding sterling among the silver plate makes that $10 price a bargain. Can’t wait to see all the loveliness you make from your silver haul.
Thanks Sharon! That was quite the bonus. I had absolutely no idea until I took out my magnifying glass to take a closer look at the markings. It was such a nice surprise.
Sometimes you gotta spend the extra bucks to get such a deal! That was a great deal. I saw a similar one at the shop I work at….a whole basket of silverware for $10 but I didn’t look closely at them. I should probably check for sterling! I know yours will be useful and lovely wind chimes someday. I have been stockpiling vintage treasures for winter too since the thrift stores here are getting pricey!
That’s so true AnnMarie, about sometimes spending more… and as it turns out I got even more out of it with the sterling surprise than. I have a mini magnifying glass that I carry with me, but I don’t tend to check silverware in the thrift store because it would take a while.
You weren’t kidding! Calling it a haul is putting it mildly! I can not wait to see what new wind chimes get made out of some of this stuff!xoKathleen
Thanks Kathleen! Some weeks are just lucky. I live in an area where silverware isn’t very popular right now, but I love it!
Jackpot!!
You got that right Kirby! I rarely find real silver mixed in the the silver plate.
Wow, you really did score! Love those silver cups and the bundle of silverware. Thanks for the thrift shopping inspiration.
Thanks Betsy! I do love my goblets and silverware.:)
My goodness you were in the right place at the right time! Congratulations on your finds 😀
Thanks very much Anny! You’re so right. 🙂
Wow, what a haul! You certainly did hit the mother lode. I adore that sweet handmade spoon holder! Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
Thanks Jann! It’s always fun to join the party.