The Silver Antiques Insider

Silver Spoons: A Tarnished Reputation?

I was in bed, propped up by pillows, flip-flopping my Venetian blinds on a dull, grey day when there was a commotion in the hallway and a thundering knock at my door. “Lauren, ya in there?”

Alice! “This ought to be good,” I thought. I hobbled to the door and let her in. “Hi!” She said as she shoved past me into the kitchen with a Tupperware container wedged in her armpit. “How are ya?”

“Oh, I’ve been better. This hip-”

She cut me off with a compassionate nod. “Heard ‘bout that. Haven’t ate yet have ya?” I shook my head no. “Thought ya could use some soup.” She had already located my pot and emptied into it the contents of her Tupperware - chicken stock by the looks of it, with rice and a hearty mix of colourful veggies. As it warmed on the stove she regaled me with laundry room gossip and then ladled the soup into a bowl. When I reached for the condiments and strained with the effort she scooped up the peppershaker and generously peppered my soup.

“Thank you, Alice.”

“Anything else?”

“Only a sterling tureen could have topped this Alice.” I tittered in spite of myself. From the look on her face I gathered the joke could use some explanation. “My old Auntie Beryl used to say that food always tasted better when it was served in sterling silver.”

“Little too rich for me!” Alice said. She slid her bum down off the counter and joined me at the table. “But you could try askin’ O-----.”

O-----? Here we go. “The superintendent?” I had no idea he appreciated fine silver.

She nodded with eyes wide. “Word’s goin’ round – he’s been swipin’ spoons - silver spoons – has been since forever. Keep an eye on him.”

Now, I’d be a fool to believe everything Alice tells me. For the time being I’d prefer to grant my super the benefit of doubt. My neighbour’s garrulous nature has landed her in hot water on more than one occasion, though in this instance she has stirred up a critical issue. According to this article from the Museum Security Network, thieves don’t always go after high-value goods. Often the risk is lower and the resale value is greater when they steal a lower quality or less remarkable piece.

Apart from Judo lessons and spy cameras I can offer no real advice on protecting your collection from home invasions and targeted theft. That’s not my area of expertise.

But (here’s an awful thought) should you someday become a victim of property crime there are steps you can take today to facilitate the recovery process. Most importantly, keep a detailed catalogue of your antique collection and be sure to include photographs. In the future I’ll have to put together an article about catalogue techniques, so stay tuned for that. Until then, here’s a rundown of crime prevention tactics from the Metropolitan Police Service and two full lists of stolen fine art and antiques to watch out for: one from the United Kingdom, and another (at the bottom of the page) from the New York-area.

Living With Silver Antiques

Collecting can be a truly enriching experience but as the catalogue grows your innocent hobby can become detrimental to the inner harmony of your home. No self-respecting collector wants to keep her treasures boxed up, so how are you going to display all that stuff?

The heirloom hutch might be an obvious choice, otherwise, many older homes come equipped with mantles, lintels, and ledges but in the case of fine silver antiques, I must warn against all of the above. According to Pamela Wiggins (about.com) certain types of finishes and even some types of unvarnished wood emit vapours that “cause an adverse chemical reaction with silver, which can lead to heartbreaking damage.”

Furthermore, prolonged exposure to moisture can catalyze the tarnishing process. According to Ken Arnold, the author of Caring For Your Collectibles, silver should be displayed in an environment where the relative humidity is maintained at a level of 45 - 50 percent.

Enclosed cabinets with glass shelves and glass-fronted doors are ideal display cases (like those you can see in use over at Nelson & Nelson Antiques). They offer the best viewing privileges while also providing protection and some potential to control your collection’s exposure to tarnish-inducing humidity.

With just a little organization and a bit of understanding we can all get the most out of living with an antique silver collection.

But no matter how nice your display looks, just be sure not to lock your silver away until the end of time. Keep in mind that antique silver artifacts were designed for everyday functions. Regular use and subsequent cleaning creates the sheen, sometimes referred to as patina, which sets old silver apart from its ersatz modern-day relatives and makes the collection of silver antiques a truly rewarding pursuit.

XRF: Seeing Through The Fakes

I finally got the chance to peruse the Fletcher and Gardiner exhibit at the Met this past Wednesday. I examined each luminiferous piece then read the accompanying placards and, more often than not, just shook my head in wonder. I returned home with one burning question. In this world full of fakes and forgeries, how can the curators be so certain that they’ve got the real thing?

Part of me wanted to believe there was a little, artsy know-it-all lurking somewhere behind a shiny green curtain, an expert who could map the provenance and patina of any piece at a mere glance. If you actually take a peek behind the scenes at a major museum these days you’re bound to find, not the Wizard of Art, but a team of technicians working with high-tech gadgets like the X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) Spectroscope.

Following the accidental discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895, scientists set about mining the ray’s potential to be employed as an analytical tool. Here’s a simplified version of the notion:

If an object is bombarded with a sufficient amount of high-energy x-rays its atoms will enter an unstable condition. In order to regain stability the atoms must produce their own set of secondary x-rays. These are known as fluorescent x-rays.

“Because each element has a unique set of energy levels, each element produces [fluorescent] x-rays at a unique set of energies, allowing one to non-destructively measure the elemental composition of a sample.” (www.amptek.com)

A series of advances eventually led to the development of the first x-ray spectrometer by Friedman and Birks in 1948. After time, and a few adjustments to the original design, XRF Spectroscopy is now the preferred method for non-destructive elemental and chemical analysis of minerals, metals, porcelain, wood, and glass. The method was employed by NASA astronauts to study lunar rock samples on two different Apollo missions. It has also been applied to a number of other scientific fields such as forensics and archaeology, and the study of fine art and antiques.

When it comes to silver antiques, scientists must compare x-ray results to what we know of the silver manufacturing and production techniques of each particular epoch. For example, before purification by electrolysis became popular in the mid-1800s, decorative silver contained traces of gold, lead, and other natural impurities. If an artifact dated prior to that period does not contain traces of other elements it’s liable to be a fake. Such was the case when a large number of forgeries were found in Arthur Lenssen’s collection of antique colonial silver after it was donated to The Winterthur Museum and Country Estate.

As a collector, the ability to confidently assess the authenticity of an artifact is of utmost importance. All of us here at Nelson & Nelson Antiques want you to know when you’ve got the real deal, alas, we cannot all afford to purchase an XRF Spectroscope and hire a team of personal technicians. So, in future articles, we’ll be doling out practical tips and visual cues that the average collector can use to help spot fakes and forgeries with the naked eye.

Stay tuned!

Gently, Ever So Gently

With less than a week to go, some of you are probably scrambling to polish your silver in time for your Thanksgiving feast - but don't over do it! If you’re in need of polishing tips and other flatware advice check out this in-depth Do-It-Yourself article and this instructional video.

If you’re still shopping for a flatware service as respectable as your holiday guest list, stay tuned for the next Silver Spotlight article from Nelson & Nelson Antiques.