Winning Bid: Silver for the Entertaining Household

This past weekend Boy and I attended a sale at an upstate New York auction house.  In addition to featuring an array of furniture and decorations, the auction included an extensive selection of tablewares up for sale, including china, glassware, and silver.  I am happy to report that we were the successful bidders on a number of pieces of silver that were of interest to us for use when entertaining at Darlington House.

As should be apparent to readers of this blog, we enjoy entertaining, both intimately and on a larger scale, and we do it with some frequency.  In addition to the expected drinks parties and dinner parties, we also throw luncheon and bruncheon parties, and we occasionally throw themed parties--we once gave a birthday party for Pompey where we invited thirty of our friends and their dogs for an afternoon's romp.  Although Darlington is a commodious house, it is not a large one, and we generally limit most of our parties to several dozen guests.  We've had as many as one hundred at a time, but that's the limit for what the house can hold, and even then it's rather a crush.

As our parties have grown larger and more elaborate over the years, so has our need grown for stocking Darlington House with the necessary goods to support the requirements of what I call "the Entertaining Household"--one that entertains at an advanced level and with sufficient frequency to merit the provisioning of its cabinets, chests, and closets with an abundance of china, silver, glassware, and linens to amply support such an establishment's varied and extensive entertaining needs.  And although we are well provisioned at Darlington House with such goods (some of our friends think astonishingly so), we are always looking for interesting and more specialized pieces to add to our collections.

And that is where the beauty of buying at auction comes in.  I'm not referring to serious, catalogued sales of important, rare, or pedigreed offerings, such as those found at Sotheby's or Christie's, but rather sales at local and regional auction houses where good quality, decorative, and useful household goods are sold, often as part of an estate's disposition.  Such auction houses are a particularly good source for the sets of tablewares, linens, and serving pieces that are necessary when throwing larger-scale parties.  Although goods sold at auction are in "as-is" condition, oftentimes all they need is a good cleaning or polishing when brought home to have them gleam anew.  But the best part of buying at auction is that the offerings sold at such venues are often hammered down at prices well below what one would have to pay once said goods have swum upstream and into a dealer's inventory.  Bargains are to be had at auctions for the lucky, eagle-eyed bidder.  

In previewing the lots at the sale we attended last weekend, I identified three silver serving pieces that I thought would be useful to add to our store of entertaining goods at Darlington House.  We were pleased to find ourselves the winning bidders on each piece and especially pleased that we were able to acquire them at what Reggie believes to be very reasonable prices.

Here's what we brought home:

A Good-Size Silver Bowl

We have many bowls suitable for use during parties at Darlington House, in many sizes, most of which are--not surprisingly--made of ceramic or glass.  Our bowls range from perfectly good, modern-day ones found in department and specialty stores to delicate and difficult-to-replace ones bought in antiques stores and shows.  While I am more than happy to put out most of our bowls at parties, I am reluctant to use our early nineteenth century Chinese Export, Coalport, or similar antique bowls at our larger parties for fear of them being chipped or broken--either by a guest or by the person in the kitchen responsible for washing up.  Although we own half a dozen small silver bowls suitable for scattering about tables filled with nuts and candies, we did not have a good-sized silver bowl, useful for holding larger amounts of food.

That is, until we were the winning bidder on this one.  Made by Georg Jensen, the Danish jeweler and silversmith (in business 1904 to the present), of sterling silver in the "Dublin" pattern for the American market, it is a flared and melon-round footed serving bowl of a good, medium size, measuring 8½ inches diameter and 4½ inches tall.  It is more than sufficient to hold several large bunches of grapes, a mound of ice cream scoops, or an abundance of nuts in their shells ready for cracking open.  Unlike our more delicate antique porcelain bowls, however, I have no reason to be concerned that a guest's overzealous clattering of a serving utensil (such as grape shears or a nut cracker) will damage it, nor is there any risk that it will shatter should it be dropped in the kitchen.  A good-size, medium silver bowl is a useful addition to the Entertaining Household, and I am quite happy to now have one.

A Medium-Size Silver Tray

Over the years we have accumulated rather a lot of trays suitable for use at parties.  Initially we concentrated on acquiring large trays, most useful for serving and clearing up, but in the last five years or so we have concentrated on buying smaller trays suitable for use by staff in the passing of hors d'œuvres and for serving drinks during cocktails.  As our parties have gotten larger, the number of staff and serving rotations has increased, as has the need for additional trays.  Although we already had half a dozen medium-size silver trays suitable for such purposes, we found during our last large party that we could have used at least one more.

And that's what we found at the auction.  Made by the Frank W. Smith Silver Company of Gardner, Massachusetts, (in business 1886-1958) of sterling silver in the "Chippendale" pattern, the tray measures just shy of 12 inches across.  It is perfect for holding two or three glasses, or a dozen hors d'œuvres.  Admittedly not as fine as the Jensen bowl, it is nonetheless a perfectly serviceable, handsome tray and suitable for parties.  An assortment of such trays is a must-have in the Entertaining Household, and one really cannot have too many of them in such an establishment.

A Commodious Silver Chafing Dish

When having a dozen or more guests for cocktails or a buffet-style luncheon or dinner party, one often serves at least one dish that benefits from being served piping hot.  That means having a serving dish that has a heat source in it, such as burner or an electrical heating element.  But we didn't own any such vessels at Darlington House, and relied on our caterer(s) to supply them.  That can be a tricky proposition, however, as one is relying on what said caterer has in their inventory, or is able to rent for the occasion from a party supply company.  And that usually means industrial quality stainless steel.  While that's fine in a corporate setting, or for a public gathering, it is less than desirable for those of us who are as careful in our presentation as we are at Darlington House.  We prefer something finer and more comme il faut for our antiques-filled dining room.  And for us that means silver.

Well, in this case, silver plate.  At the sale we were the successful bidder on a generously scaled chafing dish.  Manufactured by Israel Freeman & Son, Ltd. of London (in business from 1928 until only recently), the dish we acquired measures 16½ inches by 11 inches and stands 8 inches high.  It has two burners to keep its contents hot.  It is perfect for use at large parties, for serving such dishes as my dear Aunt Joanna's Swedish meatball recipe, a particular favorite, as well as other comestibles that benefit from being served hot, hot, hot!  Such a chafing dish is a useful addition to the Entertaining Household, and is well worth owning in such an establishment.

And that is why Reggie goes to auctions.  For it is at auction that he is able to acquire such pieces at a very reasonable price, often for far less than what he would have to pay otherwise.  He understands that buying well at auction requires an educated and informed eye, otherwise mistakes can be made, and he knows that not all possess his level of knowledge in these matters.  But that is one of the reasons why Reggie writes this blog, so that he may pass along to you, Dear Reader, what he has learned.

All photographs by Boy Fenwick