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Comments (14)

  • 8 years ago
    Have you tried sending the photos to replacements.com?
    hounds_x_two thanked gtcircus
  • 8 years ago

    Not yet! Good idea.

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    That's Towle Old Colonial...my daughter's pattern...originally made in about 1880 and still made today....there is lots and lots on the secondary market....and LOTS of lovely old serving pieces.
    And the pieces are likely citrus spoons....the teaspoons are just a little larger....but the pattern was made over such a long period that there were many sized of pieces, many knife blade shapes and many weights...some spoons for example are heavier silver than others.

    hounds_x_two thanked lindac92
  • 8 years ago

    Linda, you are better than Replacements! I knew that mark looked familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Thank you! Spoons are 4”, so maybe demitasse?

  • 8 years ago

    Maybe....There were after dinner coffee spoons, teaspoons, place spoons Demitasse spoons, salt spoons. gumbo spoons, creamed soup spoons....
    Look on ebay....
    But never buy a piece that has a stainless business end...they have taken old knives and put the handle on something else....and never buy a "potato fork" another bad piece that has been "repurposed"....and some cheese scoops are modified soup spoons.
    Do you have more than just those spoons?


  • 8 years ago

    Ironically I had an antique silver flatware service and the original service has a baked potato fork. Purchased in 1901 by my great aunt and it has 16 pieces per place setting. Who knew you had to have a shrimp fork, demataisse spoon, ice tea spoon, ice cream spoon (fork), luncheon fork, luncheon knife, dinner fork, dinner knife, teaspoon, tablespoon, butter knife, soup spoon, salt spoon, gumbo spoon, fish knife, dessert spoon. = missing something but can’t remember!

  • 8 years ago

    I can find no documentation that any baked potato fork existed as early as 1901. Perhaps someone "modified" an older pattern? Can you find a documented old catalog? I may learn something..
    As for the 16 pieces in a place setting, all would not have been on the table at the same time.
    There were ice cream spoons that look like a cross between a fork and a spoon....and there were also pastry forks...and boullion spoons. You would not have used a dinner knife and fork at the same time as you used a luncheon set. They were for different meals. And a fish knife was for serving fish not part of a set.
    But there sure were lots and lots of serving pieces back in the day! Oyster ladles and soup ladles and cream ladles, punch ladles and gravy ladles....big and little sugar tongs, sandwich tongs and ice tongs ( they were later when we served ice cubes).
    And our Victorian ancestors that were "fine" enough to own a large set of sterling silverware would not have been so gauche as to put a bowl of baked potatoes on the table to be passed like a bowl of peas.
    Dealers. it seems have modified old sets and when a piece was damaged, they repurposed it....a baked potato fork is often a dinner fork, with the center 2 tines removed and the 2 other tines often twisted.....the same with a "single tined butter pick". It is often a pickle or seafood fork filed down and twisted. Cheese scoops are often place spoons with the edge removed and the rest curled. There is not a lot of market for place spoons and cocktail forks, so they turn them into something else. everybody had to make a buck!

  • 8 years ago

    I have six of the little Old Colonial spoons. Nothing more in that pattern. I have a "thing" for old sterling, and when I find an interesting piece, I can usually convince myself that I need it and will use it. And I usually put it to use!

    My most eccentric piece so far, is my sterling grape shears.

  • 8 years ago

    Yeah...me too!! in the early days of going to auctions, I would buy anything sterling for $1....Always willing to start the bidding. And I bought lots of this and that....sometimes, though I had to pay more than $1!
    That's how my daughter got started with old colonial. One sale there was an assortment or about 24 dinner forks...actually luncheon sized. The bid was bid a price then take as many as you wanted for that price. I didn't get the bid first time around, there must have been something very desirable in there....and they did it again and I didn't bid that high.....and the third time, the bid was $1 and I took all the last 8 assorted sterling forks....and one was Towle Old Colonial.
    Well a few years back, I had also lucked on 8 matching Gorham Wreath forks for $1 each and my MIL had 6 teaspoons and I had 2 serving spoons, and I told my daughter that set was for her when she got married. she was about 17.
    Then I came home with the assortment of $1 forks, she by then was engaged and 23 and she looked at the Old Colonial....and said "Mom, can I have this pattern instead of the other?"...so I did some research, using The antique Trader as well as other venues, and found how much Old Colonial was out there!....and told her of course.
    So I have spent a lot of time searching out interesting pieces, and she has 8 place settings which are new....and I don't know how many that are old....and all old serving pieces.
    And the Gorham wreath, since the advent of the internet, I have expanded to 4 piece settings for 23, and 8 piece settings for 6. it's earmarked for my daughter's daughter....who is 27, and after study and travel and mission trips, has just completed her masters and is in her own apartment......and says she's not ready for it yet....aargh!

    Oh yeah....my most eccentric piece, so far a pair of English hallmarked asparagus tongs. Paid $12 for it, had no idea what it was....but it was one of my better investments!!

  • 8 years ago

    And then there's the story of the set of Whiting Louis XV and how that started...but I'll save that for another day....
    It's a disease....I know!

  • 8 years ago
    last modified: 8 years ago

    Since I inherited the set, Brandon International Sterling Silver, and I was not around when it was acquired, I have no idea. All I can tell you is there is a fork that was twisted with the original initials on it. And yes I know you don’t put all the place settings on the table at the same time. I have actually prepared and served an eight course French dinner as part of a donation to a charity auction. But as others said, to pull off that large of a meal you have to have a lot of china, silver and crystal. Yes I have the bug. I cannot imagine eating like that every night, but it explains the necessity to having lots of staff. During that dinner we had one staff per two guests as it is labor intensive. I have three generations of china, crystal and silver and it was one of the few times it almost all got used. It takes a lot of time to set up and a lot of time to clean up.

  • 8 years ago

    Lindac92, I would love to hear all of your stories!

  • 8 years ago

    Looking forward to more stories!

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