Antiques Magazine Archive, August 2014

Entertaining was not always as it is now. Picture entertaining friends, with music, canapés, and great conversation: none of these things has changed much in the past few centuries. Now imagine yourself looking around the table and seeing wine bottles and glasses empty. Catastrophe! It is very easy to quickly take a new bottle from the fridge or cellar, open it, and serve your guests. In fact, you may have a dedicated cooler or fridge for this purpose. Entertaining was not always so simple!

Peoples of the past moved about their land in different ways, and this influenced the way they interacted. It is also very important for looking at how the maps they made symbolized how they identified with their local area. Often maps of previous centuries show villages that are now non-existent, or curiosities such as landmarks and waypoints that are rather humorous.  

All that glitters is not gold, but gold may not necessarily be your thing, perhaps you prefer silver? I know I do, there’s nothing more elegant than silver against the skin, especially when it’s tanned. But silver isn’t necessarily for the body, it can be part of the tableware, or collectables perhaps, or awards such as trophies, watches and a myriad of other things. 

Silver is a useful hardwearing and affordable metal, and it’s unlikely that someone somewhere doesn’t have a piece of silver somewhere in their jewellery box, from a pair of cufflinks to a chain, silver is beautiful and affordable and not necessarily chosen for its cheapness, as opposed to the cost of gold. Gold can appear garish and overdone, while silver retains an elegance and beauty all its own, regardless of whether it’s part of a dinner service or around a man or woman’s neck.