old silver treasures

I have this drawer in my hutch that has looked like this for quite awhile. I'd like to say it has been just since we moved, but that would be a lie. Almost. It did look a little more organized before the move and then after unpacking, it has looked like this. 

It is an assortment of silver flatware acquired like many things I have. Some from family. Most from our elderly, Colorado neighbor, Lucille and some that I probably picked up here and there. It has really needed  attention for some time. While on one of my yard sale excursions with my daughter husbands cousin, I found one of these wooden boxes for holding flatware. They are usually pretty pricey, if in good condition, so when I saw this one for 1/2 price at an estate sale, I bought it.

And it was just the inspiration I needed. So, I pulled everything out of that drawer. Amazing how much was layered in there, huh? Then I thought, do I really want to do this?

Can you see just how tarnished some of that had gotten?

On a whim, I got out a cloth that is suppose to be used for silver jewelry. It did a good job, but after just a few pieces do you see the mistake I might have made? Too much for one little cloth and now I think the cloth is ruined. So, on my next trip to the store I picked up some silver polish.

I lined everything up and tried to match patterns. Using the new polish (which I neglected to get a photo of) and some old rags I shined and polished my little heart out.

I'm not sure if I have ever matched up the pieces before, but it appears that I have a small assortment of things that actually match. Like this one, three spoons and three salad forks.  And all of those above? All different. But that's o.k, I kind of like the variety.

Now this group is part of the assortment that came from Lucille. Twenty-four long handled ice-tea spoons. They are the only pieces with that pattern. I remember wondering how she might have gotten that many spoons.

This berry spoon is my absolute favorite piece from Lucille. I love the shell pattern on the bowl of the spoon. I think of her every year as I put it in the dish of homemade cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving.

After getting everything all polished and matched up, I have two sets of six in two different patterns. And a whole bunch of odds and ends. Just like everything else that I have. An eclectic assortment of goodness.

But I like eclectic.

A cute story that I will share. Some of you may have heard about it before and some of you that were fortunate enough to have met our neighbor Lucille, will enjoy it. She was a very eclectic woman that was 88 when we moved in to the big old house next to her. She rented a piece of the land that her trailer sat on and when we bought our house, she was the bonus that came with it. She was a joy to us and a wealth of great Lucille stories will always be with us. She passed away just a few months shy of her 100th birthday.

She always thought she needed to find her "money", specifically coins that she thought she had hidden away for "later." Many times she would have me help her search inside her house and even around the outside for her hidden treasure.

Do you see the small tray of silverware behind the red-lined box? When she gave me some of her old silver (that I really do cherish even though it was a jumbled mess in my drawer) it was in that blue velvet lined tray. A couple of days after she proudly gave it to me, she came knocking on my door. She asked to see the tray one more time. I said of course. She proceeded to peel the velvet away from the wooden tray. She thought she remembered putting some bills behind it. There weren't any. In fact, the way the fabric ripped away I knew it had never been peeled up before. But I went along with her and told her perhaps she had used it already or moved it to a "safer" spot.  She agreed and said "someday, I will find my money."

Sadly, she never did and we suspect she really never had any buried or hidden treasure.

She may have never known it, but to us...she was the treasure.