Sunday, May 1, 2011

Rogue Silver

Bundle it up and tie with pretty ribbons to make a gorgeous and practical gift................................

All of this silverware in this post is second hand.  All purchased at a flea market or garage sale. Along the way a few real silver Bits made it in to the pile, a lucky purchase perhaps......Nothing was bought to match, however over time, I ended up with several pieces of one pattern......

It's what I call ROGUE SILVER, and to me, it;s the best kind.


And now I have masses of it.  Enough for the largest dinner and a huge buffet.  There are sweet little mustard spoons (perfect for jams and jellies) long spooners, pickle forks, baby spoons and forks.  Although mismatched, the steak knives all go well together and I love the colour of these handles...............


I like to tie a pretty vintage spoon onto a jar of jam for a gift.  Sometimes I end up with the right initials engraved on the spoon for the recipient.  Magic when that happens.................................................... 


My favourite are the little ones....


During the war, the patterns of silver that were allowed to be made were limited.  These are my favourite knives with the climbing roses all around the handles.............


I think they all look beautiful together......I don't care that they are mismatched.  Beautifully functional.  No packaging.   No long journey from a factory overseas (of course many were from the UK brought over many moons ago).  Reused.  Recycled.  Very inexpensive.  Why do we think we need matching, new, packaged, imported and expensive silverware, when flea markets and second hand shops are bulging full of old silver BITS.?

Have you, or would you go Rogue with your silverware?

I am getting with the program over at The Old Grey Mare and linking up for Suzan's Program Genesis.  Because the little things can make a difference.





20 comments:

  1. Love Rogue (great name) silverware! Prefer the mismatched look and first choice is the monogrammed ones.
    xo Cathy

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  2. You have a great collection and Rogue is perfect. One of my favorite things to have displayed in the kitchen in different containers.
    Linda

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  3. LOVE this idea...FABULOUS! If I could only find something to do with rogue socks from the washing machine now...Looks like I have a lot of looking around to do on this wonderful blog. Have a wonderful week - happy May Day. Tanya

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  4. It's why we are simpatico. I have the same rogue silverware. :D

    xx
    z

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  5. Oh why oh why do I have to be a "matchy-matchy" kind of person. I love the idea of mixing it all up and yet there I am always wanting to match things up.
    It all looks so beautiful.

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  6. I'm not sure I would be able to gift them... they are so beautiful.

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  7. We use rogue silverware too. Everyday, all the time. My husband is the collector of silver here.

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  8. I once owned a beautiful 60-piece silver service (fish knives and forks, soup spoons, the whole shebang) complete with box, that was my mother's. Some yobs in London decided to relieve me of it while hubby and I were out for an early supper one evening, along with several pieces of jewelry of mine.
    Generally I don't mourn stuff, but the absence of this still stings, especially since now I don't have my mother either.
    I replaced some of the silverware with a new set when we moved back to Canada (gratis the William Ashley Sale), but truth be told Chania...it sits in drawer most of the time...just don't have the connection to this set that I had with mum's.
    When each of my daughters was confirmed, I gave them a luncheon place setting of silver which I then added to each year until they were 21. They now have 8 place settings each. Happy to say that my eldest uses it as her everyday cutlery.
    So...now having read your post, and taking cues from Lindsay, I'm going to give my silly blonde head a shake and start using the stuff...what's the point of having it otherwise!

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  9. My silverware is grouped by spoons, forks and knives in various crocks I've picked up at tag sales and arranged on a wooden tray. It's close to the dishwasher. And I never know what I'm grabbing when I reach in. I might get a white fork, a silver, red, you name it!
    Brenda

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  10. I have a small collection of your rogue silverware. I find a lot of it at the thrift stores. I adore the little butter knives with the roses on the handles. So cute.

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  11. I love this idea! And yes I would go rogue. Lovely photos and the idea behind it all is so wonderful. Ann

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  12. Gorgeous, and yes I would love to go rogue with silver. I have a good 'everyday' set of matching stainless after many years of waiting. I saved all the mismatched pieces of stainless flatware and use it for lunches and bbq's. But, so far I only have about a dozen spoons of the vintage silver. I'm keeping my eye open, though.

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  13. our friends have to eat with our "rouge" silver!

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  14. I love it, rouge silverware. Sounds very exotic.

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  15. I have a drawer and jars overflowing with it! A little while back we were somewhere and were using newer stainless steel silverware and a newer set of dishes. My husband said, wow isn't this nice. Shiny silverware and plates that match? Maybe for him I will shine up the old stuff, but I love my mismatched collection! I agree, why buy new when our world is full of the treasures that have lasted over so many years? I love your idea to give a little spoon with a gift of jam. I should learn to make jam ;) xoxo

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  16. I love these!! The color gets better and better. I've been on the hunt for some old silverware. What a beautiful find.

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  17. I've never heard it termed 'rogue' before Chania, and yet this is the perfect term. Although I have matching silverware, it is mostly unused. I much prefer the gorgeous patina of all my old mismatched cutlery, especially my bone-handled knives. I love all my old bits and pieces, and it is always fun to add to the collection, knife, fork or spoon at a time. You have an amazing collection. xx

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  18. what a great collection! I'm always on the hunt for pretty pieces. My mom has some great ones and I'm hoping she'll pass them down to me someday to enjoy xo

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  19. I also love collecting mismatched silver. I never thought of it as "Rogue", but I love the term! The charm it holds for me is the fact that very few REAL people could afford to have a complete set of matching silver, and the pieces I have found have been USED, which is a wonderful thing, don't you think? Anyway, just wanted to know if you ever tried using a Cadie cloth to polish your silver? It's awesome - I received one with a set of silver - it is so old that the price on the box the cloth came in is 27 cents! It cleans beautifully. I found a new one online and just purchased it for $5.50. I found it at kitchenworks.com.

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  20. I totally would go rogue, if only I had any idea of how to go about it. I guess just start buying it up during my thrifting/antiquing/garage sale haunts. Silver was the one thing I did not register for my wedding because I thought it was too fussy but now I have the problem of not having enough silverware for guests at parties. Maybe going rogue is the solution.

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I love to read each and every comment and are thrilled that you take the time to send one. Thank you so much. Chania