New-York tribune., 1908-01-05
TIE Core of SilxertOare.
How Costly Gifts Bestowed Wealthy Brio
guarded and Kept Furnished.

polishing cloths that the maid when her
mistress is visiting, and keep her array of
knick -knacks bright and clean that all who see
them envy, and by the way, what more essential
than that articles Of personal daily should be
spck and span? OF course, when the maid has
her own cleaning outfit she misses the chats she
would have with the butler second if she
had to borrow the needful brushes and powders
but if she is of naughty mien, proper ladies'
maids she will find compensation in boasting
the staff of the glories of her mistresss own
domain.
SAFEGUARDING COSTLY WARE
To revert to the bride and her silver, in which
fortune is frequently represented, the morning
of the wedding day. else while the wedding party
at the church. the family silversmith has been
ordered to send his motor wagon ard with this are
two especially trustworthy employees. The gifts
which have been carefully repacked and invento-
ried, the boxes being marked for Identification.
placed in the wagon and whisked of to the vault
from which seclusion they do emerge Until
new house is sufficiently in order That accom-
plished the amount to be used ordinarily brought
up from storage, and the remainder is left in the
safe deposit until great calls for the
display of all the large and very ornamental pieces
These returned possible TO their
resting place after the entertainment is over
and the owners mind is comfortable once more
Great possessions assuredly bring great care and
responsibility, and with such silver as is showered
upon the young married couples OF the present
also the fear Of burglars. Insurances safes patent
window locks and burglar alarms are the most i'm
portant items in the young husbands memorandum
book and the telephone register the police sta
tion and the Fire Department numbers appear first
on the list. Superb silver also means that every
servant must come with references of entire hon
esty, the loss of d spoon at one time and a
fork at another means quite outlay to replace
often odd sets given that have been brought
from abroad, and the disappearance of one of these
goody expense
Many Of the older women of society who have
travelled through Europe and much of Asia and
Africa practicable have added to their COL
lecons Of silver many curious and things
Take Mrs L. BernOn Sheldon, for instance who
has named her country seat at Delhi n Y Chat
fee Lodge after place where she stayed in In
dia. She has picked up odds and ends with rare
judgment and great good luck and one room is
filled with treasure Here stands silver cup
that belonged to Louis XIV and has hunting
scene in bold relief around it. Near that is a
wondrous silver idol and beyond beautiful old
English tankards and loving cups rejoice the eye
In of the guest rooms is a French toilet set in
silver, perfectly plain and highly FURNISHED the
ever with a slender, graceful neck and long
slim handle. and the basin generously deep In
the library, in cabinets, small articles in
and gold that have belonged to crowned heads of
the centuries past.
Another collector OF antiques in silver is William
Nichols whose house. Rye, is wonderfully ar
tistic. He has a fancy for silver of Venetian and
Spanish origin and also for quaint old pieces from
Japan and Russia. the former predominating how
ever. Some of this silver it is necessary to keen
in a rather dingy condition. collectors have the
lacquer finish given, and the color remains at that
particular stage of tarnish for all time. Tankards
of old silver almost the only pieces that are
kept perpetuay bright. ana these should be regll-
larly polished and ccasionally boiled
OF Sheffield plate much be said as to its
beauty, but the genuinely old pieces are few and
far between. and the newer ones are greatly in
ferior for wearing qualities though the designs
may be just attractive Any old piece that can
be discovered in these days will need replating and
this produces a curious unevenness of surface
visible TO the naked eye. The smooth quality of
old Sheffield plating seems TO be lost art, as is
the peculiar whiteness of very old silver These
were. course, the alloy. and the secret has
perished. for with this CLINT there also a hard
ness that made old silver durable and salts
factory than any of modern times, and capable Of
retaining polish with briiliancy for much longer
period
Several odd and valuable silver tankards christen-
ing cups and boats were lent TO the James,
town exposition by Mrs. Frederic de Peyster. and
were included In the Colonial Danes exhibit of an
tiouities On tankard a coat-of- arms most
beautifully engraved and on the handle, heavily
raised, a lion rampant whose nose greatly
fattened by contact with the thumb piece, which
Is on the back of the The Misses Phillipse
also own some historical silver. which is beaut-
fully bright as it was in the days when 1t graced
the wainscoted dining of Phillipse Manor;
and of modern silver the daughters of Senator
Clark have a array of the most lovely descrip
ton and of great value