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How to shop for fine silver and crystal at estate sales. | Fran Berger

The best way to build a collection of fine silver and crystal: estate sales, flea markets, thrift stores. And they’re fun!

For some folks, having the perfect set of home entertaining “ware” is a matter of inheritance. If you are one of the lucky ones to have inherited crystal, china, and silver–family heirlooms–then you have my envy. Not me, not my mother. She didn’t want anything that my grandmother had. To be honest, I have no idea what my mother passed up and certainly don’t know what happened to those pieces. My parents preferred a very casual form of home entertaining, so the thought of polishing silver and washing crystal and fine china was just too much of a hassle.

I love to mix and match items on a dining table or buffet as well—but my style is more along the lines of silver, crystal, and fine china – sometimes mixed in with more casual items when the mood strikes! They don’t all match and they’re not all from the same time period. But, that mix of different styles, patterns, and materials creates lots of interest for my guests, so they’re great conversation starters. You never know when someone will point out an item that they love and want to know all about it. Even if I don’t know the exact story of that particular piece I do know where I got it and that starts the fun. So, if you like finery or really any particular entertaining style, and if you’re like me with no family heirlooms, there’s the joy in finding different pieces while building a collection, adding to what you have, and replacing what gets broken (it happens). And, there’s no better way to do that than going to estate sales, flea markets and second-hand resale shops.

Make-up Artist:

Moses Sequiera https://www.instagram.com/Moses53style/

Set:

https://www.lalique.com/en

http://www.silvercollection.it/dictionarypattern1847rogersbros.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunt_Silversmiths

https://www.oneida.com/

https://www.lenox.com/reed-barton/category/351?N=3024748457+662910771&Nrpp=48&No=0&Nr=product.active:1

http://www.lifetimesterling.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-LifetimeSterling-Site/default/Search-ShowCategories?cgid=brands_towle

http://www.thestieffcompany.com/The_Stieff_Company/S._Kirk_%26_Son.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Wallace_%26_Sons

http://www.925-1000.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=27252

Wardrobe:

The Frame https://frame-store.com/

Jimmy Choo http://us.jimmychoo.com/en/home

JCrew https://www.jcrew.com

Music:

Thomas Wyman (Sandwich Bite) https://soundcloud.com/teedub-3

Title design, editing:

Ray Wyman http://www.raywyman.com

Management:

Brandi Kamenar https://www.brandikamenar.com/

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