Monday 15 June 2009

The family silver

When I was a little girl one of my favourite jobs at home was polishing the brass and silver either with my Mum or more often my Gran. There was quite a lot of cleaning to do as the family seemed to have accumulated a collection of brass candlesticks, horse brasses and various pieces of silver. We'd spread newspaper over the large kitchen table and go round the house picking up the items to be cleaned. I thought it was amazing that you applied a polish that made the metal even dirtier but when you rubbed it away with a clean cloth everything was sparkling. I even liked the black dirt that accumulated on my fingers as I worked away. I'd sit and chatter happily to my Gran who one day asked me which was my favourite piece. I chose this little jug probably because of its shape and eventually after I'd left home she gave it to me. I didn't realise how much this ritual meant to me until many years later my Mum died. One of the first things I did in the house was clean the brass and silver, strangely it was a comforting thing to do and today when I've been polishing all these memories came back.I don't have much silver myself, but I do like these napkins rings, a collection I started when my Mum gave me a pair from the house, as she did this pretty sugar spoon. I don't imagine I shall be taking any of my pieces to the Antiques Roadshow, but as far as I'm concerned they are priceless, and today at least spotless.

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful silver and memories, Jenny... thank you for sharing a little of each :o) Happy Day ((HUGS))

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  2. Just looking at a tin of Brasso or Silvo reminds me of polishing with my Grandma too.

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  3. I'd forgotten all about helping to clean silver (not that we had much) with that wadding stuff. But I do remember buying my mum a little silver bud vase (I was about 11)with some money from my dad and having her name engraved on it. Wonder what happened to it?

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  4. Memories are special so thankyou for sharing, and the little Jug is definatly unique, And i would imagine and this is just me, but i'd think that everytime you polished that special little jug that ur Gran and ur mom would be close by making sure not a spot was missed, lol...Everytime the toast burns in our home, we blame my hubbie's Dad who passed away a few years back,he lived with us and everday was the same, his toast wasnt cooked until there was smoke coming from the toaster, lol so as you can imagine now everytime the toast burns we say Pop's here....

    And im loving that spoon.....I can see a pendant, lol.

    Have a great day xox

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  5. How lovely to have all those memories with you.

    I used to love the tins of brasso wadding, ripping a little off to help polish the letter box and door knocker at my Grandparents house. Its a shame people don't really do that any more. How often do you seen freshly painted door steps?

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  6. The silver spoon is gorgeous. I came by from David's authorblog. Congrats on post of the day nomination.

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  7. Here from Davids POTD and I too can identify with polishing day...although it was mostly copper and brass.
    Lovely post.

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  8. Oh and incidently...one of my favourite ever films, and film moment, was the tango in Scent of a Woman.

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  9. I came over from David's POTD. I recently polished up seven brass candle holders for my youngest daughter from her great aunt's estate. I wonder if she'll eventually learn to treasure them.

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  10. Congrats on POTD. I am approaching another anniversary of my mother's death, and isn't it amazing how little tasks bring back fond memories - and we suddenly appreciate our mothers even more.

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