Valentines day – Are You Ready?

Did you know that:

• Valentines Day was first established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD, and was later deleted from the General Roman Calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI.
• The first recorded association of Valentine’s Day with romantic love is in Parlement of Foules (1382) by Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer wrote: For this was on seynt Volantynys day Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.
• Using the language of the law courts for the rituals of courtly love, a “High Court of Love” was established in Paris on Valentine’s Day in 1400. The court dealt with love contracts, betrayals, and violence against women. Judges were selected by women on the basis of a poetry reading
• Valentine’s Day is mentioned ruefully by Ophelia in Hamlet (1600–1601):To-morrow is Saint Valentine’s day,
  All in the morning betime,
  And I a maid at your window,
  To be your Valentine.
  Then up he rose, and donn’d his clothes,
  And dupp’d the chamber-door;
  Let in the maid, that out a maid
  Never departed more.
  —William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act IV, Scene

Its amazing what useless facts you can find with just a little research on the Internet. Well in order to help you find the perfect gift for this valentines day can I suggest this wonderful Antique Victorian Silver & Red Enamelled Heart Shaped Lidded Box I love it so much it is now the logo of this website and our Antique Silver Facebook Page and at the time of writing its still for sale. Now it is not cheap but then neither are you. Gents buy it for the Lady in your life and Ladies why not have a row with the man in your life and then buy it as a making up present from him to you. He cannot refuse you on those grounds. I know this to be true as this is what karen has done to me in the past! [Read more...]

Ladies buy your own Museum Piece of Silver.

It is always pleasing to find and acquire unusual pieces of silver history and we have been lucky in finding a complete and working example of very early Victorian Hair Curling Tongs. An American example is featured in a museum in the States and if you click the link you read the detailed history they have recorded for their set. Now being a man I am quite astonished that “The first recorded use of heated tongs to curl or straighten hair was in 1872.  Marcel Grateau, a Parisian stylist used heated tongs in an attempt to curl and straighten hair.  Over time, this method for styling hair became quite popular and the modern curling iron was born”. [Read more...]

Sherlock Holmes And The Case Of The Disappearing Tea Set

I do not know if you are a fan of the latest Sherlock Holmes Drama from the BBC but I am. I may moan at the cost of the TV Licences but this series is worth every penny. What I did not  realise was the power of product placements in such programmes. I have been reading books by Alan Sugar and he makes a great play on how the BBC tried to stop him showing his Amstrad phone on his office desk during the series The Apprentice  in case it was seen as unfair advertising . [Read more...]

I was reading a survey this week from LloydsTSB Home Insurance. The survey of some 2000 home owners was asking questions regarding building work home owners had undertaken on their homes. Here is some of the data.

• The number of Kitchen/Diners had grown by 50% in the past 20 years – 3 in 10 households no longer have separate dining rooms
• A third of all work undertaken in the home was for work to create an open plan kitchen / diner
• 40% of homes now have a Utility Room
• 1 in 50 have a gym
• 20% have converted a garage into a room
• 20% have added en suite bathrooms
• 10% of owners have spent more than £35,000 adapting their properties whilst 5% have spent more than £50,000

So where do you stand on the Kitchen / Diner debate? [Read more...]

At the start of 2012 it is a good time to reflect on the year just gone. 2011 on the Global front was a pretty remarkable one! We saw revolution across the Arab States, the continuing global financial meltdown culminating in David Cameron saying No to Europe. First Japan and then New Zealand shook until huge Earthquakes and who will ever forget the images of the tsunami striking towns and villages.

We saw the exit of Osama bin Laden as well as Muammar Gaddafi and few shed a tear at their passing. We also saw raw great and selfishness at home in the form of the Riots in Tottenham as well as the upsurge in the use of mobile devices and Facebook. [Read more...]

In this weeks Newsletter I would like to wish all our customers and readers a very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. I have just had a sharp reminder of what the spirit of Christmas is all about. You may have noticed we have closed the Silver2treasure eBay shop and I will not be processing any sales from the website until well into next week. This is nothing to do with postal deadline but is a consequence of Karen putting her back out!

About 2o years ago Karen slipped a disc in her back and was laid up for 2 weeks. Ever since she has had to be careful of her back. Yesterday after walking a neighbours dog called Henry (you can read about Henry by clicking the link and visiting her blog) she twisted awkwardly and is now in a great deal of pain fom her back. [Read more...]

Time is fast running out for Internet shopping due to postal deadlines. Our Postmen and Women are taken for granted. many do however get remembered at Christmas in the traditional fashion.

How much would you tip your postman?? I doubt it would be over £30 so why would the Royal Mail make a feature on their website regarding tips for Postmen. I wonder how many Postmen if offered £30 this Christmas would “politely decline”? [Read more...]

Antique Silver Is a good investment at times of financial Uncertainty. A recent auction in North Yorkshire has shown an antique silver teaset achieving a record breaking price despite there being a recession! If you want somewhere safe for your investments then I urge you to consider antique silver. it has the plus side of being a beautiful usable object around the home as well! [Read more...]

Candle Holder Idea

One of our customer told us this week of a great use for silver table salts. Now whilst many do use these salts for the correct purpose many people shy away from their traditional serving function. So why not place tea lights into the base and use them as a candle holder table decorations. This will enable you to display them on your table and make them a talking point at dinner. you can now buy these candles in all shapes and sizes as well as colours and they are really good value.

We think this is a great idea and you can see our selection of silver salts here

Post Early This Christmas [Read more...]

We are now into National Antiques Week which runs from the 14th November until the 21st November and is designed to promote awareness of antiques particularly to the young. Its a laudable aim but are the young really very interested in antiques? They are more interested in the xbox, smart phone and binge drinking (yes even the young ones) to be interested in our National Heritage and the skills of our ancestors. We do not have a very large National Manufacturing Base any more which is a consequence of cheaper labour costs abroad so Antiques will soon be the only remnant of our proud manufacturing past. How we lever them away from their text messaging and Facebook I do not know.

OK I feel better now! Did  I mention previously Christmas is coming fast. We are frantically trying to list as much Antique Silver and Silver gifts for you as we can. Below you will see our latest editions. Every Christmas you trail around the shops trying to find the right gift. you endure full car parks and extortionate parking charges. you endure being pushed and jostled in crowded aisles only to get home and discover that perfect gift probably will not be suitable after all! Then the frantic search on the Internet begins. luckily you track down the real gift you were looking for in the first place. you fill in all the boxes on the website shopping card only to find you are too late and they are out of stock!! [Read more...]