Hotel Silver

Hotel Silver adds understated elegance, the possibility of a good story, depending on how you found yours.  The best way to find hotel silver is to simply be aware and on the lookout for it. You would be surprised by the timing or  places where it might appear. Antique stores and estate sales are obvious bets, but when you least expect it, you will start seeing it if you are on the lookout.  I was once in New York, staying at the Plaza Hotel during it’s final week before construction was to start to convert part of it to condo. Talk about the right place at the right time, it was a jackpot for hotel everything, being sold for pennies on the dollar, with MY last initial on it. Pure luck. I have been collecting it over the years and absolutely love my mismatched collection in the works. A surprising treasure trove of hotel silver is Bergdorf Goodman on 5th Avenue… they have an entire DEPARTMENT full of the good stuff, up on the home floor.

it is most definitely worth checking out when in New York.

 just a few examples, above and below of what they have

Hotel Silver can add elegance and glamor to any room. It is charming and it has a story to tell. Would I like to hear some of those stories! The toast racks and barware in the 2 photos above, from Bergdorf Goodman ,  are so charming, and increasingly available as people take less and less time for sit down breakfasts or entertaining at home… The salt and pepper shakers can be used for other often used spices like cinnamon sugar, and I have even seen them used on bedside tables for scented powders for linens. Some of the smaller silver trays are great on a bathroom countertop.

These handsome Claridge’s pieces are for sale in Dallas at Madison~ wouldn’t those look chic in your home? Super cool, I love the subtle elegance of those pieces. They are even dated.

The Difference Hotel Silver Can Make:

Trust me when I say that the coffee pot in the above picture made a simple bakery-bought breakfast taste way better and very 5-star, via appearance alone. A dining experience incorporates all of your senses, don’t ever forget that. Hotel silver is the ultimate special touch for entertaining; minimal effort on the host’s behalf  creates forever memories for the honored guest. Would you rather see the Mr Coffee pot or this hotel service on the table? What a difference it makes… and hotel silver keeps coffee HOT.

Toast racks make great cocktail napkin holders on the bar or letter racks on the desk…

Stretch the boundaries beyond the conventional uses for these items, pull them out of storage and assign them new everyday uses. When you see hotel silver at estate sales, grab it, especially when it is not a hot trend and prices are undervalued. Silver value is on the upswing.

 Lynn Goldfinger, the owner of the Paris Hotel Boutique, wrote an interesting post about the Waldorf Astoria “Amnesty Program”, an attempt to recover some of their hotel “history” from relatives of hotel guests who might have lifted a hotel memento back in the day. Lynn raises a good point- perhaps pieces were acquired from hotel auctions that sold the old pieces in order to buy new…