Notes fromthe estates.
What we find, how to tell the good pieces from the tired ones, and how we actually live with all of it at home.
Reuge music boxes, how to identify a vintage Reuge, and the Italian carousels collectors love
Reuge has made music movements in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, since 1865. Here is how to find the Reuge mark, read a movement, date a piece by its tunes, and care for one so it plays for another fifty years.
How to clean silver plate without wearing through it
Wash it, dry it, and polish only as much as the tarnish bothers you. Here is how we care for plate, what we leave dark on purpose, and when the foil and baking soda trick is safe.
What is an ormolu jewelry casket, and how to tell real gilt bronze from gold-tone metal
An ormolu jewelry casket is a small glass-sided box in gilded metal. Here is what the word means, why these caskets are so sought after, and how we tell a 19th-century French gilt bronze casket from a mid-century gold-plated one.
How to set a Thanksgiving table with vintage silver and brass
You do not need a full sterling service to set a Thanksgiving table with real history on it. Here is how we build one from a few beautiful silver-plated pieces, some brass and the plates you already own.
How to tell sterling silver from silver plate, with the marks we see every week
Turn the piece over and read the mark. Here are the marks that mean sterling, the ones that mean plate, and the ones made to look like something they are not, photographed on real pieces from our shop.