Unique Serving Platter

We have had antique silver in my family for generations. It does not all come from one source. Some families seem to inherit all their jewelry from some ancient ancestor who was extremely successful, lucky or crooked. In my family, it seems like we add to the collection generation after generation. There is antique silver from my grandmother, my great-grandmother and relatives that no one can name any more. Some of it is gorgeous antique sterling silver jewelry, while some has been considerably damaged by the years. In general, we try to take good care of it, but apparently this wasn’t always the rule. Some of the oldest antique jewelry, in fact, is so tarnished as to be barely recognizable. I decided that it was time to do something about this. I decided to take it in to get it fixed up.

I had never really worried very much about the value of the antique silver jewelry. No one in my family had ever sold off any of the silver jewelry antiques and I assumed that no one ever would. Value didn’t matter, to us they were priceless. Nonetheless, while I was taking it in to the store, I decided to have it appraised. After all, I had always been a little bit curious about it and I figured there was no harm in finding out. I had already had the antique silverware valued a few years back when we were fixing that up, so why not?

What I found out shocked me. The antique silver was worth a fortune! It is hard to admit this now, but at the time I was convinced that I needed to sell it. After all, the temptation was almost too much. I am glad that I came to my senses before I did just that. With the Antique International Silver Market being what it is, I could have unloaded that stuff very quickly, cashed in on a priceless family treasure and never had time to look back until it was all done. Maybe that would have been the practical thing to do, but it wouldn’t have been right. After all, it is my daughter’s birth right as much as it was mine. Still, it is good to know that if things ever get dire, we have a little nest egg for emergencies. No matter what happens, the family heirloom jewelry will only continue to get more valuable.

When I went to the vintage doll show, I was a little bit surprised by the people I met there. Antique dolls have been a passion of mine for a long time. I was a playful child and I have remained playful, even though I am now an adult. That is how I manage to stay sane while teaching a kindergarten class. Collecting antique dolls is not something I set out to do. It was just that I have always loved playing with dolls of all sorts. I used to construct elaborate stories when I was a kid, pretending that the dolls were families, and coming up with whole dramas around their lives. Every collectible doll that I have still has her own story. When I was growing up, I wrote them down so that I wouldn’t forget them as I got older. I treasure them to these day.

So it surprised me that the people who collect antique dolls never play with them. Most of these collectible dolls sit in cases day in and day out. Their owners are extremely protective of them. They won’t even let you take them out to examine them. Not only are they worried about their antique porcelain dolls getting broken, but they are even worried about fingerprints. In my mind this is pretty absurd. It is alright to have children’s toys when you are an adult, but it isn’t alright to have children’s toys when you can no longer enjoy them like a child. Whether you collect antique Barbie dolls, Madame Alexander dolls, porcelain figurines, or some other style entirely, you should enjoy them. That is the purpose of dolls.

The one good thing about antique doll collectors is that their fanaticism really drives up the prices of the things that they collect. I was pretty startled when I found out how much my antique dolls are worth. In truth, I have not kept them in perfect shape. Because I have used them, some of them are somewhat worn. Some don’t even have their original clothes anymore, so they are worthless. If I ever decide to cash in on them, I can make a pretty penny off of my collection of antique dolls. It never ceases to amaze me how much value people put in antique curio that they don’t even use!