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DH, his sisters and the various spouses are sorting through/clearing the parental bungalow now that MIL has moved out after FIL's recent death. I thought I'd share two of the things we found - MIL can't remember where they came from but says they were used as table centres at Christmas. Even with all the tarnish and staining they have some sparkle left in them - imagine what they would have been like in their prime, in candlelight ! (I wrote a bit more about them here)

Wow!! Aren't they just beautiful!! I've only ever seen table ware like that in Museums! The V&A for example!

Too good not to be put on display!

Wow!!!!! What a spectacular discovery!!! Very very beautiful and in such fabulous condition too!!

They are stunning!! Whoever designed and stitched these was incredibly gifted.

Carole

Straight to the V&A my girl! Wouldn’t it be wonderful to find out their provenance?? Although I’d be too scared to do it myself, I do wonder if modern methods (dry) of cleaning silver might bring back that real shine? They are stunning.

Wow! Even aged they are beautiful treasures.

They are awesome and what intricate stitching too. Thank You for sharing the family's treasures beautiful indeed.

The skill, effort and precision in those pieces is absolutely exquisite.
The work of our ancestors is so humbling. How did they do such things? I so wish I could do something - anything - with equivalent skill. Fairly sure it'll never happen, and will always have to gaze at such pieces with an uncomfortable mixture of awe and envy at their skill.

Polishing or rather cleaning the wire could be done in accordance with this textile conservation article: https://www.researchgate.net/publicatio ... ollections. Figure 6 is most relevant.

Regards

Richard.

Thanks Richard, I'll read it with interest!

A wonderful find indeed, Mabel. I always wonder who is the person, who stitched them and how would she feel if she knew that her work would be shown on a Forum, all over the world, in 2018 !

These are so beautiful! It's lovely that after years of being tucked away and maybe forgotten about, they are now once again being admired and appreciated as they should so rightly be