Springtime in November

It's been a long time since I wrote a couple of posts about the flatware that my cousin Amanda and I received from our Grandmother Wilcoxen.  The first was in 2009 and gives the beginning of the story, which you can find here.  The second post was about a year later (here) when I was successful in building my own flatware set to completion and beyond.  I mentioned along the way of my intention to try and complete Amanda's set as well.

Unfortunately, Amanda's Springtime set was a lot more popular than my own Grypsholm set and the prices were consistently higher than I was willing to spend.  I dropped the idea for the time being and stopped checking for eBay listings.

But recently, as I began clearing closets and looking for items I could sell in a booth I rented in a nearby antique mall, I stumbled across the odd lot of flatware I had received from Amanda and was reminded what a nice set it was.  I began again to idly keep an eye on what was being offered on eBay.

The pattern pieces that come onto market are still priced a bit steeply in my opinion, but I decided to keep watching and created a search request that alerts me to new offerings.  About a week ago, a mixed lot of 16 assorted pieces in the pattern was priced at about $1 per piece in a Buy It Now offering and I snatched it up.  Less than a week later, another mixed lot of 49 pieces was offered at auction.  I had to monitor the auction for several days, but the price stayed low and I crossed my fingers, setting my alarm to be sure I was sitting poised at the keyboard in the final minutes of the bidding.  With seconds to spare, I made a last ditch bid at the highest price I felt comfortable with.  To my surprise, no one else was bidding at the last minute and I won the auction for less than $25.

So after years of thinking I should do something about completing that set of flatware, in about a week I made a huge step forward to do just that.  I went from no knives to 24 knives, 6 teaspoons to 22 teaspoons, no forks to 11 forks.  I also picked up a few serving spoons, a few salad forks, a few more soup spoons and an extra gravy ladle.   Still need forks and I hope for some iced teaspoons to wander into view, but for the most part I have accomplished my goal.

Now, what I need with another set of flatware (I had 3 full sets of stainless--everyday, better and best-- before I decided to tackle this mission), I do not know.  But it makes me feel a sense of accomplishment to complete my Grandmother's efforts towards her granddaughters' hope chests.

Of course, in my case, that turned out to be a hopeless chest.  Little did she know.

LSW