Falling in Love With Silver

Who can forget their first piece of silver?  The first piece of silver I purchased was an Irish dessert spoon, made in 1811 with maker's mark for Richard Sawyer.  I was at an antique fair in Bunratty, Ireland, which is where I had my first exposure to antique silver.  I knew absolutely nothing at that point about silver, and had very limited funds, but I knew one thing for certain: I loved silver.  I spent hours walking around that fair, looking at every piece of silver probably 15 times before I decided what to buy.  One small dealer had three three-pronged Irish forks that he said were early, but I couldn't justify spending 400 Euro on them.  I frequently regret passing those forks up.  Well, you know what they say about hindsight... The spoon I did buy now adds a bit of sparkle to the office kitchen.

After the fair, I purchased a pocket book of silver hallmarks and read Douglas Bennett's Collecting Irish Silver at the library.  After reading more books and looking at more silver, I found I was drawn to plain early silver, and especially Britannia-standard spoons: I could afford them, and I could use them.  The higher silver content and the short time span when the standard was compulsory were also appealing.  I purchased my first Britannia-standard spoon about 7 or 8 years ago.  It's a tablespoon by Isaac Davenport, made in London in 1714, illustrated below.  Having learned a bit more about spoons of this period since my purchase, I now can observe that there appears to be an erasure to the reverse, there are later engraved initials to the front of the spoon, and the bowl seems to have been modified at some point. 

Front and back views of tablespoon, London, 1714, Isaac Davenport

Hallmarks for Isaac Davenport, London, 1714 and engraved initials to the front of the spoon

Now I focus my collecting on Britannia-standard flatware in the Hanoverian pattern that dates from the reign of Queen Anne, as well as on unique holloware.

How did you become interested in silver?  What was your first piece?  What is your silver collection focused on?  I'd love to hear from you.