In his newest book, silver expert Richard Osterberg guides readers on a colorful, yet practical tour of fine antique silver. The books first part deals with silver flatware made circa 1875-1885, with a broad representation of patterns and forms. Next, a myriad of serving pieces are displayed, with examples of each type and function. In the third part, place settings are covered in many different patterns, showing the wide variety of pieces that were used, from the common knives, forks, and spoons to more obscure forms like individual bird knives, bird forks, and cherry forks. Finally, individual place settings are shown, together with silver, china, linen, and crystal to suggest dining as a truly stimulating visual expereince. Throughout the text value ranges are given, making it easy to look up individual prices. Using this book can be both inspirational and educational. It is both a must for collectors wishing to identify pieces of old family silver and an essential aid to the modern host or hostess.
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About the Author
Dick Osterberg has written and lectured extensively about sterling silver flatware and holloware. He resides in central California.
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful book, badly edited,
By Gail Martin (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Yesterday's Silver for Today's Table: A Silver Collector's Guide to Elegant Dining (Hardcover)
The positives: This is a visually gorgeous book, jam-packed with photographs of silver flatware. Usual and unusual pieces are identified, and a range of patterns are illustrated. This was what I was looking for when I bought the book: A reference book to use to identify those weird utensils in the family silver collection. And, yes, "Yesterday's Silver" seems to serve that purpose well.The negatives: Especially considering the cost of this book, the editing is shockingly bad! A page showing a range of ten different styles of forks, for example, will only have six of them labeled. A couple of captions are reversed. Luckily, the volume of photos and accurate captions are sufficient that a reader can compensate for editorial mistakes. But why, expecially at this price, should we have to? It's also disappointing to find that some utensils are described in fairly minimal terms. What, for example, would a "Saratoga chip scoop" serve? Luckily I'd read some other silverware books recently, which explained the material more thoroughly. But, again, why would that information not be included here? The cover states that the book includes a price guide. Well... that's stretching it a bit. Each illustration of silverware pieces lists a range of values for the items. But the values are rather vague, and judging from recent listings on ebay, quite exaggerated. The listings might make you feel good about the pieces you own, but they won't help with a realistic appraisal of the value of silver pieces. All of that aside, I like this book. It really is beautiful, especially the opening pages that illustrate truly artistic pieces of silverware. I enjoyed reading it and think it will be a moderately useful reference over time. But it's disappointing to realize how much better it could have been, if only a little bit more editorial care had been taken.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best book!,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Yesterday's Silver for Today's Table: A Silver Collector's Guide to Elegant Dining (Hardcover)
Best picture and information book on silver I have ever seen!Guaranteed you'll love it!
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
if you want know,
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This review is from: Yesterday's Silver for Today's Table: A Silver Collector's Guide to Elegant Dining (Hardcover)
IF YOU REALLY WANT TO IDENTIFY YOUR ANTIQUE SILVER, THIS BOOK IS EASY TO USE AND HAS SO MUCH INFO.
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