175 piece of Sterling Silverware found

[stealthycat]

Story is ... a house had burned down on my wife's family's farm. When I found the first few sterling silverware pieces, she was a bit stunned (they all were) because they thought it was all plated only. I spent hours digging by hand through the 2' - 3' of ash/mud/dirt/debris ....

I found ... 175 pieces, maybe more. Many badly damaged and scrapped, the knives had ceramic cores that burst in the fire, destroying them beyond repair. I did some research and found a silver restoration guy and over a 6-8 month period, he restored this family silverware that would have been lost.

It wasn't cheap to do it.

Pic of the most I found in one day in the ruins and a sampling of before/after how it looked.

My thought is ... in the past 200 years, how many homes burned, forgotten, and silverware just like this still in the ground? Fun to imagine. Not a true "find" .... but had I not "found" it, all that would still be in the ground right now.

 

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[Tigger]

WOW! What a GREAT save! Family History, sparkly silver, it's a double win!!

 

[stealthycat]

They found a replica original box to house it all in ... I can't remember the maker of the silver, it was 1890 made IIRC

 

[tamrock]

Neat story and great job the guy did on the restoration. I know of an old 1870 mine town that had a couple bars, hotels, church and one bank. The whole little town burned down down to the ground and I always thought I should go and scope it out. I was thinking I'd find me some melted rolls of silver coins from that one bank they had.

 

[stealthycat]

I'd think that's a great theory to test I lived in Colorado a few years ... since getting my AT Pro have wanted to go back in summertime and hike to old hunting camps in the mountains ... see what old hunting relics I could find