I grew up spending a lot of time in New Orleans where the people there took their silver heirlooms very seriously… Silver twinkle far trumped the usual suspects of luxury seen in other parts of the country. In the South entertaining is an art form, where silver is considered “treasure” and the barometer of much juicy discussion.
People in Louisiana live to eat/ read/ drink + talk by candlelight. I grew up pining for my very own pair of silver candelabras, the kind that were props in the mind Kate Chopin, to bring out the Creole in me. As time passed, I discovered that the most magical were the five, seven or nine arm (odd numbered) candelabras that radically transformed any dining table/ porch/ bedroom/ power outage— and exalted the mundane, in an instant.
Silver candelabras are like colored cut-crystal, they are right under your nose– if you look for them. There are still all kinds of shops dotting Magazine Street (in New Orleans) devoted to the glorious world of silver in every form + accoutrement. In the meantime, if you can’t get to New Orleans, check out Past Perfect + Stuff in San Francisco or… the Alameda Point Antique Fair, the first Sunday of every month– they are loaded with silver.
