Show silverware once graced only tables of royalty twenty five hundred years a ago g 0 king croesus had silver on his table tab 1 e but long before that rulers of ancient egypt and greece were using vessels of the shining metal down through the centuries writes alice R rollins in the los angeles times silver has been designed and fashioned by skillful artisans in the tha early centuries of the art silver was produced for royalty and for the nobility it is only in the last years that it has become possible for the households of lesser rank to have silver on their tables gradually in all countries as men became rich through foreign commerce domestic silver came into wider use table services became more elaborate and new uses were found for this metal in holland france and england particularly the art of the silversmith flourished and designs of distinction and beauty were produced the possession of solid silver in the early years was a mark of social position culture and a love of the beautiful sheffield plate which came in the middle of the nineteenth century and which consisted of a layer of silver over a copper base brought the silver tray into the homes of the middle classes in design and general ornament salvers calvers and trays of Shelli sheffield eld plate followed that of solid silver some of the earliest sheffield trays are tinned on the base later examples have a layer of silver on both sides the borders of these trays are usually cast from dies and attached to the body by means of lead those most familiar are the vine leaves and grapes beading and twisted coil |