How do I store sterling silver serving pieces?

Question

All of the sterling silver flatware chests that I see online and in stores look so small and only seem to accomodate the place settings.

Answer 1

Where you store them is important. Keep them out of the kitchen. Sulfur from cooking eggs will cause them to tarnish very quickly, even if in a box. Any kind of cabinet with a closed solid door is best, not one with a glass front. While you may want to show off your silver, light speeds the tarnishing process. (Like exposing film to light in a camera, nothing happens until light hits the silver film coating.) If you have a cool place to store them, that is also good as heat increases the tarnishing process also. Do not put them away wet as water acts as a conductor of current and also speeds the tarnishing. When you do put them away, wipe them off with a soft cloth and set them down with the cloth. Where you touch will tarnish faster. The boxes are good for the place settings. If you put the silver in the box with some 3M anti-tarnish strips and stick that box in a as suggested above, you probably will not have to clean the silver when you go to use it again. For larger items, there are bags specially designed for silver items. Stick each item into its own bag and store it as above.

When it comes time to clean the silver, there are two ways to do it.

One way removes the tarnish and along with it, a small amount of silver. If your stuff is silver plate, eventually it will wear down to the cheaper base metal. If your stuff is sterling you will not have that problem but will be losing some of the design each time you clean the silver. This method is often done with a dipping solution or using salt, baking soda and aluminum foil. It is easy and fast to do.

The other method puts silver onto the item. This involves using a cleaner that has cyanide in it so make sure you wear gloves. Each time you clean, the silver oxide is converted back to silver and more silver is added. This is the best method to use on older silver plate as it thickens up the silver layer. This is not so fast and you do not want to do it anywhere near food or kids. It tends to fill in scratches so an old piece that looks pretty bad starts looking better the more times you clean it.

Last bit of advice. DO NOT store your sterling with your silver plate. While they may look the same, you want to keep them apart. If the worst happens and you can only save some of your stuff, you want to be able to quickly grab the sterling silver items as they are far more valuable.

Answer 2

Sterling Silver Serving Pieces

Answer 3

I was going ot suggest a silver chest, but I saw the rest of your question. Could you buy some felt material at a fabric store and make your own holders for your serving pieces?

Answer 4

store sterling silver serving pieces: https://bitly.im/c14/how-do-i-store-sterling-silver-serving-pieces