Searching for flatware storage: parallel, not stacked

[DRobinson]

Hallo,

We are lucky enough to have a fairly large quantity of German flatware, Bruckmann Modell 160 and Modell 285. We use the flatware on a daily basis.

I have been searching for quite some time (4+ years) for, ideally, a drawer insert a la Hagerty, but made such that the forks, spoons, etc. lie parallel to each other, not stacked on top of each other. Not only is the stacking system harmful to the delicate pattern of Modell 160, but we like to rotate the pieces so that not only the top few get used all the time, so a stacking system would mean taking everything out to put the most-recently-used pieces on the bottom.

I begin to despair that I will ever find such an item in any form, be it drawer insert, chest or otherwise. Can anyone help with this? What does everyone else do about this?
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[silverport]

Sehr geehrter Herr Robinson,

das von Ihnen angesprochene Thema einer zugriffsfreundlichen und dennoch schonenden Unterbringung Ihres täglich benutzten Silberbesteck dürfte eigentlich auch «925-1000»-Forumsmitgliedern bekannt sein. Denn wenn diese Sammler sind, tritt eine vergleichbare Notwendigkeit wie bei Ihnen auf — z.B. ein bestimmtes Besteckteil ohne Umstände zum Vergleich mit einem anderen heraus zu nehmen.

Bisher hab’ ich nur 1985 im Städtischen Museum von Schwäbisch Gmünd einen Lösungsansatz dazu gesehen. Und zwar ein Schubladenschrank, so wie er für liegende Aufbewahrung von Grafiken üblich ist. Frau von Savigni — die damals dort tätige Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin — hatte aber bereits nach kurze Zeit einige Mängel erkannt und berichte mir dieselben. Ich jedoch kannte diese bereits.

Die Schubladen wurden mit zunehmender Füllung schwergängiger. Dabei bewährte sich zwar die pseudoautomatische Kippsicherung; denn es konnte niemals mehr als eine Schublade heraus gezogen werden. Aber jeder Menülöffel, jede Menügabel wiegt 66 Gramm.

Doch die im rückseitigen Teil der tiefen Grafik-Schubladen untergebrachten Teile blieben immer „unzugänglicher“ als «die vor der Hand liegenden».

Ich habe für meine Sammlung bisher nur wenige Investitionen in ein zugriffsfreundliches Aufbewahrungssystem getätigt - da ich noch in der Inventarisierungsphase der Sammlung bin. Hinzu kommt, dass ich — raumentsprechend — zusätzliche Kriterien habe und berücksichtigen muss. So, wie sie in einem sog. «Privathaushalt» nicht erfüllt sein müssen.

Bei Ihnen soll es «wohnlich» sein — auch wenn Sie Saarinen-Möbel von Knoll haben sollten und vielleicht «nicht im „Grünen“ wohnen»?

Aber Sie und ich kennen bereits eine sehr adaptive Lösung, wenn Sie sich an Ihren letzten Apothekenbesuch erinnern — wie dort „schwupp-di-wupp“ aus diesem und dem übernächsten Schrank Ihre Medizin hervorgezaubert wurde, während ein «dienstgeiler» Polizist Ihre «Parkverbot»-Zeit stoppte. «Vertan! Vertan!» fluchte er, während Sie nach zwei Minuten, angeschnallt, den Ausfahrt-Blinker setzten.

Sie müssen natürlich nicht einen raumhohen Schrank nehmen — es gibt diese in an Ihren speziellen Notwendigkeiten anpassbaren Grössen. Und mit einem solchen Modul-System sind vermutlich sogar die Kosten so weit unterschritten, dass Sie und Ihre Gattin mehrmals grosszügig «aushäusig» sein können.

Besuchen Sie und Ihre Gattin mehrere Stuttgarter Apotheken — reden Sie ruhig mit den Apothekerinnen und Apothekern darüber, warum Sie „spionieren“. Sie werden dabei Tipps bekommen und auch erleben, wie unterschiedlich Raumgestaltungen sein können.

Die Schubladen-Innenaufteilung wird sich auch für Ihre unterschiedlich grossen Besteckteile so anpassen lassen, so wie es für unterschiedlich grosse Arzneimittel-Verpackungen erforderlich ist. Garantiert! Und die Schubladenauskleidung können Sie mit besteckfreundlichem Tuch ausführen. Vielleicht telefonieren Sie einmal mit Schwäbisch Gmünder- oder Pforzheimer Silberwarenfabrikanten und erfahren von denen zum Tuch eine Bezugsquelle?

Ich hoffe, dass Sie mit meinem Vorschlag der vierjährigen Obsession entfliehen können.

Mit Erfolgswünschen und freundlichen Grüssen, silverport
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[Granmaa]

I have two wooden boxes, known as canteens in England, which were made specifically for flatware. More often than not they store the flatware in a parallel fashion. This may not be helpful to you, but they are fairly common and cheap in antique shops in Britain. I got mine for £20 each.

Miles
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[dragonflywink]

Not sure what was said in the lengthy German-language response, so hopefully I'm not repeating a suggestion.

Have you considered custom-fitting a drawer? A friend, whose husband is handy, had him fit her rather shallow sideboard drawers for her silver service. They lined the drawers with silver-cloth, then he notched out diagonal slots for the individual pieces in several wooden blocks and glued a double layer of silver cloth (folding cut edges to center like commercial bias-tape) on the slotted side, leaving the wood exposed on the sides and bottom. They laid out all the silver in the blocks for a practical arangement and then attached the blocks from underneath the drawers. It looked very nice along with being functional, and it's always been in the back of my head to do something similar, though I was considering covering a piece of thin plywood as a base for a less permanent installation.....but for the moment will continue on with the assortment of various silver chests, cloth rolls and bags that currently house much of my silver.

~Cheryl
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[DianaGaleM]

These "parallel" storage fittings are called "European racks"; and, yes, they are hard to get these days. There is a company in the U.S. that will custom fit these in drawers for you with the traditional fabric covering. Frankly, they're not as nice as the antique custom cases I've seen – and one I own – but if what you want is to keep pieces from touching each other, these will suffice.

There is also a German company that makes standardized (not customized) cases with racks for stainless (in molded plastic) or for silver (with tarnish resistant fabric). Again, the idea here is functional, not aesthetic.

I cannot post the company names in the forum, but if you want to message me privately, I can give your links to them.
Disclaimer: I have no financial connection, whatsoever, to either firm.

Diana

P.S. In fact, I'll upload an image of the interior of one of the trays from my chest in case anyone doesn't know what we're talking about:


If someone knows of anyone still making these custom chests, please share!

[DianaGaleM]

I cranked Silverport's message through the Google translator, and the gist of it is he found some museum filing cases intended for storing graphics lying flat (in the U.S., these are called "flat files" or "map cases"). As he mentioned, they have the disadvantage of 1) not being able to reach the very back of the drawer and 2) moving sluggishly when heavily filled. There is, however, a "class" of filing systems that might work for silverware.

These would be cases intended for the storage of geological, mineralogical, or paleontological specimens. The drawers are low, for the storage of many small specimens, but the cases allow for spacing the drawers, to accommodate larger specimens. They are intended to give full access to the back of the drawer and to bear significant weight while sliding reasonably easily. The problem would be finding one small enough and sufficiently non-industrial-looking enough that you could use it in your home. And, of course, you would still need the liners.

I just played around at Google with a variety of logical keywords, and I came up with some cabinets that potentially could fill the bill, even to the extent of being "presentable" for home use.

[coonoorgreen]

Not sure what was said in the lengthy German-language response, so hopefully I'm not repeating a suggestion.

Have you considered custom-fitting a drawer? A friend, whose husband is handy, had him fit her rather shallow sideboard drawers for her silver service. They lined the drawers with silver-cloth, then he notched out diagonal slots for the individual pieces in several wooden blocks and glued a double layer of silver cloth (folding cut edges to center like commercial bias-tape) on the slotted side, leaving the wood exposed on the sides and bottom. They laid out all the silver in the blocks for a practical arangement and then attached the blocks from underneath the drawers. It looked very nice along with being functional, and it's always been in the back of my head to do something similar, though I was considering covering a piece of thin plywood as a base for a less permanent installation.....but for the moment will continue on with the assortment of various silver chests, cloth rolls and bags that currently house much of my silver.

~Cheryl
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I was wondering whether you could please give me more information as to how to make the individual slots for the pieces of cutlery and also how to then felt line each individual slot.

Many thanks.

[DianaGaleM]

There is a place that sells a wide variety of "racks" and fabric for customizing or refurbishing silver chests. With the admin's permission, I'll post the link; otherwise, please message me offlist for the URL.

Diana

[dognose]

Hi Diana,

I presume it's a commercial website, so it would have to be via the private message system.

Thanks for helping out with the enquiry.

Trev.

[DianaGaleM]

Yes, it's commercial, so please contact me privately if you want the link.