Below is a summary of the silver items listed this week for sale in our Silver2treasure ebay shop. They are also listed in our own website where you can gain a discount and get the same great service. Just click on the link to view the item.

Antique Silver Georgian Toddy Ladle Ebay Price £89 or click the link for a price of just £80

Dutch Silver Salad Servers Ebay Price £156 or click the link for a price of just £141

Antique Silver Victorian Small Dish Ebay Price £73 or click the link for a price of just £66

Silver Short Candlesticks Ebay Price £92 or click the link for a price of just £83

Antique Silver Victorian Dish Ebay Price £304 or click the link for a price of just £274

White Metal Candlestick with a Dolphin Mythical Fish Ebay Price £69 or click the link for a price of just £63

Antique Silver Victorian Scent Bottle Ebay Price £166 or click the link for a price of just £150

Square Silver Napkin Ring Ebay Price £29 or click the link for a price of just £26

And remeber all the above prices include FREE UK postage

Just click on any link above for great prices and great customer service.

Many periods through our history have produced very distinctive styles.

The Queen Anne period from 1702 to 1714 saw a minimalist style in design but much decoration in the form of armorials,crests and motifs.

Baroque is classed as the period from the 17th Century to the 18th Century. It is distinctive for its grand heavy forms,bulbous and often with abundant decoration with elaborate carving and often rich gilding. This period is usually associated with Louis XI, Charles II and William & Mary.

Rococo is credited to the early to mid 18th century. Once again very decorative works with engraved rustic scenes and light gilding.

The late 1700's into the early 1800's saw the influence of North America into Federal designs. Most famous Silversmith for these designs was Paul Revere.

The Victorian Period is very popular among collectors today. From 1837 until 1901 Queen Victoria presided over the growth of the British Empire and wealth creation on a grand scale. This led to the rival of historical styles and extravagant ornamentation. It also saw the first volume production of silver items.

The Art Nouveau period ran between 1890 and 1915 and saw the move waay from the Victorian extravagance towards a more aymmetrical form with curving lines typically made famous by Liberty & Co and Tiffany.

The Art Deco Period followed from 1918 to the 1940's. Streamlined geometric forms with a strong Egyptian influence led to distinctive work from Christofle and Jensen.

The modern day period has been influenced by mass production with distinct work standing out from silversmiths such as Stuart Devlin.

Whatever style takes your fancy there are many factors to be considered by the collector not least of which will be price. Modern silver will be tomorrows antiques and therefore may be a wise starting point in any collecting career. Foe a wide selection of antiques silver and modern silver visit our silver2treasure store.

Whilst our ancestors knew very well its medicinal qualities they could not always agree on how it should be served. As Silver became more available to the lower classes the tradition of serving tea from a silver tea set became the fashion. The Silver tea pot had long been established but soon silver tea sets became fashionable consisting of a teapot, milk jug, sugar bowl and often Sugar tongs and spoons. Silver Tea Caddies were very much desired as were silver caddy Spoons necessary to dispense the tea.

These teasets were often given pride of place in a dining room and displayed on a tray or salver.

Used to impress guest these teasets were often the start of much debate on how the correct cup of tea should be served. Should the teapot be pre heated, should the milk be put into the cup before or after the tea and many more variations of how to make the perfect cup of tea were devised.

The use of tea leaves instead of our modern day teabag allowed the mystics to create a mini industry of predicting the future by "reading" the tea leaf pattern left inside a cup.

Drinking tea remains a pleasure today and there is now a growing trend in investing in antique silver tea sets.

You can view a selection of our own silver tea sets here.

The easiest item to scrap is silver flatware. Silver forks and silver spoons are usually heavy and easily achieve a high scrap value. This will mean locating antique silver flatware will become ever more difficult in the coming years. For those trying to build up a canteen of antique silver cutlery this task will soon become much more expensive. The good news is that as it gets more scarce its value will continue to grow.

Whilst the more common Silversmith items will be melted owners with any sense will hang onto the more collectable Silversmiths such as Hester Bateman and Paul Storr to name but two.

For those just starting out on their collecting career it is wise to learn about the various silver makers marks. These marks make it very easy to accurately identify the date of manufacture and by whom. This information is vital in dating and valuing antique silver.

With all the financial turmoil in the world today investing in antique silver makes more sense.