To think this is weird!?

[twighlighting]

Name changed for this...I don't know why.

I went round to a friend's for tea. A fairly new friend I might add. We met at a baby group. Anyway she invited us over for lunch (me and dd). As we are eating I saw the cutlery came from a wooden box on the sideboard. I was just making conversation and asked why is it in a box. She then said...it's a canteen...it's what the cutlery came in so I have just kept in there. It's easier than have it in the kitchen and it's silver so I don't want it scratched. Fair enough.(Maybe I'm common I have never heard of a canteen before) anyway
I looked at the name of the cutlery and it was called "Arthur price"

I know I'm being very nosy but I looked it up and the set costs over 2k!! Is it odd for someone to own such expensive cutlery when they live in a 3 bed terrace. I expected that out of mega rich ppl (excuse my ignorance) they have very average jobs etc

I'm don't want to come across as nosy etc but is that Normal? My cutlery cost about 20quid from tesco 🙈

You have no idea how much the cutlery cost.

A canteen of cutlery is quite common in my experience, if old fashioned.

I grew up in a modest semi and we had a canteen of cutlery that was kept in the side board in the sitting room. My granny had the same. All wedding presents.

None of my friends have them now, but I expect they will soon start to be passed down.

It may well have cost thousands, but probably not. Few people pay full price for them.

@neverknowinglyunreasonable

Quite a lot to fork out for cutlery. Maybe a wedding present or maybe she had to make some cut backs with other spending to afford it.

Ok, I'm done.

Clearly inherited, she’s been spoon fed all her life I bet.

I agree with others, either a Wedding present or inherited.

I remember in the 90’s when friends or Cousins got married expensive cutlery would be on Wedding list.

I’ve got a canteen of Habitat cutlery, but my mother has a piece of furniture that’s just for cutlery - a sort of multi-drawer thing on legs that she inherited (the canteen, the legs).

Here in the southern USA we call it a "silver chest" and it is usually a wedding gift - handed down to the oldest son if monogramed and to the oldest daughter if not. Normally used only on special occasions like Thanksgiving, Christmas, bridal teas, etc.

I'm not sure what you're agreeing is a bit sad.
You're coming over as rather judgy and I'm that you actually looked up the price.
You might want to think about how you'd feel if she did that to you.

I have Arthur price cutlery. A better set than what’s available from Wayfair but still stainless steel not silver.

It was wedding present from by beloved late grandmother and it gives me pleasure to use. It gets used everyday, put in the dishwasher and kept in the draw not the wooden box. It’s still perfect more than a decade on from the wedding.

Yes it’s extravagant and a couple of times I’ve bought extra bits (tea spoons/steak knives) because our needs have changed and I’ve balked at the price but it is so lovely and lasts forever.

I was given a canteen of cutlery for my wedding. I decided to use it every day otherwise it would barely be used. I don't want to tuck the 'good stuff' away never to be used or enjoyed. I don't use the actual box but put the cutlery into my everyday cutlery draw.

Ooh I adore a good canteen of cutlery. I've got really nice set which is now about £6 - £12 per item. We had it listed separately on our wedding gift list. I want an antique set - going off to look at ebay for one now!

Wedding present.

I use my silver cutlery every day. I keep spares in the canteen but most of it is in the kitchen drawer. I love it. It gets polished every December just before Christmas. I love that it was made in Sheffield and had to be ordered. It was a wedding gift and has lasted much longer than the marriage. I don't like the feel of everyday cutlery now and have never liked the sets that have coloured handles. I've been spoilt apparently. I'd love to add to my set. I always wanted sugar tongs and a strawberries and cream set.

I live in a terrace, and I have a canteen of cutlery, which was originally my parents'. Most of the good stuff I have like that was inherited.

I think it's even weirder to be invited to someone's home for lunch, get home and google how much their cutlery is worth

I've got a cutlery set in a box, inherited from my great aunt! We only bring it out at Christmas, but great that your friend actually uses hers more than once a year! :)

Yabu for googling her cutlery!
My mum has a canteen of inherited silver cutlery but can’t be bothered polishing it so it doesn’t come out much. I have silver grapefruit spoons but they don’t get used every week. I am talking DP into buying a set of Arthur Price cutlery but the stainless steel ones, they aren’t as expensive and it’s so hard to find other sets with soup spoons these days

My mum has a canteen of cutlery - no idea if it’s Arthur Price though! It’s used moat days, goes in the dishwasher, etc. There’s a set of inherited silver spoons though, which are not used. There’s a really interesting family story, where my great granny worked as a ladies maid for the Bowes Lyon family, and when she left to get marrie, she received a set of silver spoons, complete with a set of sugar tongs! As she was marrying a local tennant farmer, she almost never used them, and we didn’t even know they exited until my great uncle died, and as the only woman in the family, my mum inherited them. My sister and I laugh about which one of us will inherit them!

Maybe she's bucking against saving nice things 'for best' and having them sit unused for decades.

After all, it's not like cutlery wears out or breaks easily. I'm guessing you're quite young, wasn't 'a canteen of cutlery' a common prize on a TV game show in the 1970/80s? Maybe the Generation Game?

But yes, googling someone's cutlery is weird. Don't tell people in real life that you do that.

It's probably only plated after all rather than solid. I got a canteen of similar silver when I got married. I am afraid I don't use it because I don't want to handwash it when I can just put cheap stainless steel in the dishwasher.

Have you considered a career change to be a private investigator OP, because you sure do have an eye for detail.

Or are you one already? Please start an AMA if so.

It’s none of your business. I hope to goodness she realises quickly you’re not someone she’s going to want in her house.

I Had a canteen of cutlery bought as a wedding present in the 1960 era, It was bought by an aunty, who liked nice things. I still have the cutlery now, It was, and still is, in a lovely wooden box, lined with a red velvet type of material. It's proper silver, and I do use a couple of the knives and forks and spoons. But live alone now, so don't need all the rest of the cutlery just chucked in a kitchen drawer.

I don't agree that it's weird for someone to have a canteen of cutlery - whether they bought it themselves at full price, bought it themselves on sale, received it as a gift or inherited it.

But I'll tell you what is weird. It's not knowing what a canteen of cutlery is. It's being so mesmerised by said canteen of cutlery that you both research it and start a thread about it. It's still thinking about this everyday, normal event several hours later. It's making your guest explain and justify their use of said canteen.

I hope she's starting her own thread - New Friend Mesmerised By Cutlery. I wonder if you'll get a second invite.

Maybe her gran won it as a prize on the Generation Game and its a family heirloom?

There really isn't anything weird about a canteen of silver cutlery OP. It was a standard gift a few decades ago, and yes as others have said often something which was handed down. Good on her for using it instead of consigning it to a cupboard.

Arthur Price have lots of sales, currently 40% off, found a range that should have been 419 now costing 251.40 - 88 piece set in wooden box. so could easily have been an engagement or housewarming gift.